Takeaway hits out after customer claims ice cream is ‘too cold’

A Greater Manchester takeaway owner has expressed his frustration after being urged to refund customers for a series of “suspicious” requests on a delivery platform.

Hassan Habib, the owner of Lucky’s in Oldham, told the Manchester Evening News he can no longer afford to use Just East – with customer complaints costing him “hundreds of pounds” each month.

Mr Habib said that a “loophole” in the platform’s refund system has forced him to give back money to customers – including one incident where the buyer said their ice cream was “too cold”.

He told the MEN: “We can see how many orders someone’s made on Just Eat or with us and I’ve seen someone who’s ordered food from us and they’ve never placed an order on Just Eat before.

“They ordered four milkshakes, a cheesecake, and an ice cream and 45 minutes later they put in a refund request because the food was cold.

“That’s just one of the many examples – they just order food, put down ‘X, Y, Z’ is wrong with it, do a refund and leave us to the costs.

“I fully understand that things go wrong, sometimes we make mistakes, we miss items or send the wrong item out, but we make it up to the customers whether it’s with a replacement item or a fully entitled refund.

“But now some really bad, evil people are taking advantage of this loophole and it’s left us in a really bad position.”

Just Eat has said the company would communicate with Mr Habib regarding the claims.

A spokesperson for the firm stated: “Just Eat is only successful if our restaurant partners are successful and we have a track record of helping restaurants prosper.

“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.

“Restaurant partners are always refunded in full when we find any fraudulent activity taking place.

“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.”

Image: Wikimedia Commons