foodpanda rider, 36, gets deducted S$31.35 after accidentally pressing 'delivered' button early, struggles to get refund

A foodpanda rider accidentally indicated that he had delivered a meal 15 minutes before he actually arrived at the customer's address.

Before he could arrive with the food, the customer reported to the app that they did not receive their order.

The delivery platform made the rider pay S$31.35 as a result.

Despite appealing to foodpanda and getting the customer to clarify with the platform, he wasn't able to get his money back easily.

Unable to get a refund since August

The incident occurred on Aug. 11, the rider, 36-year-old Yang Yuling, told Shin Min Daily News.

According to him, he had just delivered an order to Waterway Point in Punggol at the time, and was preparing to process the second order when he pressed the "delivered" button for the second delivery on the app by accident.

It took him 15 minutes to arrive at the second customer's address. However, before he could pass the food to the customer, they had already reported not receiving the food.

The platform deducted S$31.35 from the rider in response to the customer's feedback.

Yang told Shin Min that the customer had explained to foodpanda's customer service team about the mix up and he had tried to contact the platform multiple times but he couldn't get a refund.

Yang has not received his refund when he spoke to Shin Min.

He also shared that the customer service team has not been effective at helping him with other issues, such as incorrect addresses or when customers can't be reached.

He hopes the platform can improve the support for both customers and delivery riders.

foodpanda to issue refund in coming week

Upon investigation, foodpanda confirmed that the delivery was completed and agreed to issue the refund.

A platform spokesperson told Shin Min that the initial appeal was not approved as a photo of the delivered food submitted by Yang did not meet the platform's verification requirements.

A refund will be fully refunded to Yang in the coming week, as the company verified that the delivery was completed, the spokesperson said.

foodpanda also promised to improve their ability to handle such situations more effectively.