'I felt my modesty invaded': Woman says delivery rider intimidated her while she was only in bath towel
A woman recently ordered food on a delivery platform, but said that she was left feeling distressed when her meal arrived.
On Friday (July 21), Seraphim Lim took to Facebook to recount an unpleasant encounter with a Deliveroo rider. According to her, the male rider intimidated her while she was vulnerable.
The woman said that she took a shower after placing the order, and had left instructions for a contactless delivery as her door bell was faulty.
Having ordered contactless food deliveries from other platforms without any issues in the past, Lim didn't anticipate any problems with this order.
However, the delivery didn't go as smoothly as she thought.
Towards the end of her shower, Lim said a man's persistent shouts at her gate startled her.
"I considered that it might be the food delivery rider," she wrote. "I was very puzzled why he would not do a contactless delivery when I had left clear instructions to do so."
Worried that he'd cause a commotion, the woman hurriedly wrapped a bath towel around herself before answering the door.
"The food delivery rider intimidated me, saying that if I did not give him my order number, he is 'not able to pass my food to me' and will 'leave with my food'", she wrote.
Horrified, the woman said she had no choice but to comply with his request — awkwardly operating her laptop in the living room just to give him the order number.
"All the while he is just standing at my front gate, staring in and I felt my modesty being invaded tremendously," she said.
Lim added that she contacted Deliveroo about the incident and she also filed a police report.
AsiaOne reached out to the woman but she declined to give further comments.
While some netizens commented that she was responsible for putting herself in that situation, others were more empathetic and shared that the request for a code was part of Deliveroo's delivery policy.
In 2021, Deliveroo introduced customer confirmation codes for some orders to verify that customers received their orders.
Upon arrival, riders are required to ask customers for a two-digit confirmation code and enter it into the app. Deliveroo encouraged riders to stand at least two metres away from the customer as they do this.
"This simple process will allow us to verify that the customer did personally collect their order if they try to get in touch with us later to say they didn’t, without having to ask you what happened," the company explained in a note for riders.
If a customer cannot provide the code, the rider should proceed with the normal delivery and contact Rider Support for assistance.
In response to AsiaOne's queries, a Deliveroo spokesperson on Monday said: "We are sorry for the customer's experience and are investigating this issue as a matter of urgency."
The company recently introduced a new app feature to ensure confirmation from both the customer and rider that the order has been delivered and completed, mitigating any potential confusion.
In the event where the rider is unable to retrieve the code from the customer, there are alternative ways to confirm the order.
"We will be sure to continue to communicate to our riders on how they can proceed in such cases," the spokesperson added.
"At Deliveroo, we are committed to delivering the best possible customer experience and strive to continuously improve our processes based on feedback from consumers, restaurants and riders."
ALSO READ: Foodpanda deliveryman terminated after filmed stealing resident's parcel
aishahm@asiaone.com
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
