Takeaway delivery problems is an issue that affects many consumers, especially now that self-employed delivery couriers are engaged via third parties such as Uber, Just Eat and Deliveroo. Your consumer rights remain the same and takeaways fall under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
CONSUMER RIGHTS ACT 2015
Consumers have rights as well as expectations, and deliveries ought to be carried out with due skill and care. This is enshrined in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and covers takeaways. It also covers restaurant meals.
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 states that goods ought to be:
- Fit for purpose
- As described
- Satisfactory quality
- Services ought to be carried out with due skill and care
FOOD DELIVERY APPS CHARGE UP TO 44% MORE FOR THE CONVENIENCE
You will pay much more to order food via an app. The reason for this is because commission charges range from 15% – 35%, which food outlets price in and pass the costs on to consumers.
A Which? investigation discovered that consumers often struggle to resolve complaints with food delivery apps. Late arrivals, cold food and missing items are the most common complaints. Orders not turning up is also a common problem.
SCENARIOS
If a takeaway has arrived and it is not what you ordered, you are entitled to reject it. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 states that goods ordered ought to be as described.
If a takeaway has taken too long to be delivered, you are entitled to ask for a discount. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 states that services ought to be carried out with due skill and care.
If a takeaway has taken so long to be delivered that the items are stone cold, you are entitled to reject it. This embraces all aspects of The Consumer Rights Act 2015 as the items ordered are not fit for purpose, as described, satisfactory quality and have not been delivered within the expected timeframe.
If you expected and were told that a delivery would be made within 30 minutes and it took 2.5 hours, it would be considered reasonable to reject it. Bear in mind though that you can simply reheat the food – don’t try it on!
If a delivery simply hasn’t arrived and this is disputed, ask for proof of delivery and raise a chargeback with your bank. Always try and resolve it with the provider first though.
If you have paid via an app, your contract is always with the outlet for the food that you have ordered and paid for.
CONTRACT LAW
Your contract is always with who you paid, whether it is via an app or by debit / credit card. The outlet may fob you off and say that you need to speak to whoever delivered it. You did not choose to engage Just Eat, Deliveroo or anyone else to deliver your food – that arrangement was made by the outlet and you had no say in it.
You need to be reasonable though. The litmus test is, “What would a reasonable person expect in the eyes of the law?”.
Always try and resolve it with the outlet first and be nice about it. You are more likely to get a quick and satisfactory outcome by doing so. Mistakes happen and you have to give them an opportunity to remedy it.
You can also contact the delivery partner via the app that the outlet has a contract with. Takeaways are keen to minimise bad reviews and feedback to avoid losing the right to use the delivery service.
PROOF
Gather your evidence. You need the date and time you placed the order, receipt, time it arrived and photos.
OPTIONS
You can report an outlet to Trading Standards and / or file a Small Claim online. This has to be a last resort though.
You can find out more about how to resolve complaints and motoring disputes in my book.
Have you had takeaway delivery problems? If so, how did you resolve it?
This is what I’ve written to the Thai restaurant in Babbacombe:
We ordered a takeaway for 5 people tonight at 7.30pm (Saturday 22nd May).
We were told you were busy and that it would be ready at 8.30pm.
We phoned up at 8.30pm. It was not ready. We were told it would take a further 20mins. I confirmed it to be 8.50pm.that we’d collect. We were then told no, it would be 9pm (a further 10 mins on top).
We then called back at 9pm and were told our order had not even been started yet!!!!!!!
It was too late for us to go to order from another place so we decided to just hang on. We had it confirmed that our food would be made and my brother Michael Walters card payment would be cancelled by way of compensation.
Us:
“Surely you don’t expect us to be paying for this”
You:
“Of course not”
At 10pm we all walked down to the restaurant and were told it was not ready. This could not have been any worse.
We waited for a further 15 minutes and finally walked in to complain.
The Just Eat Delivery guy had also been waiting outside for ages and decided to leave.
We eventually told the person behind the till to have it delivered to our home 1min walk away.
Just after 10.40pm, two friends of the restaurant turned up with our food.
We checked immediately online at our payment and saw it was ‘pending’ – so we asked the gentlemen to ensure my brother’s card payment was cancelled.
One of our guests is almost 70. We’d kept him waiting all evening. He had to stay incredibly late to eat and we ended up having to go and buy food from the supermarket.
Tonight you were taking fresh orders at the till at 9.30pm despite being massively behind with our order which meant we had to wait even longer.
I cannot stress how appalling this service has been. We were not the only ones who were let down tonight. You were taking wrong orders to some of the tables too.
You say we could have cancelled.
You kept telling us it would be another 20 mins 20mins.
You say we ate your food
We actually had to go to the supermarket out of desperation because your food hadn’t arrived.
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So good people out there ……what are my rights in this situation??
I’m so livid about this.
I’ve just had an infuse takeaway delivered (which was very late) by a customer who was passing. This is very kind but I feel the restaurant shouldn’t be giving out my address.
But what about when the delivery get late because the restaurant doesn’t have the food ready?the problem is not the delivered person is the restaurant or when is to order and the delivery company is who decide what order go first.people just talk about how bad is the delivery company what about talk how much the delivery person get pay.