Uber Eats Late Delivery Policy (Is there a compensation?)

Nothing kills the excitement of a delicious meal more than a late delivery. You make an order, the restaurant of your choice, your best meal, and you get an estimated arrival time, only to wait an eternity.

The worst is how the app might keep changing the delivery time, and still end up arriving late.

Either way, this article will take a look at Uber Eats delivery policy and cover the most important related question, “whether there’s compensation for one.”

Uber Eats Late Delivery Policy for Customers

While Uber Eats is still a bit discrete about its late delivery policy for customers, it’s pretty much straightforward, at least than we have with DoorDash.

To begin with, let’s understand what defines a late delivery on Uber Eats.

The company has two types of estimation for the delivery time of orders:

1. Estimated time of delivery – This is the actual estimation by the company of how long your delivery would take would arrive. Based on the company policy, this is may change due to external factors during the journey.
2. Latest arrival by – This refers to the longest possible time your delivery must have arrived between.

While both estimations are right, late delivery is only recognized by the company when the delivery time of the order goes above the “latest arrive by.”

According to the company, anything below that is not eligible for refunds or any sort of compensation.

In other words, you may want to only take the “latest arrival by” serious when making orders.

Is there an Uber Eats late Delivery Compensation?

Yes. UberEats does compensate for late delivery and they do it in two forms:

1. By Credits
2. Full refunds

“By credits” is currently the popular way Uber Eats makes compensation for customers in the event of late delivery.

This is done by adding a certain amount of money to your Uber Eats wallet. These credits can then be used or joined with real cash to make subsequent orders in the future.

For quite some time now, the popular amount Uber Eats has been crediting is $5. So don’t be surprised to get this amount added to your wallet after making a refund complaint.

Full refunds are still a thing though but very less common unless the lateness of your delivery is too extreme. Perhaps, it was too late or didn’t even arrive at all —maybe it was marked delivered but didn’t arrive at all.

Uber Eats could also give you a full refund for whatever reason, even for a little late delivery. Location may also contribute.

Generally, the company has full discretion on the action they choose to take for any late delivery. In other words, they could also choose not to compensate you.

But take note that the delivery time must have gone above the “Latest arrival by” before any sort of compensation is considered.

How to get compensation for your late delivery on Uber Eats

Alright, enough chatters. Yes, Uber Eats does compensate for late delivery. But how can you actualize this?

Do you just sit there and expect the company to make the refund themselves? Or are there some extra steps to be made?

In the company’s formative years, they’d usually compensate automatically for every late delivery (or one’s at the extreme).

However, that’s not the case now, at least if you want to be sure you’ll be getting a refund. You need to take some steps.

So what’s the best course of action?

1. Open the Uber Eats app on your mobile device and make sure you’re logged into the account that you used to place the order.
2. Look for an icon, often in the shape of a receipt or list, usually located at the bottom of the screen. Tap on it to view your order history.
3. Scroll through the list of your recent orders and select the one that was delivered late.
4. Tap ‘Help’ or ‘Report an Issue’
5. A list of common issues will be presented. Select the one that pertains to your situation, which in this case would be related to late delivery.
6. After selecting the issue, you will be prompted to provide more information. Here, add any information to give specifics about how late the delivery was, or any other details that might help resolve the issue.
7. Now, submit

After submission, wait for a response from Uber Eats customer service. This could be immediate, or it could take some time, depending on the volume of complaints.

But what if you’ve not yet received your order?

Check the status by following these steps:

1. On the app, navigate to the order section, and to the list of your recent orders
2. Tap on the order in question
3. Select “Track order” to view the status of your order

There are three main status on the app;

1. Waiting for the merchant to confirm they’ve received your order
2. In the process of being prepared
3. A delivery person and on the way from the merchant to you.
4. Delivered

If your order shows delivered and you’ve not received it, follow the steps above to make a complaint. In this case, however, you’ll select a different reason in the issues that pop up after tapping on “report an issue.”

Who Pays for Late Delivery Refunds on Uber Eats?

Being compensated for late deliveries is definitely a good thing – it certainly guarantees a good customer experience.

But “who the compensation comes from” could just be a much more important question.

For instance, if it were the driver, it might not be all that fair.

Even though drivers may play a role, a good amount of time late deliveries are not the fault of drivers. Restaurant delays, unexpected traffic, and a list of others are usually the culprits.

Well, thankfully, refunds for late deliveries don’t come from drivers’ earnings.

And unless the Restaurant is obviously behind the late delivery, UberEats does compensate for late deliveries from their pocket.

Final Thoughts

Having your order delivered late can only just be painful. However, as long as the reason for your late delivery aligns with the policy above, you sure would be getting compensated.