Rider forgets to collect cash on delivery, says Foodpanda didn’t help after customer refuses to pay
There have been plenty of horror stories involving cash on delivery (COD) payments, many of which involve customers failing to pay.
But such an incident took an arduous turn for Stomper Mr Ho, a Foodpanda rider, who had to turn to the police for help.
Not only did the customer allegedly refuse to pass him the cash, Ho said he also struggled to get assistance from Foodpanda’s support team.
Rider forgets to collect COD, customer purportedly refuses to pay
At around 8pm on Aug 30, Ho delivered an order in Braddell and left in a hurry, unaware it was a cash order.
Upon realising his mistake minutes later, he “made every effort” to contact the customer via the Foodpanda app and through the latter’s phone number.
When he got through via a call, Ho claimed the customer told him that he had paid for the order using a credit card.
Hoping to get evidence to share with the Foodpanda support team, Ho asked for a screenshot of the transaction.
The customer agreed. However, after a long wait, the screenshot never surfaced and more than 10 calls to the customer allegedly went unanswered.
Mr Ho called the police, who later arrived at the scene. He also lodged a police report on the spot.
Foodpanda unable to support, says rider liable for uncollected cash
Mr Ho additionally opened a support ticket with Foodpanda’s rider help desk, providing a copy of the police report and all chat logs with the customer.
However, the support team “immediately closed the case”, stating that “platform policy holds riders 100% financially liable for any uncollected cash”.
A formal appeal to Foodpanda’s corporate and rider support emails several days later also purportedly went unreplied.
All Ho had was $17.89 — the cost of the food order — deducted from his rider account wallet.
Cash eventually paid after police intervention
On Sept 8, more than a week after the incident, Ho told Stomp that the customer finally handed him the cash “under police pressure after the Investigating Officer (IO) spoke to him multiple times”.
Although he got his money back, the delivery rider is still unhappy about how things transpired.
He said: “Justice was served by the Singapore Police Force, while Foodpanda completely abandoned me and left me to rot.”
Ho pointed out that Foodpanda’s policy assumes standard “rider carelessness” but fails to protect riders from criminal dishonesty.
“As a rider, I have no legal authority to forcefully extract cash or reclaim food from a customer’s home. Doing so would get me arrested for trespass or assault. I followed the law perfectly by involving the police,” he added.
Having been doing food deliveries on and off since 2021, this was Mr Ho’s first time dealing with a COD order on Foodpanda. He lamented his unfortunate first-time experience.
However, Mr Ho said that he has had no issue with cash orders on Grab, attributing it to the app’s feature which forces riders to confirm if they have collected the money before completing the job.
Foodpanda to review failed payment cases
When asked if he would continue as a Foodpanda delivery partner, Mr Ho remarked: “Absolutely not.” Even though he would continue doing deliveries, he plans to “stick strictly to Grab, where the app interface actually protects the rider.”
While he acknowledged that he has the luxury of walking away because he does not rely on Foodpanda “to pay (his) rent”, Mr Ho expressed his concern for full-time riders.
“If a full-time rider gets scammed by a customer like this, Foodpanda’s zero-support policy could literally mean they can’t afford rent or food that week. This is why this story needs to be told.”
In response to Stomp’s queries, a Foodpanda spokesperson explained that customers who choose the COD option are encouraged to prepare the cash and pay the rider directly and promptly upon receiving the order.
Delivery riders are also required to collect the cash payment from the customer when handing over the order.
With regard to Mr Ho’s case, the spokesperson said: “We recognise the difficulties the delivery partner faced in resolving the outstanding payment, and appreciate the steps they took follow up on the matter. We will continue to review such cases to ensure delivery partners receive the appropriate support when facing similar issues.”
Explore more on these topics
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
