Uber has admitted it made a mistake in not initially providing a refund to a Sydney man who had video footage of a delivery driver stealing his $140 groceries, which included nappies.
Video footage from a doorbell camera emerged this week of an UberEats worker placing bags of groceries in front of a house in Sydney, taking a photo of it for proof it was delivered, and then placing the bags back on his scooter and driving off.
Interviewed on 2GB, the UberEats customer, identified as ‘Reece’, said the order was for $140 of groceries, including nappies and food.
He said that when he went to the front door to retrieve the goods, they were nowhere to be found.
“You get an alert on your phone and it says your groceries have been delivered, so we head to the front door, open the door and they’re missing,” Reece told 2GB.
“We go back and check the cameras and [saw] what’s happened…the nappy bandit has taken off into the night.”
Reece said that despite providing the video footage of what happened to Uber, the company declined to provide a refund for the stolen groceries.
“What was really disappointing was I jumped onto Uber, and I thought we’ll sort this out, I’ll let them know, I sent them the video,” he said.
“They didn’t take any accountability, they wouldn’t even say sorry…when I asked for a refund, they said no we’re not gonna give it.
“I’ve had to report it to the police which is sad – it could have been dealt with by Uber.”
But when contacted by Information Age, a spokesperson for UberEats said that a refund had now been made.
“We have reviewed this order and acknowledge there was a mistake in how we responded to this complaint initially,” the spokesperson told Information Age.
“We have taken steps to contact the customer to apologise and to issue them a refund.
“In tandem we are following up with the delivery person involved to remind them of our community guidelines, which clearly set out the rules that we expect all delivery people to follow."
Delivery drivers behaving badly
Last month another video emerged of a similar incident in Adelaide.
Security cameras on the outside of a music store in the city showed an UberEats driver placing a food delivery on the curb near their car, taking a photo of it as evidence of its delivery, then placing it back into his car and driving off.
The UberEats user was sent the photo of the food having being delivered but it was nowhere to be found.
The user said he eventually received a $25 refund from Uber.
There were reports last year of another tactic used by some delivery drivers to steal food, involving the driver or rider going to a restaurant, pretending to show that they’ve collected the food to be delivered and then leaving.
After this, they cancel the pick-up and it is assigned to another delivery worker, who will later discover that there’s nothing to collect.
Last year NSW authorities instigated legal action against UberEats after a number of delivery drivers were found to have transported passengers, without the needed background safety checks.
The NSW Point to Point Transport Commission claimed Uber had failed to ensure it was complying with safety standards that are designed to protect passengers, and faced a fine of up to $1.5 million.
The ability for food delivery drivers to carry passengers was due to a glitch in Uber’s system that was said to impact less than 1 per cent of its food delivery drivers.
UberEats expands its presence
UberEats earlier this month revealed plans to expand into nearly 70 new regional locations in Australia, including in Broome, Ballina, Batemans Bay and Broken Hill.
Late last year, gig economy workers in Australia including UberEats drivers and riders were provided greater protections through a Fair Work Amendment.
The amendment provides gig economy workers who are “employee-like” stronger protections, including the ability to pursue better pay and insurance, with minimum standards baked in for contractors.
The changes also allow the Fair Work Commission to treat gig economy workers as “employee-like” workers.
