Saskatoon restaurants listed on Uber Eats without owners' consent

Owners of two restaurants in Saskatoon say they are frustrated after their businesses were listed on the Uber Eats food delivery app without their knowledge. 

For The Granary on Eighth Street, that meant that last week, five different delivery drivers from Uber Eats showed up to pick up food.

Mearc Davie, one of the owners of The Granary, said he was shocked when he got the call from his manager asking, "Hey, are we on Uber Eats perchance? And you forgot to tell me?"

"No way. What's happening?" Davie recalls replying. The manager told him there was an Uber Eats driver at the restaurant to pick up an order. Davie downloaded the app and found his restaurant, menu and some fake photos on it. 

He tried to contact Uber Eats but said it was difficult getting in touch or getting help without an Uber account. Davie said he doesn't want to set up an account because he would have to accept terms and conditions that he doesn't agree with.

Davie said he typed an angry letter in response to the ordeal and posted it to the Uber Eats Facebook page. He also shared the story on The Granary's Facebook page, warning customers not to order from The Granary through UberEats.

He said he received a lot of support from his customers and, within 24 hours, the restaurant disappeared from the app.

The owner of Mulberry's restaurant on Millar Avenue had the same experience. 

Lynda Marshall said last Tuesday, when she was working late, the telephone rang and the person on the other side said they were there to pick up an Uber Eats order. 

"And I'm like, 'Order! What kind of order are you planning?' So I came out and talked to the person. They showed me on their phone that they had Mulberry's [on the] app and everything on there, which we have never, ever signed up for," she said. 

When Marshall found out about The Granary's experience, she reached out for advice on how to deal with it and got Mulberry's off the Uber Eats app as well. 

Marshall said, like Davie, that she found it difficult to reach out to UberEats for help.

"This isn't right. You cannot go and put my business or his business on your app and tell everybody that we're agreeing to this," she said. "I'm frustrated."

CBC reached out to Uber Eats to find out how those two restaurants ended up on the app.