Food · Advice & Questions · Oct 18

One meal was missing from our group delivery. Who should wait for the refund?

Food

Everyone had transferred their share to me before the food arrived. Then we opened the bag and found that Maya's noodle bowl was missing.

I reported it through the delivery service; the request is still under review. Maya bought another meal herself and asked me to send back the amount she'd paid for the missing bowl. Another friend said we should all wait until the service responds, because the group order was nobody's fault.

I placed the order as a favour, but I don't want Maya to have paid for a dinner she never received. I also don't want to become the person who absorbs every unresolved delivery charge. How would you settle it between us while the refund outcome is still unknown?

Discussion

3 community replies

@maren17

Keep the service request and the friends' arrangement separate. The request being under review doesn't decide who should carry the cost between you. Show the group what you reported, including the missing item, and discuss the amount still uncertain rather than treating a refund as money already on its way.

@northstar88

Maya has already paid again to get dinner. That makes waiting different for her than for everyone who ate their order. If the rest of you choose to share the uncertainty, you could return her item's payment and agree how to divide any unrecovered amount. Make that a proposal, not something you deduct without asking.

@softfocus

Placing the order as a favour doesn't make you the automatic guarantor of delivery. It also doesn't mean Maya has to keep funding the missing meal just because her transfer reached your account first. This is a small shared decision about the bad outcome, and everyone can participate in it.

One meal was missing from our group delivery. Who should wait for the refund?

Discussion

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