'Cold ice cream complaints have cost me hundreds'

Andrea Blow (right) says her business has lost a lot of money due to fake complaints

A cake shop owner says she has been left more than £1,000 out of pocket thanks to a series of fake complaints by Just Eat users.

One customer was given 44 refunds totalling more than £1,000 for food they claimed had not been delivered – and other customers allegedly managed to secure refunds totalling about £600 after claiming the ice cream they had ordered was cold.

Andrea Blow, who runs Scunthorpe-based Cakes by Andrea, said Just Eat had now agreed to pay her about £300 – but she still faces a shortfall of hundreds of pounds.

A spokesperson for Just Eat said: "We will always investigate claims and, where appropriate, reimburse restaurant partners for any fraudulent activity."

Just Eat is well known as a delivery service but it also operates as an ordering service – putting customers in touch with food suppliers that use their own delivery drivers.

Ms Blow said a single customer had made 44 refund requests to Just Eat for deliveries they claimed hadn't been made by Cakes by Andrea, and all the complaints had been accepted by Just East without checking with Ms Blow.

It was only when she went through her Just Eat account that she spotted the shortfall of more than £1,000.

Andrea Blow (centre) employs more than 20 people

"Customers are getting automatic refunds, claiming that their orders haven't actually arrived," she said.

"The [Just Eat app] doesn't notify you."

She also alleges that a loophole on the Just Eat app allowed customers to order ice cream and then claim refunds by saying it had been delivered cold.

Ms Blow, who has owned the business for eight years, employs 22 people, including drivers.

"I feel like Just Eat could do more to protect us," she said.

After the BBC contacted Just Eat, it made an offer of a partial payment to Cakes by Andrea of £315.

In response, Ms Blow said she was pleasantly "shocked" that the company had got back to her "for the first time since I joined in 2021".

Dan Stamp said false refund costs over five years had cost him thousands of pounds

Dan Stamp, who runs neighbouring business The Smoking Goat, said he also had to deal with orders that had been falsely reported as having not been delivered.

"Over the five years we've been in business, [false refund costs] would be in the thousands," he said.

"It's gutting... you work so hard to get your business to where it is."

He said Just Eat should speak to small businesses before automatically issuing refunds.

Mr Stamp, who employs 40 staff including drivers, said jobs would be under threat if the situation was allowed to continue.

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