MSN – Furious restaurant owners claim a major loophole in Uber Eats App is costing them thousands of dollars
An Uber Eats loophole which restaurants claim has sent them broke has been revealed.
Delivery drivers in Queensland have been caught cheating the system by earning free meals for themselves.
Drivers who were assigned to deliver a customers’ meal are given an order number prior, but will cancel the assignment and turn up at the restaurant to pick up the meal for themselves, claiming they have accepted the delivery job. 
All Uber Eats drivers can see the order number before accepting the assignment, which reveal the food and restaurant details.
Restaurant owner of Charboys Burgers Shravan Gautam, 36, said he received a number of complaints from customers about undelivered orders and meals incomplete with drinks.
‘Because the drivers are the last people to handle the food, we don’t have control,’ Mr Gautam told The Courier Mail.
The loophole was first made obvious last year.
Uber Eats managed to shift the blame and responsibility for half the cost of missing orders to restaurants.
Under Uber’s amended rules on delivery failures, nothing has been done to address the loophole, which allowed drivers to access order numbers before accepting an assignment.
Consumers may not be aware that restaurants are required to sign a contract which states Uber ‘is a technology services provider’ which does not ‘provide any delivery or logistics services’.
But restaurants partnered with Uber are charged with a 35 per cent commission for every delivery, reports ABC News.
Uber’s website has several posts such as ‘we’ll deliver your combo’, ‘you crave, we deliver’ and ‘we deliver it to your curbside’.
In statement, Uber Eats established the company as ‘a marketplace that connects restaurants with delivery partners’.
Despite the lack of regulation and loss of profits, Mr Gautam said a lack of other competitive delivery companies left him with no choice but to continue the partnership.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Uber Eats for comment. 
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