Everyone loves a free meal, but in New Westminster, British Columbia, residents are confused because they’re receiving a flurry of unsolicited Uber Eats orders on their doorsteps with food they’ve never ordered themselves.
The deliveries don’t even necessarily consist of full meals, as some people have reported orders consisting of bottles of water, single doughnuts, or a bowl of gravy, according to Global News.
“It’s like this insane barrage of deliveries,” Jennifer Hughes, who received several orders, said to Global News. “Every 30 minutes the bags would just show up.”
Though all the orders are paid for before the delivery arrives, as is Uber Eats customs, the senders are only listed as generic names such as “Steve C” or “Jenn O,” which CBC News confirms aren’t the names of anybody living at the affected addresses.
As well no specifics about the addresses, such as apartment numbers, were written on the receipt.
Hughes then reached out to a neighbourhood Facebook group and learned that several other residents were experiencing this same dilemma.
“There was a lineup down the street in front of our house of delivery drivers,” Geoff McLennan said to Global News over the weekend. “They were all laughing to each other and one driver said there were ‘thousands of orders that spiked’ over the recent weeks to the neighbourhood. They didn’t know what was going on either.”
The community decided to reach out to local police but they said they could not address the issue.
Uber Eats, however, acknowledged the flood of orders and an official confirmed to Global News that the company has banned a number of accounts that placed the orders.
“The reports of unsolicited deliveries are concerning,” an Uber spokesperson told Global News. “We will not hesitate to take additional action if the unsolicited orders continue. Uber has a dedicated public safety team that is standing by to work with police.”
CBC News also added that a similar situation happened in a Los Angeles neighbourhood not long before the New Westminster ordeal.
