A Grab customer in Singapore shared his frustration online after discovering that his food order was allegedly left on top of a dusty HDB mailbox instead of being delivered to his unit. The incident was shared on Facebook on Jan. 17 by 29-year-old Boon Wee, who later spoke to MS News about what happened.
According to Boon Wee, he found his food order at around 9am in the void deck mailbox of his Taman Jurong HDB block. The order was not delivered to his home, even though he had placed clear instructions in the app.
Grab app issue with the unit number
In his Facebook post on the Complaint Singapore group, Boon Wee explained that the issue started when the Grab app failed to capture his unit number during the order process. Despite this, he claimed that the delivery rider did not try to contact him to clarify the address.
“[The] Grab delivery rider didn’t even bother to message me to ask about the unit number,” he wrote.
Boon Wee added that no calls or messages were made to him before the rider decided to leave the food elsewhere.
Food was placed on the dusty mailbox surface
Unable to locate the unit, the rider allegedly placed the food on top of the HDB mailbox, took a photo, and messaged Boon Wee to collect it from there. The image shared showed the mailbox surface covered with visible dust.
“Somemore its [sic] placed on top of that mailbox, which has so much dust, very unhygenic to just put it there,” Boon Wee wrote in his post.
He said the situation could have been avoided because he had clearly stated delivery instructions in the app.
“I have already clearly stated in my delivery notes for the food to be hanged [sic] at my door,” he said.
“Hence, I would expect the food to be delivered straight to my unit instead, and not to be left on the mailbox on the rider’s own accord, where I have to go downstairs personally and take the food myself.”
Grab protocol on failed delivery attempts
Grab later shared that if there are issues, such as missing postal codes, users should report them through the app to help improve service quality. According to Grab’s protocol, if a rider cannot reach the recipient, they are expected to try contacting the customer via call or GrabChat.
If there is still no response after five minutes, the rider should contact the sender and return the item.
Boon Wee said he submitted a report to Grab after the incident. Grab refunded him and acknowledged his feedback.
“They also mentioned that they will inform their internal team to take necessary actions regarding the driver’s behaviour,” he shared.
The Facebook post drew mixed reactions from netizens. Some agreed that the rider should have made an effort to contact the customer before leaving the food unattended.
Others felt the complaint was excessive and accused Boon Wee of being entitled.
In response, Boon Wee reiterated that he had paid for the service and expected proper delivery.
