Sorry driver was a pest, have a voucher

Customer’s anger at £10 ‘apology’ from Just Eat

A DRIVER booked through Just Eat bombarded a female customer with inappropriate texts – but she was only offered a £ 10 voucher when she complained.

Michelle Midwinter, 33, received a string of messages from the man after she ordered a meal via the takeaway delivery firm.

In the messages the driver described himself as her ‘fan’, referred to her as ‘bby’ [baby] and sent her a kiss emoji.

Miss Midwinter, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, complained to Just Eat but was angered by its response – a £10 ‘goodwill voucher’.

The delivery driver, who was not named, contacted her by saying he was ‘the guy who delivered Insulted: Michelle Midwinter your meal’. When Miss Midwinter replied with ‘Ummmmmm OK’, he responded: ‘If you have a bf [boyfriend] tell me I don’t want to make any problem...’

He then added: ‘Good night bby [baby] see you next time when I get your meal.’ Miss Midwinter said the driver even insulted her when she said she wasn’t interested. She vowed never again to use the restaurant she had ordered from – but her anger was directed at Just Eat, an online food ordering service which acts as an intermediary between restaurants and customers. She accused the firm of not taking her complaint seriously and suggested the texts were a breach of privacy law.

She was initially told by a Just Eat employee, named as Trixie, that her best option would be to ‘give the restaurant feedback by leaving a review on Just Eat’ before adding the firm did not have a complaints department.

She was also offered a £5 goodwill voucher. When Miss Midwinter described the response as ‘insulting’, the offer was raised to £10. She shared her experi- ence on Twitter and was overwhelmed by the response from women with similar stories. One user accused Just Eat of valuing the ‘safety, privacy and data’ of women at £10. Miss Midwinter said: ‘This is now about making sure restaurants uphold privacy policy, give their staff correct training and Just Eat ensuring restaurants abide by this.’

A spokesman for Just Eat said it was ‘appalled’ by the initial handling of the complaint and added: ‘We would expect all drivers associated with our restaurant partners to act responsibly and respectfully.

‘We are investigating this with our restaurant partner and are also speaking to this customer offline and if the customer decides this is a criminal matter and reports it to the police, we will of course assist the police with any investigation.’

The firm added that it takes the ‘safeguarding of customer data extremely seriously’.

‘Breach of privacy’