You've got cold food, the wrong bag, or a missing drink, and you've probably already tapped Help. Should you still write a complaint letter?

Yes, if you want one record you can reuse. For U.S. customers on Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub, the in-app report is still the refund path the companies actually staff. A letter does not replace that. It backs you up when a chat thread vanishes, a ticket closes, or you later ask a credit card issuer to look at the same charge. Ask for a specific dollar amount.

Copy this food delivery complaint letter and fill the blanks

File the in-app issue first. Then paste this into email if the company publishes a support address, or into the existing Help thread if it doesn't. Use the email on the account.

[Your name]
[Email on the delivery account]
[Phone]
[Date]

Subject: Complaint about order [order number] - [late, cold, wrong items, missing items, or never arrived] - refund request

Hello,

I am writing about order [order number], placed on [date] through [Uber Eats / DoorDash / Grubhub] from [restaurant name].

What I ordered: [items and total charged].
What arrived: [wrong items, missing items, cold food, damaged packaging, or no delivery].
Quoted arrival window: [time shown in the app].
Actual arrival: [time, or did not arrive].

I reported this in the app on [date]. Claim or ticket ID: [ID if you have one]. Photos of the food as delivered and screenshots of the original order are attached.

I am asking for a refund of $[amount] to the original payment method. I would accept [credits only if you actually want credits].

Please confirm in writing.

Thank you,
[Name]
[Account email]

Ask for a refund to the original payment method unless you actually want credits. Credits can be faster. They also keep your money in the app.

Don't load the first note with legal threats. Save that energy. You'll still have the same facts for a card issuer later.

The letter is a record, not the refund path

Thing is, these companies staff the order screen, not a mailroom. DoorDash's help page on missing or incorrect items tells you to send original, clear photos of what arrived, unwrapped, with all items visible. Email beats a paper letter for speed. A paper letter is almost never required.

What to attach so someone can verify the order

Don't write a memoir. They are matching a number to a picture. Work through this list, then stop:

1. Order number, restaurant, date, and amount charged.
2. Photos of the delivered items, opened, all of them in the frame.
3. A shot of the open bag if something is missing.
4. Screenshots of the items you tapped and any delivery timeline in the app.
5. One dollar amount you want refunded.

Photograph the open bag if a side is missing, and photograph the actual entree if it's the wrong dish. DoorDash's own help text is picky about those photos, and it says that if the whole order belongs to someone else you should report it as "Order never arrived." Uber Eats won't run a thermometer test. Photos plus the app's own timestamps do more work than calling the food inedible.

You don't need a different letter for every app

Turns out one template covers Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. Change the app name, the order number, and the ticket ID from Help.

DoorDash already uses labels like missing items, incorrect items, late or cold. Repeat those words so an agent can search.

On Uber Eats, put the order number up top and say whether you already used Help. If the app showed restaurant delivery instead of an Uber courier, mention that. Don't invent a 30-minute promise the screen never showed.

Grubhub runs on the same facts. Ask for the original payment method. Credits are optional. You don't have to take them.

If they deny the claim, or never reply

Wait a few days if you have a ticket number, then send the letter once as a follow-up with the ticket ID in the first sentence. Don't send five versions of the same rant.

If you paid with a credit card and the charge is still sitting there, the next track is the card issuer, not another round of app chat. That process is a billing dispute. It is not a guaranteed win.

Issuers generally must receive your written notice no later than 60 days after the statement that first showed the charge. That 60-day clock is strict. Bankrate's guide to denied billing-error disputes walks through the next clocks: a written acknowledgment within 30 days unless the issuer already resolved it, and an investigation that should finish within two billing cycles, not more than 90 days. Keep the in-app screenshots and this letter. They will ask what you already tried.

It's easy to write three pages about the driver who circled the block, the estimate that sat on "5 minutes" while dinner went cold, the soup that leaked through the bag, and the fact you only ordered out because you were too tired to cook, but the person on the other end is trying to match an order number to a photo, and the extra story usually just buries the refund amount you wanted. Keep the photos, not the speech.

If the fight is with the card company, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB takes complaints about credit cards and other financial products. It will not refund a burrito. You get email updates, you can review the company's response, and you have 60 days to leave feedback. Companies generally respond in 15 days.

Debit cards, prepaid cards, and in-app wallets are different rails. Don't copy a credit card script onto those.

If you think the food made you sick

Skip the standard refund template as your only move. Get medical care if you need it. Tell your local health department, which is the agency that can look at the restaurant.

To be honest, taping hospital bills to a copy-paste complaint will not turn it into a court filing. Keep the order details. Don't use the refund letter as a stand-in for care.

Open the order in the app while the food is still on the counter and file the issue with photos. Then fill the letter and save it. If a credit card statement is involved, mark 60 days from that statement so the dispute window doesn't slide by.