An Edinburgh restaurant owner says he has been left out of pocket after claiming a bogus Deliveroo driver walked off with £75 worth of food.
Popular Edinburgh eatery Kauai say they were left to remake a huge order after falling foul of a scam driver who they claim cancelled the order as soon as he picked up the food. They say he then made off with £75 of wraps, salads, juices and smoothies.
Owners say this is a growing problem at restaurants, with drivers picking up legitimate orders from the Deliveroo app, showing the delivery order to the restaurant and then immediately cancelling the order as soon as they leave the eatery.
READ MORE - The grim underground Edinburgh sites we walk over every day without realising
But Deliveroo hit back at the claims, saying they had not been contacted about the 'missing orders'.
Kauai Edinburgh say the deliver chain at Deliveroo is 'impersonal' and they will struggle to resolve a loss quickly. Leaving them out of pocket.
So far, Kauai has decided not to go to the police, hoping that the so-called 'phantom driver' will see their posts about the alleged theft and come back to pay for it.
We spoke to one of the owners of Kauai, who said: “The guy came in and showed the confirmation number for the driver. He immediately cancelled the order after he took the order but the customer doesn’t know it’s cancelled.
“We hadn’t a clue until the customer rang us up and asked us ‘where's my food?’ so we had to remake the order.
“I think it’s a sign of the times and maybe the guy was hungry but it was a very large order- about £75 worth.
“This is the first time we have had a big one, the last time was during Covid. We are a real living wage employer and we have been hit hard from rising prices and the cost of buying food. Margins are very tight at the moment and to lose a £75 order is not going to bankrupt us but it is going to affect the situation.
“We hope that by posting on Facebook someone would know him and he would come pay for the food but obviously it hasn’t reached him.
“We reported to Deliveroo and maybe in a week we will hear back from them but you never know what the answer will be but I saw it is happening in quite a few restaurants in Edinburgh.
“Deliveroo is very impersonal, you are dealing with someone at the end of the computer who may even be a bot.”
A Deliveroo spokesperson said: "Deliveroo is a company founded on a love for small, independent restaurants and we are keen to understand what happened here - so the team is in contact with Kauai to investigate and hopefully resolve the situation."
READ NEXT:
Edinburgh's Holyrood Distillery announces summer lineup with cocktails and street food
New 'high quality' Edinburgh coffee shop and wine bar planned near Holyrood Park
Edinburgh venue crowned Scotland's 'unique cafe of the year' at national awards
Dean Banks new Edinburgh restaurant Dulse opens this week with sharing plates and seafood
Edinburgh Castle hits back at tourist's bogus 'anti English abuse' claim
