How to complain about fast food, take-aways and deliveries
Food delivery complaints are increasingly common. Have you ever ordered a takeaway that took far longer than advertised, arrived cold or didn’t turn up at all? Here’s how to complain about food delivery problems and get the result you want.
If you’re dealing with food delivery complaints, you may already have paid for the delivery before it arrives and then find it difficult to get a refund or discount. Here’s how to get help with that issue!
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Your consumer rights when your food delivery goes wrong
You are totally within your rights to reject the order when it arrives if it is not as you ordered. You have a right to a discount on the order if you decide to keep it.
In fact, if the delivery was so late that you had to order another takeaway at additional cost to the original order, you could argue that in law you are entitled to the difference too. One must be reasonable, so the delay would need to be unreasonable and within the delivery company’s control.
Any food delivery company not delivering when promised would be in breach of a number of laws. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) services should be carried out with information given verbally or in writing to the consumer which is binding where the consumer relies on it. Any service must be carried out within the agreed time. Secondly, The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (amended 2014) (CPUTRs) prohibit trading practices that are unfair to consumers and there are bans on Misleading Practices.
How to complain about your fast food delivery
You may already have paid for the delivery before it arrives and then find it difficult to get the refund/discount. Take a picture of the delivery with the time and making copies of any evidence showing the delivery time. (Always make a note of the time you placed the order). Then write to the manager of the company with who you paid the money whether this is the actual delivery company or not, your contract is always with whom you paid your money.
Give details of date, time of order and time of delivery with any evidence. State that the company is in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and The CPUTRs (using the information above). State that should you not be fully satisfied with the response then you will take the matter further which will include but not be limited to informing Trading Standards and detailing your experience on relevant review sites. You could even threaten the Small Claims Court but few people would carry this threat through! Quoting your legal rights in this way usually gets the redress you are owed!
Paying through an app? Your contract is always with whom you paid. So just like companies that try and fob you off and tell you to contact the courier when you’ve ordered something online… don’t be fobbed off re food delivery. Let the company you paid get its money back from the fast food place!
The same applies for other issues, such as wrong or missing items.
Taking the complaint further
If you are still unhappy you can always write to the CEO, contact details for CEOs can be found at www.ceoemail.com. The CEO won’t necessarily respond personally but the matter will be escalated and taken more seriously. If more people started to complain and assert their legal rights then service would have to improve or companies would go under from providing refunds and discounts. As for companies who repeatedly breach the CPUTRs a breach is a criminal offence. The maximum penalty on conviction is a fine and two years’ imprisonment!
These food delivery complaints can usually be resolved quickly if you follow the right steps and know your consumer rights.
Food apps in the news
Just Eat automated systems help fraudsters get refunds failures in the system cost small businesses.
Regulator investigates alleged “fake reviews” Just Eat one of a number of companies investigated for hosting fake reviews.
Further help with complaining effectively
Restaurants, pubs, cafes and fast food delivery complaint template letters
Purchase and download Wrong Order – Fast Food Delivery template letter
For more information, tips, advice, consumer law and template letters for most consumer complaint scenarios GET THE BOOK! How To Complain: The ESSENTIAL Consumer Guide to Getting REFUNDS, Redress and RESULTS!
101 Habits of an Effective Complainer to help you become more skilled and assertive when making complaints
Purchase downloadable templates to gain redress
4 Comments. Leave new
I had an issue with an takeaway delivery order but didn’t log it for 5 days, the company said I’ve taken too long. What can I do?
You can still complain following the advice above. But it IS understandable that they should question why you took 5 days to notify them. You would need to give them a good reason I would think.
Thanks for your advice. Ordered via a takeaway food portal and food took over 2 hours to be delivered. They refused any sort of refund, but offered some “points” and 20% discount on my next order. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Kept on refusing until I mentioned the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and hey presto, that got the result I was after. Cheers.
You’re very welcome, thank you for taking time to comment! Hope you find the rest of the site’s resources useful!