'Your roommate is lying to you': Crafty college student uses food delivery app to scam roommate out of free food

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
May 21, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

Food delivery apps are the greatest thing since sliced bread. They're the lazy person's saving grace. It's almost like magic. You imagine a meal, and then with a few clicks on a screen, that meal is there in your arms, ready to be consumed. But like most magic I'm familiar with, it comes at a price. And in the case of delivery apps, that price is… money. Loads of money. It turns out convenience is costly. That's why, for most people (unless you're a Twitch streamer who would somehow lose money by cooking), delivery is a once-in-a-while treat. 

But for one college student, delivery apps became a boon to her roommate relationship in an unexpected way. The following story is an interesting one, full of lies and deceit (but on a pleasantly low-stakes scale). And commenters were divided on what exactly was going on here. Read on for details, and decide for yourself. 

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  • 01
    "She's been doing this since ber February" ats
    via Robert Anasch
  • 02
    r/mildlyinfuriating u/Terrible_Sun_5131 • 12h My roommate hasn't been paying for our food deliveries.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 03
    My roommate and I LOVEEEE ordering food because as you know it, campus food is diabolical and we barely have time to make our own food.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 04
    Back in February, we agreed to order food twice to three times a week. We usually alternate in buying each other food. So if I get us Thai food today, she'll buy us Chinese food tomorrow.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 05
    A month ago, she told me her situation at home. Almost everyone in her family's unemployed, except for her. I wouldn't delve further into her story since it isn't my story to tell, however, after she told me about her situation, I expected she would stop buying me food from then on (which was totally fine, I have the means to keep getting food outside).
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 06
    Yet, she continued getting food for us. I was a bit worried considering what she had told me, but hey, what was I to do? I told her that we don't have to keep buying me food if she's strapped with cash but she insisted that it's okay. I also stopped getting food deliveries when she's around so I wouldn't have to buy her food and in return, she wouldn't feel the need to "repay" me.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 07
    Anyway, last week, we were eating food and chatting about stuff. I told her that I needed this semester to be over because my semester allowance is almost gone. She laughed and she asked me if I want a "hack" to save money to which I replied yes.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 08
    And that's how I find out that she hasn't been paying for any of our food at all. Apparently, even if the food arrived well and dandy, she would file a complaint to get a full refund for everything. And she might have been doing this February. since
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 09
    Edit: I just want to answer some questions. First of all, I don't know when she started doing this, I assumed February since that's when we started ordering food. I don't know how often she does it and how she gets away with it. She showed me 4 consecutive refunds from Door Dash beginning of May but prior to that, I have no idea. I couldn't ask her for more information since I have already left since I was already done with the semester.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 10
    charizard_72 • 11h Don't apps like door dash have a way to flag if a person continuously (let alone every time) marks an order as never arrived? That seems like one of the first things you'd want to be aware of to prevent this kind of Is that actually what she's doing or is she just using something like After Pay or a credit card she'll never pay off? It's hard to get refunds for genuinely missing food sometimes on Uber eats.
    via u/charizard_72
  • 11
    What AnxiousEarth7774 • 9h students can afford takeout multiple times a week on student allowance as well. That's crazy to me
    via u/AnxiousEarth7774
  • 12
    pixeltweaker • 12h How do places not realize that it's the same person complaining? Restaurant isn't monitoring things too well but that still doesn't make it right. Are you mad that she hasn't been paying but you have been paying her back? Or are you mad she didn't share this hack sooner?
    via u/pixeltweaker
  • 13
    Terrible_Sun_5131 OP • 12h I'm mad that she's been making me pay for my half when she's been getting free food all this time, or been stealing food I guess. I honestly feel bad because we order via Doordash or Uber so I know the delivery people is getting the short end of the stick for her actions.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131
  • 14
    lostinthecapes • 11h I can't even get a partial refund when my orders up. About a week ago, I cancelled an order that was an hour, and a half late because ? It never showed, and UberEATS still wants me to pay for half of it. Nope, no. I'll take my business to another app, thank you.
    via u/lostinthecapes
  • 15
    startfromx.⚫ 11h Yeah, that's not cool. I get wanting to pretend life is normal when you're struggling, but someone still pays. Strange they don't feel weird or bad about it. The restaurant gets back-charged and reviews go down... but staff made the food and a tasty menu item was created just for you! Also is a bummer if the driver had to pay for the order out of wages. Ah, and no tip too. I would say you learned a lesson that some people are bound by a different moral code. No more splits, go d
    via u/startfromx
  • 16
    tandabat 11h This reminds me of my senior roommate. (Back in the early Aughts) She ordered from a local place, paying cash and only had enough cash for the food and a small tip. But she forgot about sales tax. Oopsie. But then she kept doing it. Ordering food and "forgetting" about the tax or tip. Pretty soon that place wouldn't deliver to her, so she asked me to call in the order. That worked once. Our room got banned for delivery. So she went to all the other dorms on our floor. Guess which fl
    via u/tandabat
  • 17
    Omega_Boost24 • 10h "And she's been doing this since February || Well, how to break out the news... she's probably been doing it since ever. You just found out.
    via u/Omega_Boost24
  • 18
    Venfoulex 1h • You have time to make your own food
    via u/Venfoulex
  • 19
    RedWum 11h OP - your roommate is lying or you misunderstood them. Perhaps she meant she's done it once or twice across apps to save money. But none of these services will let you say you didn't get your order and give a full refund more than once without putting forth measures like having a confirmation code and then denying refunds. They know that people want to game the system and give people a small chance but no way would they go months on end refunding every order.
    via u/RedWum
  • 20
    Terrible_Sun_5131 OP ⚫ 11h I honestly hope so. I didn't really interrogate her too much about it because at that time, I was so mad and I didn't want to say anything inflammatory about her or her scheme. She did show me her DD receipts and I can confirm she's done it 3-4 times since beginning of May. Prior to that, I really don't know how often she got away with it.
    via u/Terrible_Sun_5131

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scammer doordash college students delivery driver chinese food food delivery food service scam food special delivery reddit thread Reddit roommates money delivery college roommate college
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