APRIL FOOL’S DAY PRANKS | Pranksters prey on poor food deliveries during lockdown

April 1, 2020 , 04:01 PM

By Katrina Elaine Alba

April 1, 2020 – Cruel people have been playing pranks on poor riders making a living by delivering food even during the enhanced community quarantine period in some cities in the eastern part of the capital region.

They would order large amount food, giving false addresses or fictitious names, leaving riders from GrabFood to pay for the unclaimed food orders.

While most food outlets take orders directly from customers, riders from GrabFood initially pay for the customers’ order and charge extra for the delivery. The system makes GrabFood riders very vulnerable to pranksters.

The pranks have been making the rounds on social media after 20-year-old John Paul dela Cruz posted on Facebook his own experiences.

On Monday, dela Cruz said he had received an order for “pancit bihon”, a kind of fried noodles, worth P924, that is good for 15 people in Pasig. He then received an additional order from a customer who identified himself only as Joseph, requesting “lechon kawali”, or deep-fried pork belly, worth P60, and three orders of “halo- halo”, a famous Filipino dessert.

In an interview with News5, dela Cruz had thought the order could be a prank because the food order was too much. When the unnamed food outlet told dela Cruz there were no “halo-halo”, he told customer “Joseph” about it and was told noodles and pork order were enough.

A copy of the GrabFood order requested by the customer “Joseph”, amounting to P984. Upon delivery, the customer did not show up and turned out to have submitted a fake address. PHOTO from John Paul dela Cruz

After placing the order and pedaling to a given address as a drop-off point, in a Pasig condo about two kilometers away from the food outlet, dela Cruz said he could no longer contact “Joseph”.

Dela Cruz said he waited for almost an hour, hoping the customer would contact him as he repeatedly sent text messages but to no avail. Finally, he asked the condo’s security guard to allow him to deliver the food directly to “Joseph”’s unit.

“Pagdating dun, wala pong tao,” he told News5, “Walang wala. Puro alikabok. Walang gamit.” The security guard told dela Cruz the condo has no record of a “Joseph” living in the unit.

Stuck with P984 worth of food, dela Cruz posted on a Grab-related Facebook page, offering P900 for the meal and with no delivery charge. Luckily, a friend took up his offer and Grab contacted him later that night to reimburse him P200. GrabFood told him the customer “Joseph” banned from its services.

Screenshot of a GrabFood rider’s Facebook post, offering to sell an unclaimed order worth P984 for only P900. FACEBOOK post by John dela Cruz

That was not the first time dela Cruz had fallen victim to pranksters. When he was just starting, he got an order from a customer “James” in Marikina a month ago, requesting for a bacon and tapa meal worth P507. “James” also did not show up at the address he gave.

“Inuwi ko na lang sa bahay, kinain namin ng mama ko,” he said.

Dela Cruz, a Grade-12 student shared other Marikina-based GrabFood bikers knew the prankster “James” well because he would always choose banks as his drop-off points.

“Nagtatrabaho kami ng maayos tapos lolokohin nila,” dela Cruz rued, “Doble dobleng pagod. Sobrang hirap kasi gastos namin tapos wala. Di nila dama yung sakripisyo. Wala, ganun gusto nilang buhay.”

In another prank case in a village in Cainta, Rizal, Lik Buendia told News5 how some of their neighbors get surprise orders from Grab.

“At first, they posted it in our group that an order was placed in a wrong unit,” Buendia said, “The owner contacted a certain Jordan Villegas but he was hanging up. The owner decided to pay for it instead and consumed the food. Later on, we learned that it was the same person, same number who placed a bogus order the other day.”

Another resident, Eden Samonte, from Barangay dela Paz in Pasig shared on another Facebook post how her husband, Francis, had ended up paying P770 for pizza order after giving the GrabFood rider directions to a customer’s house one Sunday.

She said a GrabFood driver came to their house looking for a customer and her husband even gave him something to drink, after observing how exhausted he was pedaling all afternoon.

A few minutes after giving him directions, the driver came back to them. “Wala raw nakatirang tao na may ganung pangalan sa address,” Samonte posted, “Ang tagal niyang naghihintay, hindi siya ni- contact nung umorder.”

She told News5 the GrabFood driver was afraid he would be stuck with the pizza with the curfew approaching. Samonte said her husband decided to buy the pizza and pay the delivery charge on top of it. At least she thought, they would have something to eat for merienda.

GRABFOOD REIMBURSEMENT

GrabFood said its system automatically disables the cancel option once riders have placed orders at the restaurant.

In case, the customer does not show up or there will be unclaimed food orders, GrabFood said it can fully reimburse orders as long as rider-partners submit photos of the unclaimed food, the receipt, as well as the GrabChat exchanges.

It also assured riders the customers who do not claim their orders will face corresponding penalties.

“Hindi ko ma-imagine kung paano nagagawa ng mga tao mangloko at mang-abuso ng mga frontliner natin sa ganitong panahon,” Samonte said in her Facebook post. “Please spread love and stay home. Let’s help each other during this time.”

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