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You'd think that the popular delivery companies such as Uber Eats, Just Eat, Deliveroo etc. would all be in the successful place they are because they provide a good service. I decided to make use of one of UberEats' introductory discounts in June last year during the first few months of the pandemic. Unfortunately the order never arrived, and I did not receive any update via email or SMS as to why so I posted on twitter:
SXA: Not impressed with @ubereats_uk - order showed on the web page but after waiting an hour from the delivery time I go to the help section, selected the order and it's showing as canceled. No email, no text. Shambolic waste of time ...
SXA: And @ubereats_uk said "Ask the restaurant" when I contacted them. No, I'm sorry, while the restaurant may have triggered the cancellation you as my provider needed to notify me that it had occurred and you did not. I stand by my "shambolic" comment @UberUKsupport
So let's see how the conversation went after this
Uber: "We appreciate you taking the time to let us know your concerns, and want you to know that we are constantly aiming to improve our services to you. Rest assured that we take every feedback quite seriously, so your concern has not gone unnoticed."
SXA: Three times @Uber_Support has given me a link. I've given them a screenshot showing that they did not give me a sensible response after I contacted them on the link. Unwilling to engage and just parrots "We are happy to help". Total #CustomerServiceFail
About five months later someone else I know posted about a similar experience (although they did get a message saying their order had been canceled) and I replied with this:
SXA: My first attempt with @UberEats was a similar disaster. Same apparently happened but they didn't bother telling me. It just didn't show up so I had to contact them to ask why ... Unapologetic. So annoying. Never tried using them again after that.
Now bear in mind at this point that it was several months after my original problem and I was just replying to someone else's posr, my money had been refunded but they never seemed to accept any responsibility for the error. Despite the fact it was several months ago, they still seemed to engage and fix my problem - the rest of the interaction would have been laughable if it wasn't for the fact it wasted my time - I even started the interaction by saying I felt their customer service had been terrible ... Enjoy!
Uber: Hi Stewart, we are happy to help. Please follow our support page: https://ubr.to/??????? so our UberEats support team can assist you.
SXA: I'm not going there again. I did repeatedly when it happened and you refused to take any responsibility for not notifying me that the order had been cancelled, leaving me without food with no warning. You were most definitely not "happy to help" despite what you say
Uber: Hi Stewart, In order for us to resolve your concern kindly provide us with the number or email that is linked to your account, along with the order ID so that we can assist ASAP.
SXA: It was in June. My account does not show the order ID but lists "2 items for £0.00 - 19 Jun at 20:00" ?????????? at ????? (obviously, there is no other order on a/c) Feel free to prove to me that you wish to take this seriously, as you did not take any responsibility at the time
Uber: Hi Stewart, we can look into this for you. Can you send us a DM with your mobile number, email address and more information please? We'll look out for your reply.
I did and the DM conversation went like this:
SXA: As requested - email address XXXXXXX@gmail.com, phone XXXXXXX
Uber: Hi Stewart, happy to help. Kindly send us the order ID which you are referring to, so that we can assist you better. You can look for the order ID in the recent orders that you have placed through the Uber Eats app.
SXA: READ THE MESSAGE I SENT YOU BEFORE WE MOVED TO DMS. I do not have the order ID as it's no longer showing on my account.
Uber: Hi Stewart, in order to assist you in a better way kindly provide us
— Name of the restaurant
— Time and date of the order placed
SXA: I will repeat "READ THE MESSAGE I SENT YOU BEFORE WE MOVED TO DMS" I've already given you the time and date in the tweet at https://twitter.com/sxaTech/status/1362834794850242560. And as I said there is only one order on my account so I'm sure you can find it, but I've just logged back in and it was from XXXXXXX in XXXXXXX. Over to you - please don't waste my time with this.
UE: Hi Stewart, happy to help. Please send us some additional details about your issue so that we can assist you better.
SXA: What else do you need? I've given you everything. You picked up on a tweet I made replying to someone else in reference something I mentioned six months after a problem and asked me to DM you. I put in an order. It didn't arrive. You did not notify me that it had been cancelled and declined to take any responsibility so I never used you again. I'm not sure why I'm repeating myself here but this interaction is frustrating. If it wasn't for the delays in responding Is assume you were a bot)
Uber: Hi Stewart, please provide us with the order ID, so that we can assist ASAP.
SXA: OK you are useless. I have repeatedly stayed that the account is not showing the order ID, but there is only one order on my account. You are clearly not listening and wasting my time with non existent customer service.
Uber: Hi Stewart,
We're sorry to hear about this experience. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a refund for your order as it was placed more than 48 hours ago.
In future, if you experience any issues with an order, please notify us within this time frame and we would be happy to help.
We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for but thank you for taking the time to let us know.
SXA: Why have we been going backwards and forwards on this in DMs when I was at the start it was in June? You have completely vindicated my decision not to try you again since.
Somehow my twitter ended up with a second conversation (I presume this is something twitter offer:
Uber: How would you rate your experience on Twitter with Uber Support?
Uber: Hi Stewart, as mentioned above, we're sorry to hear about this experience. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a refund for your order as it was placed more than 48 hours ago. In future, if you experience any issues with an order, please notify us within this time frame, and we would be happy to help. We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for but thank you for taking the time to let us know.
So basically the sum total of Uber's customer support is zero. They don't read the information you've provided, ask you to provide information you say you can't and then say "I can't do anything" despite me starting the interaction with "I'm not going there again. I did repeatedly when it happened and you refused to take any responsibility for not notifying me that the order had been cancelled, leaving me without food with no warning. You were most definitely not "happy to help" despite what you say"
Every message had some variant of "We are happy to help". All words, zero actions. I prefer to choose companies to use which care about their customers, with whom I can have reasonable interactions, and know that they will take responsibility when things go wrong. Uber Eats failed on all three of those points and "We're sorry" words in themselves don't count for anything. It's as believable as every company who says "We take security very seriously" once they've had a breach or been outed as having poor security practices. Sometimes I find it embarrassing to be part of the technology industry ...
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