Hungry consumers go to court over food apps’ delivery goof-ups

With the increased penetration of online shopping applications among consumers in the city, litigations on consumer rights issues have also increased manifold.

The number of cases lodged in consumer forums against online shopping apps has increased by nearly 30-40% over the last year.

According to officials close to the development, a majority of these cases are against online food delivery apps.

Speaking to TOI, T Rajeshwara Rao, a consumer lawyer said, “We have seen some of these apps either trying to fleece or simply trying to hold on to the money for days on different pretexts. Moreover, most of these apps do not have proper customer care systems in place and customers are unable to reach executives in case they have a grievance.”

Another problem with the consumer grievance redressal system, according to Rajeswara Rao is that customers are able to send only automated messages through the apps, therefore, are unable to express their grievance as they are limited by templates.

Only recently, a resident of MVP Colony in the city alleged that after having placed an order with a food delivery app, he received a call from a delivery agent after an hour, informing the customer that his vehicle had broken down. Upon enquiring if someone else could deliver the order, the complainant was informed that there was no one else available and his only option was to cancel the order and place it afresh.

But the customer had already paid the total bill of Rs 1,230 by then. He requested that the amount be adjusted with the new order, but his appeal was turned down. He was informed that the money would be refunded to his account within seven working days. Therefore the customer had to pay twice the amount, at that point in time, through no fault of his.

“This is not the only such case. There have been cases where restaurants have cancelled orders placed through these online food delivery platforms after the money was paid. This is highly unethical,” Rao added.

In one such case, K Srinivasa, a resident of Madhurawada placed an order and made an online payment. Subsequently, he called up the restaurant to customise the order. The restaurant refused the customisation requested, as a result of which, the customer cancelled the order. Srinivasa did not get his money back. The restaurant claimed that the food ordered got wasted.

Speaking to TOI, Srinivasa said, “The food delivery platforms do not provide the contact information of the restaurant until the order is placed and the payment made. So how can we ask the restaurant to customise the order beforehand?”

“I had a word with the restaurant and cancelled the order within 15-20 seconds of the conversation. There is no way that the food got wasted. Moreover, I had even added a tip of Rs 20 for the delivery agent. The platform did not even refund that amount,” an angry Srinivasa said.

Consumer rights organisations told TOI that they are aware of the developments and are trying to make people more aware about their consumer rights vis-à-vis online shopping platforms. “The Consumer Act of 2019 is very consumer-friendly, especially with regard to online shopping platforms. We are trying to make people aware of the same,” said Vikas Pandey, state president of the AP Consumer Rights Association.

Source:- https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/hungry-consumers-go-to-court-over-food-apps-delivery-goof-ups/71890165