Some delivery drivers of GrabFood, one of the popular food delivery services in Vietnam, have been displeased with the company’s policy of cash advance and reimbursement.

GrabFood was developed by Grab, a leading ride-hailing service operating in Vietnam, in mid-2018 and has officially expanded its presence in the country to 15 provinces and cities, from the first three metropolises of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang.

The expansion, however, does not necessarily mean GrabFood’s operation is error- and trouble-free.

Nguyen Thanh Ha, a GrabFood delivery partner, has recently told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper his story, in which he believes he was treated unfairly by the company, having his deposit returned late.

According to Ha, he accepted an order worth VND556,000 (US$24) that a customer had paid to GrabFood earlier this month.

Pursuant to GrabFood’s procedure, Ha used his own money to buy food as per the order. The company should have then returned the exact amount, in addition to a shipping wage of VND15,000 ($0.65), to Ha’s e-wallet on Grab’s platform for its drivers.

Ha said, however, he only received VN80,000 ($3.44) after that, including VND70,000 ($3) in promotion to the customer and VND10,000 ($0.43) for the shipping wage.

GrabFood explained to Ha when he raised the question about the remaining VND491,000 ($21.11) that the company needed three to five days to complete the reimbursement of any prepaid order greater than VND500,000 to delivery drivers.

As the explanation apparently fell short of what Ha had expected, he insisted on receiving the remaining amount within the same day when he was reporting the issue. 

Ha’s request was satisfied, with the VND491,000 reimbursed to his online wallet that day. But his driver account got frozen by GrabFood shortly after.

The delivery man claimed that he was also forced to quit partnership with the food delivery service and was asked to come to its office to terminate their partnering contract, and to receive the remainder in his e-wallet.

Dealing with the same issue as Ha’s, some GrabFood delivery partners complained to Tuoi Tre that the company’s policy of reimbursement in three to five days applicable to prepaid orders worth more than VND500,000 causes difficulty for them.

“How can we have enough money to continue buying food for customers while waiting for GrabFood to return our money,” said Quang, another GrabFood delivery partner.

A GrabFood representative confirmed to Tuoi Tre the case of driver Ha, saying the company did clarify the issue.

But like Ha, the company neither revealed the reason why it terminated partnership with the driver nor gave more details about the disagreement between the two sides.

“We will increase communication with delivery partners for their better understanding of our policy on reimbursement for high-value orders, in order to avoid miscommunication in the future,” said the GrabFood representative.

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