Uber Eats refuses to refund me

I ordered a burger meal from Bean Cafe Rivonia on the 13 Feb 2026. The driver arrived more than an hour later with my meal, the brown packet was torn and the meal box was squashed. The burger and chips were cold, the burger itself was a mangled mess. I gave him the meal with all the packaging and the two drinks that were also part of the order. There was no way I was going to eat that meal.

I was charged and immediately went to Uber support in the app to complain. I gave them a full explanation and requested a refund because I did not accept the food.

I keep getting the below response, even when I emailed them, same automated response. Judging by the other complaints, it seems I will not be getting my money back and Uber thinks that delivering food in this condition is acceptable....almost R200 spent on nothing.

Uber's response:

"Thanks for getting back to us.

We are sorry to hear that your order has been canceled.

We are unable to provide you with a price adjustment for the order from Bean Cafe, Rivonia since they have already started preparing your order.

In the future, we recommend confirming information like the items in your cart, address, and any promos are accurate before placing your order.

To update an order before you’ve placed it, use “Undo.”

To cancel your order free of charge, be sure to cancel the order before the merchant accepts it.

If the store or delivery person ask you to cancel the order anytime in the future, you can ask them to reach out using in-app support to make sure you aren’t charged."