A Leeds kebab shop boss says it has been losing about “£500 a week” due to fraudulent orders “from students” on Uber Eats and has been plagued by homeless people begging their customers for money and/or food.
Mill Hill Kebabs boss Raja ‘Alex’ Ali, 38, has spoken about the issues his “hectic” city centre kebab shop has been facing, which is located by Leeds Train Station. The shop manager says the biggest issue they face is students requesting refunds on food they’ve received and lying to Uber Eats that it never came or that there’s been an issue with the food.
Uber Eats has stated it will contact the takeaway owners and points out it has a number of fraud checks in place for such circumstances.
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Alex said: “The biggest issue we have is customers, especially students. They place orders and then they claim they never received their food. We’re losing about £400 to £500 a week on that alone. It’s mostly students.”
The kebab boss says warning signs he looks out for are big orders, cash orders and orders with lots of random items, when he can tell that something isn’t right. Plus he urges his staff to double check for any possible issues before the food is sent out.
Alex, a father-of-one who’s been running the takeaway since 2007, continued: “Yesterday there was someone placing a big order and I had alarm bells going off, it was a £44 order and plus the area it was going as well.”
He’s said that “more than an hour later”, the customer rang up and claimed there was a hair in one of the burgers and so was demanding a refund on the whole order. Alex say he “knew that she was lying but I have to take the s***”.
He offered to exchange her food for fresh food but this just descended into her swearing at him and hurling vile abuse at him. Alex added: “It’s part of the business, that’s part of the job. I actually blame my staff more than customers, if you give somebody a chance then of course they’re going to walk all over you.”
An Uber Eats spokesperson said: "We want to ensure that everyone who uses the Uber Eats platform has a good experience with us.
"We have a number of processes and fraud checks in place to help ensure disputes are resolved, and our team is going to reach out directly to the the owner of the restaurant."
Students have not been the only customers taking advantage of his staff's kindness, says Alex. He's added that homeless people they give food to have been pestering their customers during busy times, making them feel “uncomfortable”.
The takeaway regularly gives homeless people free food, as they get lots passing by since beneath the train station bridge is a popular begging spot. Alex said: “They come in here at busy times and they’re disturbing us. We’re polite to them, we tell them that this is not the time and to come back later on.
“Imagine when there’s a big queue here, when it’s very busy, they start disturbing the customers – I don’t mind that – but some of the customers feel uncomfortable. Imagine if you’re sitting here eating and somebody comes and starts poking you again and again.
"Even though they’ve got their food, they want money. It happens throughout the day.”
Have you experienced issues in your line of work? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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