The Bendalls signed up their business Get Fixed to Uber Eats delivery in March. They claimed that after waiting weeks for a tablet to arrive and their cafe menu to be corrected by the Uber team, they looked to officially set up their account.
When it came time to log back in after years of a dormant account, they had forgotten the password.
They said the only number available was an 0800 call centre line and that their Uber representative was “unhelpful” and, after a while, refused to answer their calls.
“It’s difficult to even get someone to stay on the phone. Sometimes it’s hours of back and forth,” Simon Bendall said.
“One time, I made 12 calls in a single day just to try to get some information.
“We just needed help to reset our account and set it up correctly.”
It was only recently the duo noticed the $2400 made from food orders that would usually go into their business account had been diverted into a different, unidentifiable bank account.
An Uber spokesperson told the Herald the issue had been identified as “third-party fraudulent activity”.
“This is an unfortunate situation, and we understand how stressful it is for a small business to work through an incident like this. We looked into the issue and we identified third-party fraudulent activity occurred during the account set-up process.
“We have taken steps to secure the account and offered support to help the owners resolve the issue, and make sure future payouts are directed correctly.
“We encourage merchants to stay vigilant and watch out for third-party phishing and impersonation attempts.
“Uber will never call, text or email to ask for passwords, one-time/verification codes, and anyone who suspects their account has been compromised should report it through the Uber help centre.”
However, the Bendalls are adamant they only provided account details directly to their Uber representative.
They said while the amount lost may seem small for bigger businesses, it had hit them hard.
“We never thought signing up to Uber would mean this.
“It’s very tough in hospitality right now… we’re all struggling.”
The account has since been frozen and the cafe continues to operate without the delivery service.