Call for just deserts over delivery drama

A foodpanda delivery man broke down in tears after he handed over an expensive order to the wrong Yuen Long apartment and the recipient refused to return it.

The company said the deliveryman did not have to compensate for his mistake after the incident caught public attention on social media.

With the unemployment rate rising, many people have taken shifts delivering for online takeaway platforms, including Deliveroo and foodpanda.

Facebook user Hars Lo wrote that a deliveryman from foodpanda mixed up two orders and ended up handing over a meal three to four times pricier to the wrong address.

Lo said he learned about the incident from his sister, who lives in the same building in Yuen Long.

The delivery man returned after realizing his mistake, knocking on the door and calling the customer, who did not respond.

"It made the grown man cry outside the flat," Lo wrote.

The deliveryman did not give up and returned several hours later, trying to make the resident pay the extra cost. Sympathetic neighbors helped him call the resident, but it was to no avail.

Lo's sister and her neighbors offered to help the deliveryman pay the extra cost but he refused.

Lo suggested that the customer who received the wrong order was greedy.

"Won't the customer know someone would follow up on a wrong order?" Lo asked.

"Not picking up calls and refusing to answer the door - is it really [because they did not hear anything]?"

Lo's sister contacted foodpanda, offering help the worker by paying the bill without him knowing.

The company later confirmed to reporters that its team had contacted the deliveryman.

It said it appreciated the professionalism of the worker and did not penalize him and that it also compensated the affected customer.

Barrister Albert Luk Wai-hung said the customer could face criminal liability if he or she intentionally refused to return the wrong order or pay the extra cost.

"They could have committed theft, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison," Luk said.

If the customer did so unintentionally, he added, it could be a civil matter in which foodpanda would have the legal right to pursue the outstanding amount from the customer.

During the pandemic, up to 31 percent of catering workers have remain employed because of delivery services, said a report by economic research company Capital Economics last October.

It estimated the delivery service has protected about 48,000 jobs and contributed about HK$8 billion in revenue to Hong Kong between April and June last year.

Food takeaway platform Deliveroo has also received more than 35,000 job applications for deliverymen in the first half of 2020.

However, the surge in demand also contributed to more complaints.

moon.lam@singtaonewscorp.com