Cake shop loses £1k in Just Eat refunds as customers complain of cold ice cream

A cake shop owner lost more than £1,000 in JustEat refund claims from brazen customers including one who complained their ice cream turned up COLD.

Andrea Blow, owner of Cakes by Andrea, was left 'disheartened' to discover one regular had been issued 44 refunds inside weeks for items they claim hadn't been delivered. The 37-year-old says she employs her own delivery drivers and is on a first-name basis with the customer - and maintains all the dessertsarrived.

Andrea said she first noticed refunds randomly being issued to customers complaining their ice-creamwhippie trays had been delivered 'cold' earlier this year. To solve the issue, she claims she was forced to state in the allergens that the order would be cold.

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Fearing the loss of money could 'destroy' her business she contacted Just Eat who has since issued her a £315 refund - but Andrea claims she's still lost out on hundreds of pounds. Andrea has now decided to create her own app and website so she can quit using Just Eat and now urges other small businesses to 'take the risk' by becoming independent.

A JustEat spokesman confirmed they issued a £315 refund to Andrea and says it has a partner hub where restaurants can claim refunds that will be investigated on a case-by-case basis. Andrea, from Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, said: "It makes me feel betrayed. It's theft and it's fraud. We noticed a lot of refunds for items being delivered cold. When we looked into it, it was ice cream whippie trays. We were like 'well they are cold'.

"Just Eat has generic settings so they assumed every single takeaway on the independent side was hot food so if customers were reporting it as cold they were automatically getting the refund. We went back into our default settings and literally stated with the allergens 'this is served cold' and that stopped. At the beginning of August I was like 'what's all these credits given back from Just Eat'? One week alone had totalled over £400.

"I looked into it and it was customers claiming their delivery had never arrived. We employ our own delivery drivers so we kept an eye on it. We matched the codes and I was like 'hang on a minute this is a certain customer'. She was on order 44 from us and sometimes we [delivered to her] twice a day.

"She was claiming we never actually took it. I let the team know they can't accept any other orders [from her]. The day before we'd actually been twice and they claimed they'd never been. We're on a first name basis, it was quite disheartening.

"If you decline that order that goes on our Just Eat statistics so we lose our credible 'Local Legend' status because we're declining orders. The business owner says she's received £315 from Just Eat but has decided to ditch them in favour of setting up her own app and website.

Andrea said: "We don't get notified when a refund has been issued. This could have kept going on for years. It's a lot of money, I felt so disheartened. It's someone local that knows the people we employ. These people are my local community and people I walk around the street with.

"They're not taking from a big corporation or taking from anyone other than the people here trying to earn a living. I've got 22 employees that all have bills to pay and children to feed. That money is coming straight out of their pockets. It's so unfair.

"It could have destroyed our whole business and it put us in a very vulnerable position. Just Eat should've clocked this sooner and they need to give independent small businesses more control. If we were in charge a bit more, we could physically confirm it's been delivered by giving a code to Just Eat, we don't get any of that.

"The customer can say 'it never came' and we're not allowed to take photos. They just don't give you any support with that.
"[My advice is] take the risk [to go independent]. Once you've established yourself and once people understand how much Just Eat do take from a small business then take the risk and do it."

A Just Eat spokesman said: "We're proud to work with a diverse range of businesses including thousands of local high street restaurants. We will always investigate claims and where appropriate reimburse restaurant partners for any fraudulent activity."