A user on TikTok is calling out Uber Eats after claiming that the service charged her a $20 fee because she canceled an order after the chef at the restaurant she was ordering from cut his finger off.
In a video with over 40,000 views, TikTok user Sami (@sami.schubert) recounts her experience, saying that Uber denied multiple requests for a refund despite Sami repeatedly attempting to have them understand the situation.
“Do not use Uber Eats,” she says at the beginning of the video.
@sami.schubert DO NOT USE UBEREATS!!!!!! 🙄🙄🙄 #greenscreen #ubereats #uber #usedoordash #doordash @ubereats ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
In the video, Sami says she ordered pancakes from IHOP for delivery. When the driver arrived at the restaurant, she told Sami that the chef had cut off his finger. Accordingly, she instructed Sami to cancel the order, to which Sami complied.
Upon cancellation, Sami received a notification that she would be charged a $20 cancellation fee for inconveniencing the driver and restaurant.
Confused, she chatted with customer service to dispute the fee, only to be told that she should not have canceled her order based solely on the word of her driver.
“I said, ‘so anytime I need to cancel my order, I need to call and get your permission?’” she recounts. “He said, ‘yes.’”
Sami contested this, pointing out the fact that the app’s terms say that adjustments may be made to cancellation fees due to things like “known issues.”
“I said, ‘this is a known issue. The chef had an injury and cannot make my food, therefore I cannot receive food, therefore I should receive a refund,’” Sami says. Uber Eats did not budge, continuing to refuse the refund.
Sami disputed this again, which too was denied. Eventually, Sami found a telephone number to call and dispute the charge.
At this point, she was informed that they would need to confirm her story with the driver and put her on hold. After a few minutes, the customer support agent returned to the call and said they couldn’t reach the driver—therefore, the penalty would remain.
Finally, Sami decided to resolve the issue directly with her bank and disputed the charge.
“Don’t user Uber Eats,” she concludes. “They will take your money, charge you cancellation fees, and then get mad at you when you try to dispute completely normal things to dispute.”
In the comments section, some users provided further context about how Uber Eats works.
“Drivers unfortunately can’t cancel orders,” claimed a user. “Coming from a former Uber eats driver. All we can do is unassign from the order and it’ll be sent to the next driver. It can’t be cancelled on our end which is really stupid in my opinion.”
“That what I thought it did,” Sami responded. “So when my driver said to cancel the order, I figured it was because it would hop from driver to driver if I didn’t!”
A few users shared their own Uber Eats horror stories.
“…I order[ed] kfc 2 times [and] my order was incomplete,” recalled a user. “I ask[ed] for refund for missing items [and] they block me for refunds.”
“I ordered $80 of food and they gave me wrong order,” alleged a second. “[They] said I wasn’t eligible for refund so never use Uber.”
“I have only used them twice and they tried to charge me for my first order again (which was 8 month before),” stated a third. “it was a complete joke.”
“I had a similar issue,” shared an additional TikToker. “Disputed it, AMEX took care of it, then Uber put a block on my account for the amount disputed.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Sami via Instagram direct message and Uber via email.
Update 10:30am CT March 30: In an Instagram DM exchange with the Daily Dot, Sami speculated about what exactly happened.
“At first I totally believed the chef [cut his finger off], which is why I canceled so quickly, but at this point I no longer feel that way,” she wrote. “I believe the driver lied in order to take some kind of fee as “compensation” — and/or took my food!”
As for how Uber can improve their services, Sami has a suggestion.
“I don’t believe Uber should have a section of their website saying refunds will be provided in specific cases when they won’t honor it,” she stated. “I thought, ‘surely this is a mistake, they have to know it was out of my control.’ And it turns out they just don’t care.”
