A takeaway boss snuffed out a customer conspiracy by rummaging through their bins to find an apparent missing order.
Connor Calland, the owner of EborCibus Pizza in York, discovered his customer was lying after they claimed they hadn't received a £23.49 order. Taking the initiative, Mr Calland decided to rumamge through the customer's bins, only to discover the "missing meal".
He claims Deliveroo contacted him on February 17 and he was informed that a customer had not receive their order two days earlier and had requested a refund. However, after checking with staff, he discovered that the order of a 'Solar Goat Pig' pizza, buffalo blue chicken loaded fries and mozzarella dippers had been sent out, Yorkshire Live reports.
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Mr Calland paid the delivery address a visit and rummaged through the bins where he found a variety of containers covered in buffalo sauce from the loaded fries. Upon finding the containers, he knocked on the front door in order to confront the customer.
He was told by a housemate that the customer was out so he messaged them later on demanding an apology of "no less" than 750 words and an explanation for the "fraudulent" claim.
Eventually, he received an email supposedly from the embarrassed customer who repeatedly expressed their remorse and asked for forgiveness. Mr Calland shared the incident on Facebook in order to raise awareness of fraudulent complaints made by customers - in which he claims costs the business between £50 to £100 every week.
Owner Connor wrote: "I had [an] email this morning from Deliveroo stating a customer didn’t receive the order requested Tuesday. I checked with my staff, they confirm[ed] the order was sent and delivered. I told Deliveroo this.
"Deliveroo takes customers side (Check the email image) they DOUBLE checked and found their fraud prevention measures did not fail! And by default, WE MUST BE LYING.
"Fortunately I keep all the tickets, found their address. And visited.
"How deeply sad is it that in order to preserve the integrity of my business and staff I have to root through someone’s dirty bin. Knowing full well before I did this, that I was going to find my packaging.
"In the bin we find all our packaging that cross references to the order, the indicative buffalo sauce lining a container. (See images of our packaging). Upon knocking on the door, a housemate answers and claims he’s at work.”
Mr Connor went on to criticise Deliveroo for "siding" with the customer and granting them a refund, as they claimed the complaint was a genuine customer who "wasn't abusing the system." Deliveroo added that the refund was issued 'in line with their policy' as the customer claimed the bag of food was torn, causing it to spill out.
Mr Calland continued: "In the end - Deliveroo still gets 14% commission regardless, we take the hit. And their 'Genuine customer, who is not abusing the system' (read the email) received their full refund. Pathetic. Poor morals. Scum.
"I woke up that morning and had enough of it, and future ones I’ll do the same. Had so many messages of other businesses saying people had done the same.
"Deliveroo make it so easy, as their system automatically refunds them and you have to prove they got the goods. Meanwhile, deliveroo take their cut regardless."
A Deliveroo spokesperson said: "Deliveroo takes customer service extremely seriously and, in this case, a refund was issued to the customer in line with our policy. Whilst the restaurant was initially billed for the order, we have since spoken to them and decided not take payment on this occasion."
A spokesperson for EborCibus Pizza said: "It's regrettable that certain people fraudulently take advantage of goodwill and trust. We had to investigate this matter fully because this isn’t unfortunately a one-time occurrence, it’s happens on a daily basis to small businesses around the UK.
"Deliveroo does have anti-fraud prevention measures for companies that use Deliveroo riders, but in our case we use our own drivers, and the Deliveroo platform doesn’t have any protection for us. This event happened three months ago, and nothing has changed.
"We hope our story will perhaps change the mindset of people who believe it’s acceptable to do this, and urge Deliveroo to input anti-fraud measures."
Mr Calland's post has received a wave of supportive messages with one user writing: "Unreal that you turned detective. 100% students trying it on."
Another commented: "It's an absolute joke you've to physically resort to going sifting through bins and confronting them to prove this! You'll have delivery drivers with cams on next."
A fellow supporter wrote: "Outstanding work DCI Calland!" Another added: "So glad you exposed him. I see now why you needed that breakfast the other morning. You were on detective duties."
Customer's 'apology letter' in full:
"Dear Eboricbus Pizza,
"I am very sorry about the actions that took place on Tuesday the 15th of February involving the refund. I am very naive and young and therefore my actions were unintelligent and uninformed. I have since regretted them greatly and feel terrible.
"I realise how much this type of action can harm a business and I will do anything to make up for any harm caused through my acts. I realise my actions were very wrong and that they could lead me to some serious trouble if I continue with them.
"I have learnt a big lesson on not following in the acts of my peers. It honestly has gone against my core pillar of philosophical beliefs in being good and giving back to others, as well as the value of honesty within life.
"I will not only learn through feeling sad from my mistakes; I will work going forward to help support my local business as best as I can do.
"Thank you so much for all and any patience and understanding you have had for me during this most regrettable situation. Please accept my sincerest apologies towards what has happened.
"I will work hard on my errors in the future so it does not happen again. I highly value your time in reading this letter and I will set out to be a better person going forwards. I hope you can understand I have not committed a similar act before and will never again.
"Obviously this does not make my behaviour excusable but I hope it helps you understand.
"I realise it is very hard for small businesses and that lots of such acts could really damage a business being able to operate, pay and feed its workers.
"The marketplace is already pitted against them with high taxes on delivery sites and a very competitive market. I am only hurting the local culture and the local people by acting in this manner.
"If I could go back in time and change my actions, I definitely would take it all back and for that I am truly, truly sorry. I hope you never suffer from any similar things within your business again from the bottom of my heart, going forward.
"Committing acts like these could damage the prospects of a person's future and their chances within the university choices as well as job prospects with future employers.
"I wholeheartedly regret my actions and will never do anything like this again. I regret following in peer pressure from my peers to engage in this act, as it was a despicable thing that I did.
"I am shocked and dismayed I have acted in this way and I hope you can pass on my apologies to each person who works within the business as a whole so they can know I am truly sorry.
"I hope you can understand my naivety and realise the regret for my actions, understanding that I am young and still have a lot to learn.
"Through this; I hope that you can forgive me for all the harm I have caused and I hope you understand that you have raised my awareness to this issue on a greater scale and will warn others from committing similar acts in the future.
"I wish you the best luck with your business and I hope that it prospers greatly in the future. If you want any monetary compensation, feel free to respond with the required amount and I will happily oblige; making up for any inconveniences caused by my actions that have affected the business.
"As soon as you tell me I can instantly transfer it to you, no problem at all. I know this won't reverse all the damage caused but I hope it can at least amend it a little for you all.
"I take full responsibilities for all my actions caused and the negative consequences that have arisen from them.
"I recognise your dedication towards your business and business ethics as a whole and I truly respect that and I wish for your success going forwards, truly.
"You seem to put your life into your business and the hard work really shows through with what has been created. I hope you can forgive me for my awful actions and if you wish to reach out further or ask for compensation please feel free to do so over use of this email.
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