Cape Town - A Belgravia Road resident is fuming after an Uber Eats driver allegedly left his order on the pavement, only for him to find the food gone when he opened the door.

Lester Mulligan, 54, said he ordered a Nando’s meal from Athlone via Uber Eats on September 20 and paid R326.26, including a tip.

He said he was able to track his meal as it was prepared and saw when the driver was on his way.

“When the app said the driver is close by, I went to sit in the lounge and was waiting because usually the driver will hoot, message or phone to say they have arrived, but nothing like that happened.

“All I received from the driver was a photo on the app of my food on the pavement outside my wall to say the food had arrived.

“I was shocked because their protocol is that they must not leave food on the pavement; it is unhygienic.

“When I ran outside the food was gone.

“I phoned Nando’s and they gave me numbers for Uber Eats and eventually I got through to their (Uber Eats) complaints. They apologised and said they would evaluate the situation.

“I reordered my food again and paid again expecting a refund, but with that driver the food arrived because I waited outside for him.

“I got an email from Uber Eats to say their driver said he followed the correct protocols and I am not eligible for a refund on my account.

“Obviously he is going to say he followed the correct protocol.”

An Uber Eats spokesperson said the driver made several attempts to reach the customer.

"At Uber Eats we strive to ensure a smooth delivery experience for both consumers and delivery people and provide strict delivery guidelines. These guidelines include waiting a specified time and attempting to contact the consumer at point of delivery. In this case, the courier went above and beyond and exceeded the wait time and made several attempts to reach the customer with no response.

“We encourage our customers to check the app for the arrival time of their orders and report any incidents that may occur.”

marsha.dean@inl.co.za

Cape Argus