> For example, if an Uber eats or Deliveroo driver turns up with the wrong order, they can do literally nothing about it.
No, I would blame the people comitting the fraud rather than the app. The driver can't turn up with the wrong order as the order is faxed to the restauraunt from the app, and when the restaurant is done with the order, then the driver shows up and is given an order id to pick up. The driver can't change the order the restaurant was given.
What could go wrong in this process:
* The app sends the wrong order to the restaurant (highly unlikely. You are talking cosmic ray bitflips or DB corruption)
* The restaurant fails to update an order that is no longer available -- in this case, the consumer is notified that the order is cancelled
* The delivery driver picks up an order not belonging to them, in which case the restaurant should check the order id with the order id the driver asks for. It is very unlikely that drivers will ask for the wrong order
* The driver picks up two orders, and switches them, delivering them to the wrong address. In this case, Uber eats the refund, not the restaurant.
* The restaurant fulfills the wrong order. This does ocassionally happen, as anyone knows who dined at a restaurant when their order was gotten wrong. But it shouldn't happen in the quantities described. Then the restaurant eats the cost.
* The driver fails to deliver the order. One time, I got an order and when I looked inside I saw a strange bottle of juice and a plastic container with a rice dish. Not at all the sushi I ordered. I called the driver and he showed up and apologized. He was fasting during Ramadan and carried food with him to eat after sunset, and he gave me his own food bag instead of the bag he picked up. We exchanged foodbags and everything was fine.
* The restaurant gets the order right and the customer lies about it -- e.g. commits fraud to get a free meal. Hence why this article calls it "dine and dash". This boils down to a dispute between the restaurant and the customer. Here, Uber could start cutting people off the platform if they dispute too many orders, but then you will have a lot of outraged complaints that during a pandemic people are not being allowed to eat, etc. Basically those stealing are putting everyone else into a difficult position as by definition whenever you steal, someone needs to bear a cost that they shouldn't have to bear.
No, I would blame the people comitting the fraud rather than the app. The driver can't turn up with the wrong order as the order is faxed to the restauraunt from the app, and when the restaurant is done with the order, then the driver shows up and is given an order id to pick up. The driver can't change the order the restaurant was given.
What could go wrong in this process:
* The app sends the wrong order to the restaurant (highly unlikely. You are talking cosmic ray bitflips or DB corruption)
* The restaurant fails to update an order that is no longer available -- in this case, the consumer is notified that the order is cancelled
* The delivery driver picks up an order not belonging to them, in which case the restaurant should check the order id with the order id the driver asks for. It is very unlikely that drivers will ask for the wrong order
* The driver picks up two orders, and switches them, delivering them to the wrong address. In this case, Uber eats the refund, not the restaurant.
* The restaurant fulfills the wrong order. This does ocassionally happen, as anyone knows who dined at a restaurant when their order was gotten wrong. But it shouldn't happen in the quantities described. Then the restaurant eats the cost.
* The driver fails to deliver the order. One time, I got an order and when I looked inside I saw a strange bottle of juice and a plastic container with a rice dish. Not at all the sushi I ordered. I called the driver and he showed up and apologized. He was fasting during Ramadan and carried food with him to eat after sunset, and he gave me his own food bag instead of the bag he picked up. We exchanged foodbags and everything was fine.
* The restaurant gets the order right and the customer lies about it -- e.g. commits fraud to get a free meal. Hence why this article calls it "dine and dash". This boils down to a dispute between the restaurant and the customer. Here, Uber could start cutting people off the platform if they dispute too many orders, but then you will have a lot of outraged complaints that during a pandemic people are not being allowed to eat, etc. Basically those stealing are putting everyone else into a difficult position as by definition whenever you steal, someone needs to bear a cost that they shouldn't have to bear.