Deliveroo AU Has Been Placed into Voluntary Administration, Is Exiting Australian Market and Not Refunding Credits/Gift Cards

dm02 on 16/11/2022 - 16:39
Last edited 16/11/2022 - 18:13 by 1 other user

Just got this email from Deliveroo:

We have today made the sad announcement that we are leaving Australia. This has been a difficult decision to make. We have enjoyed serving you the amazing food that Australia is known for, working with thousands of brilliant restaurants and riders.

Deliveroo, like all other companies, is now doing business in challenging economic conditions, which requires us to take difficult decisions. We always aim to deliver the best possible service for our consumers wherever we operate, and if we cannot do that we will be prepared to review our position.

In Australia, we have concluded that achieving a sustainable position of leadership in the market is not possible without a disproportionate level of investment which would have highly uncertain returns.

On the basis of this decision, Deliveroo Australia has been placed into administration. The director of Deliveroo Australia has appointed Michael Korda, Andrew Knight and Craig Shepard of KordaMentha as voluntary administrators. To find out more, including information for creditors, please visit click here. You will receive further communications from the Administrators shortly.

What this means for you

Deliveroo Australia has ceased operations, meaning you can no longer place orders on Deliveroo in Australia.

You will still be able to access your customer account for up to 6 months from this date onwards. After this period your customer account will be closed. Within this period while your account is open, you can download your customer information.

Thank you for ordering with Deliveroo.

For any further information, please visit the administrators’ website at: https://kordamentha.com/creditors

Notably, Deliveroo is not refunding anyone with account credits or gift cards, and if you have these you are now an unsecured creditor:

https://kordamentha.com/getmedia/282f335e-a43a-4c7c-8162-c8a…

19. I have a credit on my customer account. Will it be refunded?
Customers with credits on their accounts will not be refunded for this amount. Such customers are deemed to be unsecured creditors in the Administration and should submit a Proof of Debt form. Further information on how to lodge a Proof of Debt form will be provided in due course.

26. Will gift cards be honoured?
As the Company ceased trading immediately, gift cards cannot be honoured or refunded. Customers with unexpired/unused gift cards are deemed to be unsecured creditors in the Administration and should submit a Proof of Debt form. Further information on how to lodge a Proof of Debt form will be provided in due course.

I note that Deliveroo plc (the UK-based parent company of Deliveroo Australia Pty Ltd) gave customers from The Netherlands 42 days notice before ending their operations: https://corporate.deliveroo.co.uk/media/deliveroo-announces-…
Seems pretty disgraceful to rug-pull all their Australian customers, employees, contractors and restaurant partners like this when clearly they didn't have to for NL. They should probably take "roo" out of their name..

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Comments

  • adam on 16/11/2022 - 16:55
    +3

    Used $130 of gift cards on an order last night (phew). Just $8 left in credit on my account. Sucks to think that the restaurant I ordered from and the driver will probably never get paid.

  • JimB on 16/11/2022 - 16:56
    +1

    Australia has too many food delivery services where it seems no one wins (service provider/restaurant/driver/user).

    I feel most for the restaurant, there may be some restaurants that have tens of thousand owing to them.

    A bit of bad luck of people who purchased the gift cards, but if you lose the credit, it's not going to bankrupt you.

    • BillyG687 on 16/11/2022 - 18:25
      +1

      All delivery services and ride share services aren't profitable if I recall correctly. It's not exclusive to Australia, it's a global issue that these businesses think they can operate at a loss and hope to gain investment and valuation to 'eventually turn a profit'.

      Uber as a whole had a revenue of $26.4 billion (USD) and had a net loss of $5.9 billion (USD) last quarter alone.

  • dealsgrabber on 16/11/2022 - 16:56
    +25

    WTF, they knew well in advance that they were going into administration but didn't stop Shopback and others from selling the GC. Looks like they just wanted to make as much money as possible before making this announcement which I why we saw the Shopback deal last week. I have lost $100. Any chance of getting the money back?

    • adam on 16/11/2022 - 16:57
      +1

      You can submit a claim and maybe in a years time you'll get 10%-50% back.

    • sev snape on 16/11/2022 - 16:58
      +7

      Yeah the timing feels so suss - what does this mean for Shopback?

    • ozbmm on 16/11/2022 - 17:18
      +3

      Feel so ripped off by SB’s upsized cashback last week! It was my first Deliveroo GC!

      • dealsgrabber on 16/11/2022 - 17:21
        -1

        Wondering if Shopback were a party to this, i.e. if they knew about all this and wanted to make some commission out of the GC deal last week.

        • Shoocat on 16/11/2022 - 21:24
          +1

          There is no way they would let Shopback or any other supplier/affiliate know before they announce it.

          The risk of a leak would be way too high.

    • OzFrugie on 16/11/2022 - 23:20

      I bought 100 from shopback deal as well.. got 160 in the credit… is there anything I can do to try recover some of this money? :(

  • capslock on 16/11/2022 - 16:56
    +16

    This will be a very expensive lesson for me - do not stock up on gift cards even if they are cheap.

    • offthetap on 16/11/2022 - 16:57

      how much did you buy?

      • capslock on 16/11/2022 - 16:59
        +5

        I had $400.

        • aurz on 16/11/2022 - 17:01
          +1

          :( sorry to hear mate

        • thegreatermamba on 16/11/2022 - 17:09
          +2

          I have about $550. Is there no way we are gonna get any of them back?

          • [Deactivated] on 16/11/2022 - 17:13

            @thegreatermamba: Very unlikely. I’ve just logged a chargeback with my credit card company but don’t expect it to result in anything as the gift card was bought through ShopBack.

            • stringbean402 on 17/11/2022 - 13:39

              @[Deactivated]: Thing is if Shopback is the merchant it's their merchant account that will be hit with the chargeback. Unless Shopback is insolvent their merchant account with their bank is fair game for chargebacks.

              I suggest to everyone who got screwed by Shopback to lodge a chargeback and if it fails then lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service. I had success with this during COVID with a purchase that was not honored by a company that went 'insolvent'.

              The important thing to note here is that if your credit card statement shows 'Shopback' as the party who sold you the card then they are actually the merchant of these goods no matter how they try to spin it. They were essentially reselling a worthless product.

          • poppingtags on 16/11/2022 - 17:20

            @thegreatermamba: In the same boat - so frustrated!!!

            • arcticmonkey on 16/11/2022 - 17:43

              @poppingtags: I have over $250 in my ShopBack account and $150 against my Deliveroo account

          • SpaceJudge on 18/11/2022 - 11:26

            @thegreatermamba: I have $1,100…. we use it every week so thought I would stock up and save 20%

  • CheapBrah on 16/11/2022 - 16:57
    +2

    There goes $70 down the drain.

    Only reason I hadn't bought more is I saw something like this coming given how their gift cards were permanently on discount recently

  • Top G on 16/11/2022 - 16:57

    This was bound to happen, so many promos, high minimum wage costs and 3 other big competitors. F, was good while it lasted but waistline will be better off.

    • ankti231 on 16/11/2022 - 17:10
      +1

      Gig work doesn't have a minimum wage

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 16/11/2022 - 17:01
    +1

    i reckon doordash is next

  • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:02
    +9

    they could have at least given a week's notice so people could use their credit, but no, they just did all those special deals to entice people to buy, then bam…sorry suckers

    • adam on 16/11/2022 - 17:03
      +1

      People would have used their credit and then restaurants and drivers wouldn't have got paid. Would this have been fair? Would restaurants and drivers even provided service to Doordash after they announced this?

    • happydude on 16/11/2022 - 17:10
      +3

      That is not how administration works.

      • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:11
        +1

        they knew that this was going to happen and did as many special deals to sell as many worthless gift cards as they could.

        • happydude on 16/11/2022 - 17:12
          -4

          That is not how administration works.

          • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:14
            -1

            @happydude: OMG mate, stop with the record…they knowingly ensured there would be many people out of pocket by doing special deals on gift cards, right up until they shut it all down, knowing those people wouldn't get any money back

            • happydude on 16/11/2022 - 17:18
              +1

              @souths123: That is a huge statement. And probably wrong. It would be trading while insolvent, which is illegal.

              Someone would have had enough of the experiment and cut their funding, suddenly and without warning. It's what happens almost every time.

        • adam on 16/11/2022 - 17:15
          +1

          It's not like someone got to steal a big well of money they got from the gift cards. In reality they were struggling to pay their debts to drivers and restaurants and so they desperately sold gift card trying to keep ahead. As soon as they realised they couldn't required they're required to call in the administrators… that's where we're at. Any money they got from these gift cards recently will be distributed to the people they owe money (not full amounts of course). The people who bought gift cards this week lost money, but so did the drivers and restaurants who provided services this week.

          • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:15

            @adam: in other words…a ponzi scheme???

            • adam on 16/11/2022 - 17:16
              +1

              @souths123: No, just business

              • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:18

                @adam: see the reply below about how they dealt with it in the Netherlands…here, just cut off, no warning

                • adam on 16/11/2022 - 17:20
                  +2

                  @souths123: And see what happydude said. They closed operations in Netherlands, they didn't go broke. The moment a company realises its insolvent it MUST call in the administrators, it is not allowed to keep trading.

      • dm02 on 16/11/2022 - 17:16
        +1

        That's how they did it in The Netherlands, why couldn't they do it here?
        https://corporate.deliveroo.co.uk/media/deliveroo-announces-…

        • happydude on 16/11/2022 - 17:19
          +2

          No. There is a difference between setting a date to close your doors and being insolvent. The Deliveroo AU money ran out so they cannot stay open for another second.

          Someone would have had enough of the experiment and cut their funding, suddenly and without warning. It's what happens almost every time.

      • nussbuster on 16/11/2022 - 17:21
        +9

        Irrelevant. The administration was not a decision which was fully considered and made this morning, there would have been weeks/months of deliberation internally around the company's solvency.

        @souths123's comment was around not running scam promotions to inject cash into the business, it was not a comment around how a voluntary administration works which makes your own comment seem a bit dopey. Maybe it's you that doesn't know how administration works?

        • happydude on 16/11/2022 - 17:32

          Allowing gift cards to be used up before pulling the pin would be unfair preference transactions that would likely be voided by a court under 588FA of the Corporations Act.

          Doing specials to inject cash knowing you'll be off the cliff next week is trading while insolvent. Deliveroo did not just suddenly start doing specials either. I'm sure someone cut off the funding tap.

          I think I understand administration and directors duties quite well but thanks for your concern.

          I'm sure someone suddenly cut off the funding tap, but we will know more on Monday when the first report is issued.

          • Homr on 16/11/2022 - 17:39

            @happydude: What do you do for a living sir?

            • onetwothreefour on 16/11/2022 - 18:04
              +4

              @Homr: Deliveroo administrator.

            • phantom on 16/11/2022 - 18:14
              +1

              @Homr: Maybe runs delivery startups… Would explain the username

      • Top G on 16/11/2022 - 17:25

        Rush B

  • TanedaR on 16/11/2022 - 17:04

    Gift card holders are always not a protected creditor. Gift cards will never be honoured when a company goes bankrupt.
    This is why you don't hold too many gift card of a single company.
    Remember when dick Smith's went into administration a few years ago?
    Not sure if Shopback is doggy as they are still offering $5 bonus for a $50 Deliveroo gift card.

    • dm02 on 16/11/2022 - 17:09
      +3

      In that case though, Dick Smith was its own company. Deliveroo Australia Pty Ltd is still owned by the UK parent company Deliveroo plc which is doing just fine, no idea how they can get away with not refunding anyone

      • happydude on 16/11/2022 - 17:11
        +8

        It's called the corporate veil.

        It's like having an adult kid. They might live with you, you might give them some cash from time to time, but if they (profanity) up you can cut them loose.

  • iscooljoey2 on 16/11/2022 - 17:04
    +2

    Did a live chat with them, wonder if the chat staff are aware.

    There is a technical issue whereas our customers are prevented from placing orders at the moment and we cannot also process compensation. Our team is working hard to fix this as quickly as possible, please reach us again after a few minutes.

    Shaevelle - Deliveroo

    • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:20
      +1

      I'm sure they just get told to say that to stop abuse

    • Willy Beamish on 16/11/2022 - 17:53

      Holding lines engaged, prepare for no compensation or satisfaction.

      • blitz on 16/11/2022 - 19:57

        prepare for no compensation or satisfaction

        If those are my only two options, I would choose satisfaction.

  • twdnewh on 16/11/2022 - 17:06
    +2

    For gift cards bought from Shopback but not yet redeemed (didnt add code to my deliveroo account yet) any chance to get the money back?

    • ankti231 on 16/11/2022 - 17:08
      +1

      Nope

    • CodeXD on 16/11/2022 - 17:12

      Nope. There's no way for them to confirm if gift card has been used or not. Or even check if it is redeemed on your account.

  • dealsgrabber on 16/11/2022 - 17:07
    +5

    Looks like they offered 12 month free Deliveroo subscription to get as many orders as possible to suck out the money from us into their own accounts and then run away without paying anything to the restaurants. In short, they are the winners of this and customers and restaurants are the losers.

  • thegreatermamba on 16/11/2022 - 17:07
    +18

    This is quite shocking.

    I have been ordering quite a lot recently and have > $500 of credits in my account.

    They should have given some prior notice so that customers could use their store money.

    Instead, they ran Free Deliveroo Plus on Mastercard + Cashback promotions left and right to make people stock up GCs and load them into their accounts.

    This is a premeditated scam.

    • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:12
      +1

      I agree

    • dealsgrabber on 16/11/2022 - 17:16
      +2

      Definately a scam considering the discounted GC deal last week.

    • poppingtags on 16/11/2022 - 17:19

      Same here, I have hundreds of dollars of giftcards because of the recent promotions :/

      • matt_will_fix_it on 17/11/2022 - 05:45

        Same here, I have hundreds of dollars of giftcards

        You had hundreds of dollars of gift cards. Not any more.

    • pharkurnell on 16/11/2022 - 17:22
      -3

      They should have given some prior notice so that customers could use their store money.

      hahahahahahahahahahah thats not how business works.

    • random12 on 16/11/2022 - 18:01
      +6

      All the delivery companies are assholes

    • Stopback on 16/11/2022 - 19:19

      Maybe they thought one last push and we might get profitable

      Should of ordered more

  • Hvrd on 16/11/2022 - 17:08
    +2

    damn i had a couple $7 off they gave me a week ago

  • dm02 on 16/11/2022 - 17:08
    +2

    How can Deliveroo not refund anybody when the UK-based parent company is doing just fine?

    • ankti231 on 16/11/2022 - 17:09
      +3

      Because the gift cards weren't issued by the UK-based parent company

    • SirCH on 16/11/2022 - 21:46
      +1

      Because Deliveroo Australia is a completely separate company to the UK-based parent company (which lost £76mn last year so I'm not sure they're "doing just fine")

  • kyle on 16/11/2022 - 17:09
    +2

    They sent me a $7 credit a few days ago. Was going to use it yesterday lunch, but the restaurant was not open… Oh well… Feel sorry for those who bought gift cards from SB.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/11/2022 - 17:12
    +2

    Lost $75 which is still annoying but not as bad a some of you.. Had ~$400 of cheap gift cards at the start of the month but due to being on annual leave, was lazy and ordered a lot through them. Could’ve been a lot more.

    Feel for the restaurants and drivers who are likely out of pocket a fair bit. Hopefully their drivers can be absorbed into some of the other delivery options and not be without jobs.

    • Stopback on 16/11/2022 - 19:20

      Don't the drivers and shops get paid same day?

      • SirCH on 16/11/2022 - 21:46

        Nope. Source: used to be a rider.

  • Tgb on 16/11/2022 - 17:18
    -6

    Damn, still had ~4 months left of free Deliveroo Plus from Mastercard …

  • bargainbetty3192 on 16/11/2022 - 17:18
    +2

    I’d bought $500 of vouchers on shopback and still had $377 remaining credit. I presume the credit isn’t valid in other countries? I.e. my sister in law in the UK couldn’t log in and use the credit on my account over there where Deliveroo still runs?

    • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:19

      if it is actually in your account, then no, I don't think so. If it was a gift card maybe, not sure if they are cross country or not

      • bargainbetty3192 on 16/11/2022 - 17:21
        +1

        I redeemed them all onto my account a couple of days ago poop

        • souths123 on 16/11/2022 - 17:24
          +2

          they are prob all worthless regardless. I have approx $200 credit/gift cards too incl $100 I purchased the other day through the Shopback promo of 25% cashback…at least I got $25 back of that…the other deals were bonus credit deals on $X spend…so, worth nothing. Pretty pissed with all the promos lately through Shopback to entice to purchase. If I had known this yesterday I would have blown the whole lot at the local chinese and had leftovers for a week lol

    • CodeXD on 16/11/2022 - 17:20

      I doubt they use the same system, but you can try and let us know.

    • dm02 on 16/11/2022 - 17:24
      +1

      Account credit is country specific, i.e. AUD credit can only be used in AU, GBP can only be used in UK etc.

  • fozzie on 16/11/2022 - 17:21

    Wtf I have $50 unused Deliveroo gift card. How can they get away with this???

    • Top G on 16/11/2022 - 17:26
      +1

      Welcome to the matrix , Neo

    • pharkurnell on 16/11/2022 - 17:33
      +2

      wave your fist at a cloud and swear at it.

    • bob19 on 17/11/2022 - 00:05

      Consider yourself lucky. I've got between $300 - 350 :(

  • pluto on 16/11/2022 - 17:26
    +1

    can we do chargeback if paid with coles prepaid mastercard ?

    • CheapBrah on 16/11/2022 - 17:27
      +1

      In the same boat, I'm guessing probably not.

  • lachlantula on 16/11/2022 - 17:29
    +1

    yeah all the poor ozbargainers who have been investing in gift cards and the like was my first thought.. unlucky.

    • Ghost47 on 16/11/2022 - 17:33
      +1

      My first thought was “hmm 15,000 people (likely new arrivals to Aus) now out of work, that sucks”.

      • Homr on 16/11/2022 - 17:36
        +1

        That's postives news for the restaurant staff shortages, 15,000 drivers will be looking for employment now

        • Ghost47 on 16/11/2022 - 18:58
          +1

          Supposedly we’re also facing a shortage of truck drivers. Let’s get some of them in some B-doubles.

          • Sleeqb7 on 17/11/2022 - 11:21

            @Ghost47: I don't think e-bikes and Vespa licenses translate to B-doubles :(

      • adam on 16/11/2022 - 17:53
        +3

        I think they were all working for multiple delivery companies. The orders that Deliveroo would have got will now go to somewhere else and the same drivers will deliver them for that platform.

        What really sucks is they'll probably miss out on money they're owed for their last week or 2 of work.

        • vinnychase on 16/11/2022 - 18:02

          Surely the drivers would need to get paid. what are secured creditors?

          • rompastompa on 16/11/2022 - 18:39

            @vinnychase: Tax, Banks & Administrators first. Then any loans/money outstanding (Rent, Restaurants, Drivers, etc.) will get divided up with the remainder. Gift cards would only be whatever is remaining after their assets (probably only office equipment!) have been sold, so unlikely there will be anything left.

          • Bad Wolf on 18/11/2022 - 01:31

            @vinnychase: Wages are near the top of the list to get paid.

            I read in one article staff will get an additional 2 weeks wages. 1 week nowish and the other week at the end of the year.
            How much? Averaged from their past 12 months.

  • pharkurnell on 16/11/2022 - 17:33
    +1

    tis ok…. the riders will be driving b-doubles next week with as much training as they had here.

    • t25 on 16/11/2022 - 17:51
      +1

      Hopefully they know when a tyre has blown out and not continue driving for 10 KMs

  • Homr on 16/11/2022 - 17:34
    +1

    wow this is f'ed up. Lucky my deliveroo plus member was free and didn't stock up on gift cards! But alot of ozbargainers will be burnt :(

  • CheapBrah on 16/11/2022 - 17:36
    +2

    Not sure why people are acting like Shopback is off the hook here, especially if the vouchers weren't redeemed. They marketed and sold something that's a dud.

    • dm02 on 16/11/2022 - 17:39
      +7

      I don't think Shopback or anyone else knew that this was happening except for Deliveroo plc and Deliveroo Australia Pty Ltd's upper staff and the administrators

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