Better Than Nothing, But Only Barely

I order food from a well-known delivery service. The food is outside, and the guy calls us to ask where our house is because it’s hard to find and their GPS map always places us further up our road than we are. It’s easier for me to go outside and get it from them rather than explain how to find our house. So I go, grab the bag, and thank the guy.

As I’m walking back to the house in the dark, it strikes me that this seems like a lot more food than we ordered. I get inside and look at the receipt stapled to the bag and, sure enough, our £23 order is missing and this is someone else’s £35 order. I call the guy, who tells us he can’t do anything because he’s just a delivery guy for a third-party company and to contact the delivery company helpline. Fair enough. I hop on the chat.

Me: “Hi, I received an order, but it’s entirely wrong. I ordered a meal with specific dietary requirements so I cannot eat any of it. Can I get a refund, please?”

I send this with proof of my actual order and what I received.

My family eats the food we got because at least they get dinner that way. I end up making something anyway because I can’t eat any of what I got.

Eight entire hours pass by before customer support… refunds me £1.64.

At first, I think maybe they misunderstood because some of the items we ordered did happen to be in the order we got, but neither the chicken nor the burger we actually got was this price. Literally nothing I ordered was £1.64 — not even the tip we left the delivery guy, delivery charge, or service fee was £1.64 — and I still have no idea where they got this value from.

Me: “Hi. Why was I only refunded £1.64 for a £20+ order I never got?”

Several more hours pass by. It is now about midday the next day.

Customer Support: “Your refund of £1.64 is already being processed; it will appear in two to three business days.”

Me: “Yes, thank you, but that isn’t my problem. None of what I ordered was £1.64. None of the charges were £1.64. I’m confused about why the value I’m being refunded isn’t the value of my entire order I never got.”

Customer Support: “Your refund of £1.64 is being processed. I’m closing the claim.”

Cue me opening a third claim, mainly out of principle now.

I reexplain the ordeal AGAIN.

Me: “Please, can I just be refunded?”

Another probably about four or five hours passed by, and I went to check the logs with no update. At this point, it had been like two days, and I’d given up getting my money back.

I was sitting there wondering if the family that ordered £35 of stuff that we got had gotten their refund, and I saw they had refunded me the entire amount a few minutes prior. I guess they decided it would be nicer if it was a surprise because no one replied to my customer support chat.