Customer Says Ice Cream Was Too Cold - Restaurant Owner Angry Because Of Refund Scam

Jan 11, 2022 by apost team

Whenever you go out to a restaurant or order take-out, you probably expect your order to be perfect, or at least pretty close to perfect. However, sometimes kitchens get the order wrong or other mistakes happen, resulting in a meal less than satisfactory. In this case, it’s common for customers to want some kind of compensation, whether it be a new meal or a full refund.

Hassan Habib is the owner of Lucky’s, which is a fast-food restaurant in Oldham – a large town in Manchester, England. He had an interesting experience regarding a customer’s refund for their ice cream. The issue: it was too cold. While this may seem pretty strange considering ice cream is known for being a delicious frozen treat, most people in customer service live by the phrase, “The customer is always right,” meaning that Habib really had no other choice than to give the customer a full refund. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg of a long list of problems.

The customer had placed an order through Just Eat, a delivery service that offers a simple solution for customers to get refunds. According to Habib, this has become quite an issue for his restaurant, as many people have begun ordering through the delivery service in order to potentially scam restaurants out of their food and money. Habib had been using the platform for a couple of years, but it recently changed its policy. Along with this, Habib and his team have also been experiencing a high amount of frustrating and suspicious refunds from customers.

Hoping For A Change

According to Manchester Evening News, Habib was forced to stop using Just Eat in December 2021 after a new scam emerged through the delivery service. He claimed that customers began requesting suspicious refunds around the same time the platform changed its refund policy, costing him several hundreds of dollars a month. 

The new refund policy makes it easy for customers to get their money back, but hard for restaurant owners and employees to dispute any suspicious claims, according to Manchester Evening News. While there isn’t necessarily a direct correlation, Habib admitted that it’s been frustrating. Habib also said that one of the most ludicrous refund requests he received was from a customer who ordered four milkshakes, a cheesecake and an ice cream. They said the food was too cold. 

“I fully understand that things go wrong, sometimes we make mistakes, we miss items or send the wrong item out, but we make it up to the customers whether it’s with a replacement item or a fully entitled refund,” Habib explained. “But now some really bad, evil people are taking advantage of this loophole and it’s left us in a really bad position.”

Habib has since called on the delivery service to implement a new process to make it harder for people to take advantage of the refund policy, and has warned other businesses about the potential scam. In response, Just Eat said they would reach out to Habib to address his concerns and help stop any fraudulent or suspicious claims. A spokesperson said, “Just Eat is only successful if our restaurant partners are successful and we have a track record of helping restaurants prosper.”

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What do you think about this customer’s refund request and the other issues restaurant owners face regarding delivery services? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends, too.