The takeaway owner blames changes to Just Eat's refund system
A takeaway has been forced to refund a customer because they complained that their ice cream was too cold.
Lucky's, in Oldham, Greater Manchester, had to refund a customer for their order of four milkshakes, a cheesecake and an ice cream.
The boss of the takeaway, Hassan Habib, has said that changes to Just Eat's refund system have made it easier for customers to get their money back if they are unhappy with their order, allowing some to exploit the system.
Habib claims he's been hit by a spate of refund requests through the site since the changes were made, costing him several hundred pounds each month.
He told
Manchester Evening News: "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."
Before the changes to the refund system, Just Eat would contact restaurants to check the complaint was legitimate before refunding customers.
Now however, refunds will be given for any complaints made that the restaurant could have prevented - with the business having 30 days to dispute any claims.
The aim of the changes is to hold restaurants to account for any poor service.
Habib said that he understands mistake can be made but "we make it up to the customers whether it’s with a replacement item or a fully entitled refund."
He added: "But now some really bad, evil people are taking advantage of this loophole and it's left us in a really bad position."
The Lucky's boss is trying to get together a group of between 50 and 100 firms to all switch off their order machines for an hour to show their displeasure with Just Eat.
Just Eat said they would be speaking to Habib to address his concerns and said they were doing what they could to stop any fraudulent refund claims.
A spokesperson for the firm said: "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."
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