Featured Image Credit: MS News / svetikd / Getty Images
Topics: Food and Drink, News
Jess Battison
There’s nothing like the anticipation of getting a takeaway. It’s such a feeling of joy when that hot bag of food is handed over for you to curl up and enjoy on the sofa in sweats.
Although it’s not so joyous if you’re not there to collect it.
For one Singaporean woman, her experience with a Deliveroo driver was distressing.
She had been using the delivery service for the first time and was quickly taking a shower when her food arrived, reports MS News.
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Ms Lim didn’t realise she could choose between contactless delivery or a two-digit pin code and so left clear instructions for the rider to ‘put food on the shoe rack’ as there was a problem with her doorbell.
But while she was in the shower, she could hear the rider shouting, getting louder and louder.
“This is where I got really concerned and alarmed. My neighbour next door to me has an elderly lady supposedly recovering from surgery. I was worried that the food rider would disturb her,” she tells MS News.
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So, she wrapped herself in a towel and rushed to the door. Feeling as though they were staring at her, she hid behind her kitchen wall.
Ms Lim adds: “The food rider refused to look away until I had to raise my voice to tell him, ‘Look away! And turn around now!'”
However, he claimed that if he wasn’t given an order number then he couldn’t give over the food.
She didn’t realise there was a pin code.
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“He said he would leave with my food. I was horrified and felt like I was being held hostage,” she claims.
Still in nothing but her towel, she went to get the pin and says when she turned to give it to him: “His body position had now changed to sideways, and he seemed to have a mobile phone in his hand. The next thing on my mind was to think that he might have taken a photo or video of me while I was looking at my laptop screen.”
Fearing this, but unable to confirm if it happened, she shouted over the pin code and remained hiding behind her wall.
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MsLim contacted Deliveroo and made a police report but doesn’t intend to blame the rider. She thinks there should be clearer information about the two-digit pin.
A Deliveroo spokesperson told MS News: “We are sorry for the customer’s experience and are investigating this issue as a matter of urgency. We have recently introduced an app feature where customers may receive a code immediately after confirming their orders. Riders will then ask for the code upon their arrival to confirm receipt of the order. This is to ensure confirmation from both the customer and rider that the order has been delivered and completed, mitigating any potential confusion. The code can be communicated with the rider via call or chat from within the app as well. This simple process is currently applicable for selected orders, aimed at providing our customers with greater assurance and an improved delivery experience.
“In an event where the rider is unable to retrieve the code from the customer, there are alternative ways to confirm the order and we will be sure to continue to communicate to our riders on how they can proceed in such cases.
“At Deliveroo, we are committed to delivering the best possible customer experience and strive to continuously improve our processes based on feedback from consumers, restaurants and riders.”