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There is currently a thread on Reddit where hundreds are reporting having their orders cancelled but still being charged. https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesig

by spuz 5y ago

There is currently a thread on Reddit where hundreds are reporting having their orders cancelled but still being charged. https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/rj0a19/made_sure_i_wasnt_ordering_near_closing_time_now/ https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/rj0a19/made_... A similar thing happened to me. I still have an email that says "your order was cancelled but we'll refund you in 3 weeks". Three weeks later I still had no refund but since so much time had passed, their support refused to consider my complaint. After trying everything I could think of I eventually reversed the charge with my bank which took another 4 weeks or so. Then shortly after that I tried to book a taxi through Uber (not UberEats) and was unexpectedly charged the original amount for my cancelled food order. Again I had to get that amount refunded through my bank which again took weeks. Most people will not bother to get their money back. Uber's business model is literal theft.

stefan_ 5y ago
Haha, what is that screen?! "We didn't keep our part of the contract, but we are charging you anyway"? How on earth did that make it all the way into the app.
- kzrdude 5y ago
  Here you wonder what the programmers implementing this were thinking
  - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
    They were implementing what they had been asked to.
    - fzil 5y ago
      at a certain point you have to take responsibility for your actions and the impact it has on the world. Sure, if you don't do it somebody else will. But what matters is that you weren't the one who did it and dirtied your hands. Yes, the CEO/management are responsible for the overall direction and tactics used by the business but the engineers are also complicit since without them the plan isn't executed.
      - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
        1. I can't imagine a scenario where someone asks me to implement the message in question and I reply "I won't do it and if you insist I quit." 2. I believe the components on the screen ("You will still be charged" and the actual message) have been designed independently. Of course in the end there was someone somewhere who decided to combine them in the logic of the app. Normally I'd tend to believe it was a mistake, but after several reports and their lax attitude to them it's clear it works as intended, at least for now.
        notreallyserio 5y ago
        > 1. I can't imagine a scenario where someone asks me to implement the message in question and I reply "I won't do it and if you insist I quit." I guess this is your choice but I find it unethical. If you're a good engineer at Uber chances are 100% you can get a job at any other high-paying organization, so why choose to participate in this scheme?
        hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
        My point is, neither of the 3 separate messages on the screen is morally wrong on its own. It is only when you combine them it becomes obvious is totally wrong. As for the core of your point, frankly, half of the Silicon Valley would be jobless. Not just Uber programmers who already proved who they are by developing Greyball. The whole business of Facebook and Google is centered around tracking people. Amazon will happily accept fake reviews and products as long as customers pay they're happy. Netflix officially says they're competing with the time their customers use for sleeping. Apple will do everything to make their products environment unfriendly, unupgradeable, with ton of additional accessories produced only to increase their profit. So really, I understand your idealism, but the ship has already sailed and you can call yourself lucky if you can work on a product and for a company that are 100% ethical.
        fzil 5y ago
        All the examples that you gave are strictly in the morally grey area. Where they end up on the spectrum is up to you as a person and what values you consider more important than others. However, in this case, things are quite black and white. Someone pays money for food, they don't get any and then you keep the money anyway. Calling it anything other than theft is being delusional. If they did partial refunds or they only gave uber eats credit instead of money then this case would be in the same bucket as the ones you mentioned in your comment.
- howdydoo 5y ago
  https://libredd.it/img/g1o5jeeok8681.jpg https://libredd.it/img/g1o5jeeok8681.jpg You weren't kidding. Fraud doesn't get more blatant than this
  - glitchcrab 5y ago
    I'll admit that I haven't read their T&Cs, but how is this allowed? It blows my mind.
  - NavinF 5y ago
    I’m gonna guess the screenshot is fake. Their support page still says he should get a refund: https://help.uber.com/ubereats/article/i-was-charged-for-cancellation?nodeId=6838771b-be6a-452e-a82c-9230679120bd https://help.uber.com/ubereats/article/i-was-charged-for-can...
stathibus 5y ago
Typical modern tech approach to user problems. Sorry we tried, most customers are happy though so we're winning, move fast and break things etc
MaxBarraclough 5y ago
I'll share my less dramatic experience, on the off chance others have seen the same: Every few weeks I get an email from Uber Eats with a generous-looking promotional code, to the tune of 25% off. If I line up an order on the website and enter the promotional code, no discount appears on the order. If I refresh the page and re-enter the code, it tells me That code has already been used. This has happened to me 3 times now, if I recall correctly. It's not as if this can be blamed on my using a peculiar browser. Last time this happened I was using Edge, with no plugins or funky configuration changes.
- duxup 5y ago
  I had the same experience with a couple food delivery services. At first I figured it was a bug, after a couple more rounds I wondered if they counted on me deciding “whatever I’m hungry”. Had similar issues with coupon codes from other non food services too…
- cortesoft 5y ago
  Yeah, I never use Uber eats it sometimes do when I get one of those big discounts… but every time I do, I have issues like this. I usually get it to eventually work by following the email link and retrying a bunch, but the fact that it fails so often is always suspicious to me… are they hoping I don’t notice, or that I will say fuck it and order anyway?
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  I get similar codes and emails from a variety of delivery and meal kit services that don't work. I figure it's just another "innovative" growth/revenue hack.
- Spoom 5y ago
  I have a coupon code that keeps showing up in my email for something like $20 off from Uber Eats. I usually use Doordash, so I don't end up using it. Eventually they send an email warning that the coupon is going to expire soon, don't let it go to waste, etc. I don't care, so it expires. Then two days later, I get another coupon code for the same offer, and the same set of emails repeat. This has repeated at least six times. I'm just morbidly curious how long this cycle will go.
wutbrodo 5y ago
I have never had to do this, but I always figure that I can just cancel the transaction as fraud via my credit card. Possession is 9/10 of the law and all that. Is there some limitation to this approach that I'm not aware of?
- stefan_ 5y ago
  It depends - can you do without whatever account you are disputing a charge for? Amazon, Uber, Apple, Google and so on will basically just immediately close your account when you dispute any transaction. No more access to apps or books or movies associated with that account.
  - klipklop 5y ago
    Yup I made the mistake of doing this with oculus sending me 4(!) quest 2 unit's when I only ordered 1. They essentially ghosted me support wise so I did a chargeback. They then banned me from buying games. It took > 100 days to resolve it. Never buy hardware from oculus/facebook directly.
    - vkou 5y ago
      A chargeback is a nuclear option, and pretty much every company you will ever deal with will burn you as a customer if you exercise it.
      - ipaddr 5y ago
        If you have to do a chargeback you should never give that company access to your credit card again.
        perl4ever 5y ago
        Yes indeed, so, companies that you can't trust, but can't afford to piss off, should be the definition of anti-trust targets. In an ideal world.
      - 5y ago
ggfgg 5y ago
That sounds about right for Uber. My wife got screwed for £47 for food that didn’t turn up. The delivery driver stole it, support was useless, chargeback was instantly taken again within two weeks. The probability of success, the poor support and questionable acts against users mean I will never deal with them again. This actually went as far as walking back home 7 miles from a club at 1AM because fuck them. This stuff is normal for them as well https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/ubereats.com https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/ubereats.com
_fat_santa 5y ago
I saw that reddit thread this morning and it was infuriating to see. What is the rationale here? Like at what meeting at Uber did they come to the conclusion a business can accept an order, cancel it, then keep the money. If a business is about to close, don't accept the order.
atom_arranger 5y ago
I had them not deliver an order once. They kept telling me it looked like it was delivered on their end, and they refused to do anything about it. I regret not doing a chargeback.

by spuz 5y ago

stefan_ 5y ago

Haha, what is that screen?! "We didn't keep our part of the contract, but we are charging you anyway"? How on earth did that make it all the way into the app.

kzrdude 5y ago
Here you wonder what the programmers implementing this were thinking
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
  They were implementing what they had been asked to.
  - fzil 5y ago
    at a certain point you have to take responsibility for your actions and the impact it has on the world. Sure, if you don't do it somebody else will. But what matters is that you weren't the one who did it and dirtied your hands. Yes, the CEO/management are responsible for the overall direction and tactics used by the business but the engineers are also complicit since without them the plan isn't executed.
    - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
      1. I can't imagine a scenario where someone asks me to implement the message in question and I reply "I won't do it and if you insist I quit." 2. I believe the components on the screen ("You will still be charged" and the actual message) have been designed independently. Of course in the end there was someone somewhere who decided to combine them in the logic of the app. Normally I'd tend to believe it was a mistake, but after several reports and their lax attitude to them it's clear it works as intended, at least for now.
      - notreallyserio 5y ago
        > 1. I can't imagine a scenario where someone asks me to implement the message in question and I reply "I won't do it and if you insist I quit." I guess this is your choice but I find it unethical. If you're a good engineer at Uber chances are 100% you can get a job at any other high-paying organization, so why choose to participate in this scheme?
        hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
        My point is, neither of the 3 separate messages on the screen is morally wrong on its own. It is only when you combine them it becomes obvious is totally wrong. As for the core of your point, frankly, half of the Silicon Valley would be jobless. Not just Uber programmers who already proved who they are by developing Greyball. The whole business of Facebook and Google is centered around tracking people. Amazon will happily accept fake reviews and products as long as customers pay they're happy. Netflix officially says they're competing with the time their customers use for sleeping. Apple will do everything to make their products environment unfriendly, unupgradeable, with ton of additional accessories produced only to increase their profit. So really, I understand your idealism, but the ship has already sailed and you can call yourself lucky if you can work on a product and for a company that are 100% ethical.
        fzil 5y ago
        All the examples that you gave are strictly in the morally grey area. Where they end up on the spectrum is up to you as a person and what values you consider more important than others. However, in this case, things are quite black and white. Someone pays money for food, they don't get any and then you keep the money anyway. Calling it anything other than theft is being delusional. If they did partial refunds or they only gave uber eats credit instead of money then this case would be in the same bucket as the ones you mentioned in your comment.
howdydoo 5y ago
https://libredd.it/img/g1o5jeeok8681.jpg https://libredd.it/img/g1o5jeeok8681.jpg You weren't kidding. Fraud doesn't get more blatant than this
- glitchcrab 5y ago
  I'll admit that I haven't read their T&Cs, but how is this allowed? It blows my mind.
- NavinF 5y ago
  I’m gonna guess the screenshot is fake. Their support page still says he should get a refund: https://help.uber.com/ubereats/article/i-was-charged-for-cancellation?nodeId=6838771b-be6a-452e-a82c-9230679120bd https://help.uber.com/ubereats/article/i-was-charged-for-can...

stathibus 5y ago

Typical modern tech approach to user problems. Sorry we tried, most customers are happy though so we're winning, move fast and break things etc

MaxBarraclough 5y ago

I'll share my less dramatic experience, on the off chance others have seen the same: Every few weeks I get an email from Uber Eats with a generous-looking promotional code, to the tune of 25% off. If I line up an order on the website and enter the promotional code, no discount appears on the order. If I refresh the page and re-enter the code, it tells me That code has already been used. This has happened to me 3 times now, if I recall correctly. It's not as if this can be blamed on my using a peculiar browser. Last time this happened I was using Edge, with no plugins or funky configuration changes.

duxup 5y ago
I had the same experience with a couple food delivery services. At first I figured it was a bug, after a couple more rounds I wondered if they counted on me deciding “whatever I’m hungry”. Had similar issues with coupon codes from other non food services too…
cortesoft 5y ago
Yeah, I never use Uber eats it sometimes do when I get one of those big discounts… but every time I do, I have issues like this. I usually get it to eventually work by following the email link and retrying a bunch, but the fact that it fails so often is always suspicious to me… are they hoping I don’t notice, or that I will say fuck it and order anyway?
heavyset_go 5y ago
I get similar codes and emails from a variety of delivery and meal kit services that don't work. I figure it's just another "innovative" growth/revenue hack.
Spoom 5y ago
I have a coupon code that keeps showing up in my email for something like $20 off from Uber Eats. I usually use Doordash, so I don't end up using it. Eventually they send an email warning that the coupon is going to expire soon, don't let it go to waste, etc. I don't care, so it expires. Then two days later, I get another coupon code for the same offer, and the same set of emails repeat. This has repeated at least six times. I'm just morbidly curious how long this cycle will go.

wutbrodo 5y ago

I have never had to do this, but I always figure that I can just cancel the transaction as fraud via my credit card. Possession is 9/10 of the law and all that. Is there some limitation to this approach that I'm not aware of?

stefan_ 5y ago
It depends - can you do without whatever account you are disputing a charge for? Amazon, Uber, Apple, Google and so on will basically just immediately close your account when you dispute any transaction. No more access to apps or books or movies associated with that account.
- klipklop 5y ago
  Yup I made the mistake of doing this with oculus sending me 4(!) quest 2 unit's when I only ordered 1. They essentially ghosted me support wise so I did a chargeback. They then banned me from buying games. It took > 100 days to resolve it. Never buy hardware from oculus/facebook directly.
  - vkou 5y ago
    A chargeback is a nuclear option, and pretty much every company you will ever deal with will burn you as a customer if you exercise it.
    - ipaddr 5y ago
      If you have to do a chargeback you should never give that company access to your credit card again.
      - perl4ever 5y ago
        Yes indeed, so, companies that you can't trust, but can't afford to piss off, should be the definition of anti-trust targets. In an ideal world.
    - 5y ago

ggfgg 5y ago

That sounds about right for Uber. My wife got screwed for £47 for food that didn’t turn up. The delivery driver stole it, support was useless, chargeback was instantly taken again within two weeks. The probability of success, the poor support and questionable acts against users mean I will never deal with them again. This actually went as far as walking back home 7 miles from a club at 1AM because fuck them. This stuff is normal for them as well https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/ubereats.com https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/ubereats.com

_fat_santa 5y ago

I saw that reddit thread this morning and it was infuriating to see. What is the rationale here? Like at what meeting at Uber did they come to the conclusion a business can accept an order, cancel it, then keep the money. If a business is about to close, don't accept the order.

atom_arranger 5y ago

I had them not deliver an order once. They kept telling me it looked like it was delivered on their end, and they refused to do anything about it. I regret not doing a chargeback.