Deliveroo has come under scrutiny after asking for a disgruntled customer’s forgiveness instead of refunding a pizza that arrived “stone cold”.

The takeaway site revealed the unusual refund policy on Sunday after Marcus Brooke-Smith complained about his pizza order, for which he paid £13.30.

Deliveroo originally offered Brooke-Smith just £2.40 worth of credit on his account as compensation. After he challenged the decision, Deliveroo's customer support said the best way to “fully resolve this issue” was not a refund, but that he grant them “forgiveness for our shortcomings”. (They have since denied this is part of their official company policy.)

Mr Brooke-Smith, who lives in North London, wrote to Deliveroo’s customer support as soon as he received the unsatisfactory pizza. He expected an immediate refund, but says he was left “dumbfounded” by the subsequent exchange.

“It’s just arrived and is completely stone cold,” he wrote in his first email to the company. “Very disappointing and I'd like a refund please.” Hopes were raised when received a quick reply apologising for the error. “I hope you could accept my sincerest apologies as we delivered your order in such a state. I completely understand how frustrating this is,” a customer support employee wrote.

Man order Dominos pizza to his train

But any hopes of a full refund were soon dashed. The email from Deliveroo’s customer support continued: “I will not be able to offer a full refund on this occasion. However, to this end, I have now applied a £2.40 credit on your account [...] I truly hope that you would find this satisfactory, and perhaps provide some relief to an otherwise ruined experience.”

Venting his frustration, Mr Brooke-Smith fired back “if you were in a restaurant and they served you a stone cold pizza (it genuinely was completely cold!) then it would be fair enough to send it back and either have it replaced or to not pay for it.”

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To Brooke-Smith’s dismay, Deliveroo still refused to provide a full refund. It was at this point they decided to ask for his forgiveness instead. “Regretfully and I have to inform you, what we already offered is the best we can give for now and that's what our guidelines and policies allow at the moment,” they wrote. “May you forgive us if we cannot go beyond this. What I think that will fully resolve this issue is your forgiveness for our shortcomings on this occasion.”

Mr Brooke-Smith says he was left dumbfounded and disappointed by the request for forgiveness

After further emails and two phone calls, Deliveroo offered to charge Mr Brooke-Smith £3.70, instead of £13.30, covering the cost of delivery and a garlic dip. “We do hope this resolution fulfils your expectations and helps clear any deformed image you might have had about our services,” they wrote. In response, Mr Brooke-Smith told The Independent he still wasn't completely satisfied. "There isn't much use in having a small tub of smoked garlic dip if your pizza is dead," he said.