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More on KentOnline
A woman was left out of pocket and with no lunch after an UberEats driver threw her food in the bin.
Rachel Weston placed the £27 order on Friday lunchtime but the man delivering the meals had trouble getting into her block of flats.
After attempting to contact her and waiting 12 minutes, he threw the food away and left.
Rachel was ordering from the KFC in Gillingham via the app as she says she and her partner, Lisa Durham, were too ill to go out.
The 44-year-old says she went to the bathroom at their home in Bryant Street, Chatham, and by the time she came back had received two missed calls.
She immediately tried to make contact but was initially unable to get through.
Eventually, she was able to talk to the driver who said he had waited and as she did not retrieve her delivery, he threw it away.
She said: "I was so upset and angry. He said to me really rudely 'I threw your food in the bin'. So we checked the bin, but nothing. What has he done with it?
"I did everything right as a customer. They have ripped me off. They have taken my money. We are a customer – he was so unprofessional."
Rachel said she had left the driver explicit instructions on how to contact them as the flats do not have a working intercom. She informed him the door was open and to knock loudly as the doorbell was not working.
She added: "Even if he did wait 12 minutes he could have put the food on the doorstep. He had every opportunity to deliver my food. It is out of order what he did."
Rachel suffers from severe heart problems and uncontrollable diabetes meaning she is vulnerable and needs to eat at set times, otherwise she can get headaches, faint and become sick.
Due to the missed delivery, she had an episode.
She added: "I started being really sick and being angry on top did not help. My partner wanted to take me to hospital but I went to sleep. It just wore me out.
"To me it was just not right the way it was handled. It was ridiculous. They should not treat you like that."
The couple contacted the UberEats customer service team to resolve the issue but were told as the driver had waited for more than 10 minutes there was nothing they could do in terms of refund or re-delivery.
They also contacted the KFC store directly with a boss saying unfortunately they were unable to help as after the food left their doors it was UberEats' responsibility.
However, the delivery company has now refunded Rachel, with a spokesman saying: "We are very sorry this customer service was not up to our usual high standards.
"We have refunded the customer in full, and will work hard to ensure that it does not happen again."
Rachel does not want other people to experience what she has, especially those who are vulnerable.
She concluded: "Hell no, I will not be using them again. I thought I am going to keep my account open until I feel better about it, then I will delete it.
"The irony is about three hours after I got a message offering 20% off."
