“Caught red-handed stealing food to eat?” ... The twist in the story of a delivery driver eating jajangmyeon under a bridge

[Financial News] A customer’s allegation that their order never arrived and that the delivery driver was eating the food under a bridge sparked controversy. The company operating the delivery platform said it was a misunderstanding caused by the customer seeing the driver pay for food damaged during delivery and dispose of it.

A post and video by a consumer identified as A, who lives in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, complaining about a delivery incident recently spread on social media. A said, “I ordered jajangmyeon and tangsuyuk, among other dishes, from a Chinese restaurant for my children and me, but the delivery still hadn’t arrived after the scheduled time,” adding, “I checked the location on the delivery app and looked out the window. The delivery driver had parked their motorcycle in a corner under a bridge across from our home and was opening and eating the food that was supposed to be delivered to us.”
A immediately complained to the platform’s customer service center and received freshly prepared food. The center told A that it would take disciplinary action against the driver. But after learning some time later that the driver was still making deliveries as usual, A posted photos and videos online showing the driver from behind at the time and raised the issue.
As the controversy spread, Woowa Youths, which handles logistics services for Baemin, issued an official statement on the 5th in an effort to quell it.
Woowa Youths said, “After checking the circumstances, we found that the case had been resolved by the rider reimbursing the cost of the food out of pocket after it was damaged during delivery,” adding, “The misunderstanding arose when the customer saw the food being processed as damaged and disposed of.” Under delivery-platform industry rules, when food is damaged during delivery due to the driver’s negligence, the driver is instructed to cover the cost and the food is to be discarded.
Addressing suspicions that the driver was still working as usual, the company added, “When the report was made, the customer was concerned about retaliation if their address were exposed and asked us to look into the matter after some time rather than take immediate action. No problems with customer service or violations of the terms have since been found, so the driver remains active as usual.” The platform said it had issued A a full refund and provided a modest amount of compensation.
A said, “I have no ill will toward the platform and only hope this doesn’t happen again,” but added, “If the food was damaged, the driver should have contacted the customer or the platform right away. I still find it hard to understand why they went somewhere off the delivery route to eat it,” expressing frustration.
Online, some have said, “If the driver paid for the loss out of pocket after a delivery mishap and ate the food to get a meal, that’s a sad situation.” Others have criticized the communication, saying that without any advance explanation of what was happening, customers could only feel confused and upset.

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