"Thinking About Them Eating the Food With a Smile Makes Me Angry"... Customer Unilaterally Cancels Delivery Order for Bizarre Reason

Order Canceled After Food Was Left on the Floor
"Platforms Must Take Action," Small Business Owners Appeal

A story has emerged about a small business owner whose delivery order was unilaterally canceled because the food was left on the floor.

Mr. A, who identified himself as a restaurant owner in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, expressed his frustration in a post on a small business owner community on September 17. According to Mr. A, at around 3 p.m. on September 14, an order worth approximately 70,000 won was placed through a delivery app.

The only instruction in the delivery request was the entrance password for the apartment building. Mr. A, who personally delivered the food, saw a shopping basket in front of the customer’s door and placed the food bag on the floor, then sent a confirmation photo to the customer. However, not long after returning to the restaurant, the customer unilaterally canceled the order. The delivery app explained that the reason for the cancellation was, "I asked for it to be put in the basket in front of the door, but it was left on the floor, which made me feel bad."

Mr. A said, "There was no such instruction in the request," and added, "How am I supposed to know if that’s a delivery food basket or a recycling bin?" Typically, when a customer cancels an order, the amount is deducted from the restaurant’s sales. In cases where the issue is not the owner’s fault, such as delivery problems, IT errors, or unreasonable complaints, the delivery app may compensate the owner for the loss through a 'loss compensation' process.

Mr. A requested the food be retrieved instead of loss compensation. However, the delivery app responded, "Since the food has already been delivered, retrieval is not possible." Mr. A lamented, "Why is it that only hardworking business owners have to suffer physically and emotionally? It’s not just about receiving loss compensation or not; what really frustrates me is thinking about 'delivery freeloaders' who do this for years without any guilt, laughing as they eat the food," and urged, "Delivery apps that produce malicious consumers should recognize the seriousness of the issue and come up with countermeasures."