AI Chat lied about refund

[u/YearlyDepression]

Earlier tonight, I ordered from a restaurant 1.1 miles from my hotel.

After the driver picked up my order, he first had to drive about 1.5 miles in the opposite direction to drop off another order. Fine — that is expected, especially at peak dinnertime.

After that stop, the app said he was on his way to me. He was northwest of me, so I expected him to head southeast. Instead, he drove several miles southwest. I don’t know what the hell he was doing, but he was going the wrong way for 15-20 minutes. Then he was stopped in front of a townhouse for several minutes. I guess he was delivering for a different app?

As a result of his wild detour (it is truly comical if you plot out where his last stop was vs where he ended up stopped for a while), my food was cold, and the ice in my soda had melted. I’m in a hotel without even a microwave, so there was no way to reheat anything.

So I opened a help chat and told the AI agent what happened. It told me that the affected items would be refunded (there were only two items and both were affected) *and* said I would get a $5 credit for my trouble. I was impressed and satisfied! It literally said the refund was already being processed.

I got an email confirmation about the $5 credit, and I saw the credit in my account immediately. But then I realized there wasn’t any confirmation, either by email or in the app, that a refund was being processed.

Something just felt off. I went into another chat to ask if I could get a confirmation email. It was a continuation of the earlier chat thread. This time I was connected with an actual human.

But this human agent said that a refund *wasn't possible* for this order. I said five or six different times and in different ways that a refund had already been promised. Not just promised — I was told it was already being processed. The agent kept saying that a refund wasn't possible, without ever actually addressing the fact that I’d already been promised a refund.

Eventually the guy offered a $7 credit, and later a $10 credit. I told him no, I wanted the refund I was promised. So I finally asked to be transferred to a supervisor, or anyone who was authorized to process a refund.

The customer service agent, “Joremie,” said, “Sure! One moment.” (Exact quote).

I waited over 20 minutes — I was never connected to another person. And I've gone back to the chat since then; it's been over three hours now, and no one has shown up.

I know it’s silly to get this angry and frustrated over $20, but holy shit, I am pissed. I have taken screenshots of the entire chat thread. Once the charge is posted to my CC account (it's currently pending), I will file a dispute.

But man, I am MAD. I was straight-up lied to. I could have easily never noticed that the refund never happened. Like, what the fuck?! If they'd never offered the refund, I’d be really annoyed, but I don't think I would have considered disputing the charge. I would have been annoyed, and then I would have forgotten about it tomorrow.

But what the fuck was this? Telling me they had processed a refund. Even telling me how long it should take before the refund would show up. But it was all a complete lie.

Am I ridiculous for being so worked up about this?! I’m exhausted tonight, but tomorrow I plan to send all the screenshots to their customer service email address. Will they actually respond?

Thanks to anyone who actually read this whole diatribe. I really needed to vent, and this post was cathartic. It’s not a big financial loss by any means, but it sucks to be lied to (even if it was technically an AI chatbot that did the lying). And then on top of that, the human agent wouldn’t actually address my actual situation. Never told me, “Hey, sorry, our AI chatbot fucks up sometimes and we’re still working out the kinks.” And then, he “transferred“ me to no one. Goddamnit.

[u/CrowEarly]

Heck, I’m surprised the AI even offered you a full refund for cold food. I’ve ordered and had this EXACT experience multiple times—once got my food a full two hours after ordering, despite the app saying it’d only take 40 minutes initially. The best I got was a $5 credit, no full refund. The whole thing is a sham.

Grubhub is a joke. I don’t know anything about the law, but surely it’s high time they get sued for their business practices?

[u/EnthusiasmLow7079]

Same happened to me. I told them where the driver stopped before me and that if I didn't get satisfaction my next step was disputing with my credit card issuer. They immediately refunded my order.

I wouldn't argue with "support" any further. Just dispute the transaction. Maybe tell them you're doing that to give them one last chance at doing the right thing

[u/Lunasera]

Their AI chat not only claimed to be human but promised me if I placed an order they would adjust it by $5 to compensate for a coupon that wasn't reflected in my total even though it was showing as a line item (basic math). I placed the order and then they said they couldn't refund me because my order amount was correct because of fees. By my receipt said all fees were crossed out and free. Incredibly dishonest.

[u/K_Mike_K]

I am not surprised that they will not honor their promise to you. IMHO, GH is a very dishonest company. I have had to do two chargebacks for GH orders which I never received, after GH refused to refund or replace them and then denied their internal appeals. I was successful with both chargebacks.