After Just Eat altered its policy regarding diners asking for money back, a takeaway proprietor claimed that he was hit by a flood of fraudulent refund requests.
Lucky’s Diner, Oldham in Greater Manchester owned by Hassan Habib. He said that he noticed an increase in complaints about his restaurant which is rated 5.5 stars from six on Takeaway.
The Manchester Evening News reports that one of the brazenest requests he received was for ice-cream, cheeseshakes, and milkshakes to be delivered ‘cold.’
According to him, dodgy clients were taking advantage of the new Just Eat policy regarding refunds which was introduced in January. It is meant to mirror what UberEats has and Deliveroo.
Just Eat would first contact the restaurant to confirm that the complaint was legitimate before making the decision to change. After ten days, the restaurant could respond with a “yes or no” answer. The request would then either be approved or rejected and a refund would be issued if necessary.
Just Eat charges restaurants automatically for all food-related complaints like missing or poor quality. After that, the restaurant has 30 days in which to request a refund and show proof of legality.
Lucky’s Diner, in Oldham, Greater Manchester owned by Hassan Habib, stated that he’s been seeing more complaints about his restaurant which is rated 5,5 stars on Jus East.
Just Eat MailOnlineThe ne system allows restaurants more time to claim refunds and they work hard to block fraudulent accounts and return money to the restaurant if possible.
Hassan explained that the fraud problem existed before Just Eat’s policy change, but this has only made it worse.
‘They just order food, put down ‘X, Y, Z’ is wrong with it, do a refund and leave us to the costs,’ he said.
Refund requests are often made by accounts who have never placed an order before and they’re new to Just Eat.
Lucky’s milkshakes. Hassan complained in a bold refund request that the order of cheesecake and milkshakes with ice-cream was delivered ‘cold’.
Just Eat, under the old system of refunds, would call restaurants to inquire if the complaint was genuine. After receiving a complaint, Just Eat would contact the restaurant and ask them if they thought it was legitimate.
Restaurants will now be subject to complaints and have 30 days for refund disputes. But they still need to show that their claim was valid.
Hassan stated that he is aware of the possibility for orders to go wrong and has offered full refunds as well as replacements when such issues occurred.
Hassan stated that Lucky’s has worked with Just Eat since more than two years. Just Eat claims that this fraud issue is separate from the new system of refunds
He said, “But now some really evil, wicked people are taking advantage this loophole, and it has left us in an extremely bad situation.”
Hassan, who has been working with Just Eat more than 2 years, claimed that refund problems have just started to occur recently.
The new system made it simpler for customers to request refunds and more difficult for restaurants to contest the charges.
Hassan indicated that he would like other business owners to learn from his experience and has asked Just Eat to work with its rivals to prevent fraudulent accounts from gaming the system.
In addition to attempting to organize a protest along with other restaurant owners, the owner of Just Eat is looking to get 50-100 companies to partner with Just Eat to swap their takeaway orders for one hour in order to voice their discontent.
He said: ‘We’ve got dining facilities but what about the restaurants that rely on deliveries?
“People literally cry – What is the matter?”
Just Eat spokesperson said that Just Eat can only succeed if its restaurant partners have success and they are an organization with a proven track record in helping restaurants thrive.
‘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.
If we discover any fraud, our ‘Restaurant Partners are always reimbursed in full.
‘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.’