Uber Eats apologises after driver delivers car repair bill instead of KFC

The damage to Austin Liu's car. Photo / Austin Liu

By Krystal Gibbens of RNZ

A man whose car was crashed into when his neighbour ordered Uber Eats has been trying to track down the driver.

The rideshare driver was delivering food to a neighbouring house about 8.30pm on October 5.

Austin Liu, whose car was damaged, said the driver cancelled the food order, wiped all information from the app and did a runner. Liu said the crash left a dent in his car and damaged the front bumper.

He had not been able to contact Uber himself as he did not make the order, but his neighbour had.

Liu said Uber had shown no accountability for the accident. In screenshots of the response, Uber said it was not responsible for the incident and not legally obligated to provide financial assistance for lost or damaged property.

Uber said it would, however, note the incident on the driver’s account and further instances could lead to a review of their access to the app.

If the matter was reported to the police, Uber said it would co-operate with their inquiries.

Consumer New Zealand communications manager Jessica Walker said previous investigations Consumer had done had found Uber Eats was one of the hardest companies to track down contact details for.

She said in cases like this, if the person had the car’s registration they could look up the owner’s details on Waka Kotahi’s website and lodge a claim with the Disputes Tribunal. Without the registration details, she said it became an internal issue between Uber and the driver.

“It’s up to Uber Eats to find out who was driving the vehicle.”

Waka Kotahi’s website also advised that drivers needed to provide their details to the owner of the damaged vehicle no later than 48 hours after the crash; if unable to find the owner, then police no later than 60 hours after.

Liu wanted to see the driver held accountable. As well as contacting Uber, he had also contacted KFC in Rototuna Hamilton where the order was picked up.

Liu said KFC refused to help him identify the driver, and said he needed to go through Uber and police.

KFC was approached for comment, but directed RNZ back to Uber.

In response to inquiries made by RNZ, on Thursday afternoon Uber apologised.

“Uber Eats takes all reports of incidents on our platform seriously. We apologise for this customer’s initial experience with our support services; we are now working to contact the people involved and support a resolution,” an Uber spokesperson said.