IT Services4.07.2024

Big Uber Eats stolen delivery problem in South Africa

Numerous South Africans have complained about Uber Eats drivers stealing their orders after a recent X/Twitter post went viral.

On 19 June 2024, Kwandokuhle Njoli posted a video of security camera footage that appeared to show an Uber Eats driver stealing her order after attempting a delivery in her residential complex.

The driver is seen waiting by his motorcycle before taking out what appears to be a pizza box, placing it on a wall, and taking a wide picture of it as “proof” of delivery.

That is normal procedure for drivers who don’t get a response from a customer when they attempt to make a delivery.

However, the driver then does something unusual — he puts the pizza box back in his motorcycle’s storage and drives off.

Whether the action was deliberate or due to unfamiliarity with Uber’s rules, Njoli was left foodless and out of pocket.

Njoli said she lodged a complaint about not receiving her order, but Uber supposedly took the driver’s side and said a neighbour likely stole her food. As a result, she was not refunded for her order.

She alleged that this was not the first time an Uber Eats driver had stolen her food.

At the time of publication, Njoli’s video had been viewed over a million times, and dozens of South African X users responded to her post complaining about similar experiences.

“The exact same thing happened to me two weeks ago. He drove into the estate, parked in some random location, and then waited for the minimum wait time, took a photo of my food, and then left with it,” one user said.

In response to one user’s complaint, Uber said it could not issue a refund because the delivery partner had tried to contact them and waited the required amount of time before completing the order in the app.

Some users who paid for their orders in cash — sometimes with tips — also lambasted Uber for seemingly often siding with drivers when they claim they were not paid.

While Uber can easily verify a card payment, it is at the mercy of drivers when it comes to confirming that they were paid in cash.

“I once paid a guy cash of R150, I even gave him a R20 tip in cash, only to find out after a few days that I never paid for my order,” one user wrote.

Twitter/X marked many of the seemingly legitimate complaints as “probable spam” shortly after MyBroadband asked Uber about the issue.

Below is the video that Njoli posted on her timeline after Uber initially refused to refund her for the alleged stolen order.

Don’t keep your delivery driver waiting

Although it is easy to understand the frustrations of users affected by Uber Eats delivery theft, it is important to bear in mind that Uber also needs to mitigate against the risk of malicious users fraudulently claiming their food was not delivered.

Without the type of video footage or similar proof that Njoli obtained, it would be difficult for a user to definitively prove that their order was not delivered and stolen by the delivery driver.

One way to avoid this problem is to ensure your driver does not have to wait for you to collect your order.

Uber Eats still pays drivers their full delivery fare if they cannot complete a delivery due to a customer failing to respond when notified that their order has arrived at the delivery location.

However, the driver must first try to call the customer twice and wait for at least seven minutes at the delivery destination before they can take a photo and leave the meal behind.

If an investigation shows that this did not occur, Uber will likely refund the customer and penalise the driver.

If you are unable to meet the driver on time, you can send an instruction via the app for them to leave it with someone reliable.

The problem with this approach is that some of those who have alleged their orders were stolen said drivers ignored their instructions to leave their food in certain places or with certain people.

“I kept on communicating with the driver telling him to drop off my groceries by the reception, but he took a picture as if he delivered, then he left. I was never refunded,” one complained.

“This is what happened to me once. Sent a pic of my delivery, disregarded my delivery notes, and when I got to the place where it was left. There was nothing!” another said.

MyBroadband asked Uber for feedback on the surge in complaints about stolen deliveries but it had not responded by the time of publication.

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