A TikTok video from an Uber Eats driver is going viral after she described catching two people attempting to get a free delivery by ignoring her calls. The video, posted by @arleneaesthetic, revealed that their scheme had one unexpected flaw: her.
She had accepted a delivery from Chick-fil-A to a nearby apartment building about a mile away. The building's front entry was locked, and there was no posted access code. She called the customer but received no response. She texted: "Hi, I have no access, please provide the code or meet me at the entrance."
According to Uber Eats policy, drivers are given eight minutes before they can cancel an undelivered order. She waited in her car with the door open, watching the entry. Another text, but still no response.
@arleneaesthetic Maybe I’m too jaded & they wasn’t doin nothin but i wasn’t gonna take that chance ?
♬ original sound - Arlene Aesthetic ?
Two men stood by a parked car nearby, talking, and she noted them but thought little of it at the time. After the window closed, the app instructed her to leave the food in a safe location and document it with a photo.
As she prepared to leave the food outside, the two men began walking toward the building. She asked if the order was theirs, and they said no but told her they lived there. She asked them to let her in, and they refused, saying they did not allow strangers inside.
Instead of leaving the food, she picked it up and returned to her car.
The driver contacted Uber Eats customer support and explained there was nowhere safe to leave the delivery. The representative told her she could dispose of the food and would still receive payment. She accepted the offer, ended the call and held onto the Chick-fil-A.
The moment she lifted the bag, the two men turned and walked straight back to their car. Their cover was gone, and she had the last word: "You ain't gonna play me."
The driver said keeping up her metrics was part of why she refused to walk away. A fake undelivered claim can harm a driver's rating, and she was not about to risk that for a ten-dollar Chick-fil-A order.
The comment section cheered her. One viewer wrote, "I will never understand how so many drivers try to contact customers and can never get hold of them — like, people are always on their phones?"
Another commenter asked, "I watch the app the WHOLE time I'm waiting. How do people just order and then never look at their phone again?" A third user said, "Customer shouldn't be wasting your time. The app is clearly telling you when your food is arriving."
The scheme is not new to gig economy workers — drivers across platforms have been reporting similar tactics for years. According to BroBible, the scheme involves customers ignoring driver calls until the cancellation window expires and then claiming the food was never delivered.
A driver identified only as Dave described a customer who openly admitted to getting a free meal by filing a complaint immediately after he delivered her order.
For this driver, thankfully, the outcome was a free Chick-fil-A lunch and internet support.
