Takeaway forced to refund Just Eat order after customer complained ice cream was too COLD in food delivery ‘scam’

A TAKEAWAY boss was forced to refund a customer through Just Eat because they complained their ice cream was too COLD.

Hassan Habib, who own Lucky’s in Oldham, Greater Manchester, claims he’s been hit by a spate of suspicious refunds through the site costing him several hundred pounds each month.

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The owner of Lucky’s said he’s been hit by a spate of suspicious refunds via Just Eat[/caption]

He said they started to appear more frequently after Just Eat changed its refund system to be more like Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

The changes made it easier for customers to get their money back if they were unhappy with their order.

And according to Mr Habib, one of the most ridiculous requests he received was for a refund on four milkshakes, a cheesecake and an ice cream.

He told Manchester Evening News: “We can see how many orders someone’s made on Just Eat or with us and I’ve seen someone who’s ordered food from us and they’ve never placed an order on Just Eat before.

“They ordered four milkshakes, a cheesecake, and an ice cream and 45 minutes later they put in a refund request because the food was cold.

“That’s just one of the many examples – they just order food, put down ‘X, Y, Z’ is wrong with it, do a refund and leave us to the costs.”

Mr Habib said he is fully aware that restaurants can make mistakes and his business always makes it up to customers if it goes wrong.

But he believes some customers are taking advantage of the Just Eat loophole, putting his and other businesses in a “really bad position”.

Lucky’s, which is based on Featherstall Road, has been working with Just Eat for over two years, and Mr Habib says they only recently started having issues.

Before its refund system changed, the site would contact restaurants before refunding customers to check the request was legitimate.

Now, however, refunds will be given for any complaints made that the restaurant could have prevented – with the business having 30 days to dispute any claims.

Although this change has not sparked the suspicious refunds, the two issues happening at the same time have been frustrating for the team.

They just order food, put down ‘X, Y, Z’ is wrong with it, do a refund and leave us to the costs.

Hassan HabibLucky’s

And Mr Habib now wants to warn other businesses of the “scam” requests.

After speaking with several other owners, he hopes to gather between 50 to 100 firms all willing to switch off their order machines for an hour to express how unhappy they are with the situation.

He is also calling on Just Eat and similar companies to make it more difficult for customers to abuse the system.

Just Eat said they would speak with Mr Habib about his concerns, and said they were doing what they could to stop any fraudulent refund claims.

A spokesperson for the firm said: “Just Eat is only successful if our restaurant partners are successful and we have a track record of helping restaurants prosper.

“The recent measures we’ve put in place are in line with industry standards and are to ensure an even fairer refunds process for all, such as increasing the time for restaurants to raise any disputes.

“Restaurant partners are always refunded in full when we find any fraudulent activity taking place.

“We’re keen to maintain an open dialogue with the restaurants on our platform and continue to review our policies and processes in this space to support both customers and restaurants alike.”

Alamy

Mr Habib claims Just Eat have made it easier for customers to claim back refunds[/caption]