Food delivery rider 'runs away' after leaving wet bag containing food on floor outside customer's flat

The New Paper
October 23, 2023

An irate Foodpanda customer took to the Complaint Singapore Facebook group on Saturday (Oct 21), and claimed that a delivery rider had left his bag of food on the floor and "ran away".

The customer, Raguvaran Naidu, said this was after the rider knew that the contents of the drink in the bag had spilled, thereby causing the bottom of the wet paper bag to tear.

In his post, Raguvaran, 39, said he had ordered items from Veganburg, and did not specify for the food to be left outside his home.

When he received a notification that his food had arrived, he opened his front door and saw the food left on the floor. He added that he has a hook on his gate for delivery riders who are in a rush to hang the food on.

"Riders have left food at my gate before and I never made an issue about it as long as the food was safe," he said.

When he picked up the bag, the contents immediately fell out.

"The bag tore and everything dropped on the floor. That's when I realised the drink had already spilled inside the bag… Since the handle was also torn, the rider decided to leave it on the floor and run away."

He added in his post: "I have nothing against delivery riders. I've done this job before so I know it's not easy. But please have some dignity. People order food to eat, not to eat it from the floor. People order drinks, not to drink from plastic bags."

Speaking to AsiaOne, Raguvaran, a freelance actor and drama teacher, said some of the food items had to be thrown away.

"The broccoli and mushrooms already touched the floor. The burger was a little scattered inside the box due to the impact. The drink already spilled into the plastic bag," he said.

If the rider had at least told him what had happened, he "wouldn't have bothered putting up the (social media) post".

He added that had he been informed about the wet bag, he would have been more careful with it and the food could have avoided falling to the floor. 

"What irritates me is that the rider had no dignity nor integrity to inform the customer. Extremely disappointed and disgusted.”

Raguvaran said he has contacted Foodpanda over the matter.