Why a Deliveroo customer who found hairs in his burger was denied a refund

A Deliveroo customer who claims he found long strands of hair in his burger was refused a refund because the meal was apparently “a matter of personal taste”.

Darren Wood, from the English city of Norwich, was about to tuck into a bacon cheeseburger he ordered through Deliveroo when he claims he found hair in his meal.

A picture the customer tweeted appears to show a polystyrene container with strands of long, dark hairs matted into remnants of his hamburger, which Mr Wood said was from UK burger chain Byron.

When the dissatisfied customer complained to Deliveroo, he says he was refused a refund because the extra ingredients were a matter of preference.

“I’m sorry to hear you weren’t happy with your order however I’m unable to offer a refund or credit as this is a matter of personal taste,” came the response from the meal delivery service’s customer service team.

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“Please accept our apologies,” they added.

Mr Wood then replied saying: “I’m not sure having hair in your food is to anyone’s taste to be honest.”

The follow-up message from Deliveroo was still no.

“I understand where you’re coming from.. As much as I would like to give any compensation for this, I’m unable to offer a refund in this instance,” they wrote.

Mr Wood was later told he was entitled to a $9 refund – but only because his burger had arrived late.

“It was disgusting. I do understand these things can happen but to say it’s personal taste is hilarious,” he tweeted with a picture of the text conversation.

“They offered £5 ($9.11), two free deliveries, for it being late but said they wouldn’t do anything about the hair.”

A spokesman for Deliveroo told the Metro the correspondence from its customer service team was made in error.

“We’re very sorry Darren didn’t get to experience the amazing meal and service that our customers have come to know and expect,” a spokesperson said.

“Clearly the initial response from customer services was incorrect which we will address internally. We will be offering Darren a full refund and a free Deliveroo voucher.”

A spokesman for the burger chain the meal was supplied to said it was “absolutely horrified” to hear of the customer finding a hair in his meal, and offered an apology.

“We will of course investigate. Our General Manager would very much like to extend an invitation to join him and his team for dinner, on us, and be assured that this was a very regrettable, but isolated incident,” a Byron spokesperson said.