Is Your Ice Cream Too Cold? Lessons in Fighting Friendly Fraud

In mid-December, a story went viral on Twitter across the pond about a customer being refunded by a food delivery service after complaining that the “four milkshakes, a cheesecake and an ice cream” they had ordered from a Manchester restaurant were “too cold”, as reported by Manchester Evening News. The restaurant owner turned to the media as he felt he had to speak up against the “spate of suspicious refunds” he had been experiencing, with seemingly legitimate customers ordering online through portals and apps to then claim bad food quality or bad service and demand their money back. This trend has been noted across the world and more often than not, these requests are satisfied, and it is the restaurant who’s footing the bill. 

As it happens online, some defended the hapless manager and others disagreed. But what this story made clear even for those with no insider knowledge of our sector is the fact that friendly fraud and chargebacks have become a major concern…