A Pizza Hut customer who says he has charged for a takeaway that never arrived claims he is unable to get his money back.
Josè Luis, 48, said he ordered a £14 pizza from the Surrey Quays branch of Pizza Hut on October 2 to his workplace, as he is on medication that makes him dizzy and he needed sustenance fast.
The store could not find a driver, so Luis cancelled the order 20 minutes later.
He had ordered through takeaway app Just Eat, which sent him a text confirming he was due a refund.
But on October 6, he says the money for the meal left his account and went to Pizza Hut.
Luis spoke to Pizza Hut, who advised him to contact Just Eat - but he never had a response.
Have you had issues with takeaway refunds? Message mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
"So they keep the food and the money," he said. "It's unfair."
Neither Just Eat or Pizza Hut will give Luis a refund, insisting his money was returned on October 2.
A source close to Pizza Hut agreed the order had been cancelled, but said the funds were returned to Luis one minute afterwards.
The Mirror has seen proof Pizza Hut did take funds from Luis's account and as of today has still not refunded him.
A Just Eat spokesperson said: "The order was cancelled on the same day and the funds were released back to the customer's card. No money would have left his account."
"They haven't returned the money," he said. "Next week I am going to claim the money from my bank and then the bank will deal with them."
Chargeback and section 75 claims are ways for consumers to reclaim money from a retailer’s bank if they do not get the goods or services you paid for – including if the company has gone out of business.
Since July many takeaway lovers will pay more for meals delivered by Just Eat, which raised its service charge from 50p to up to £1.99 .
The original 50p charge went straight to food delivery website Just Eat, and was a flat fee charged on all orders.
But the new fee is 5% of the value of your takeaway, starting at 50p and capped at £1.99.
The charge is on top of whatever restaurants charge for delivery - which normally ranges from nothing to £4.50.
Just Eat did not announce the change publicly. Instead it just changed the small print on the help section of its website, as well as the payment section, leaving customers to find out by chance.
Just Eat says any increased charges will mostly apply to orders where its own staff handle delivery.
This mostly applies to big-name restaurant groups, and not smaller independent takeaways.
If restaurants employ their own drivers, as most do, the 50p charge still applies.
Just Eat's two big rivals are Deliveroo and Uber Eats, who both have service charges.
Deliveroo charges 5% of the value of the takeaway, capped at 99p. Uber Eats has a £2.99 cap.
Pizza Hut did not respond to the Mirror's request for comment at the end
