Competition watchdog orders Glovo and Uber Eats to open Kenya offices
The competition watchdog has directed online food and groceries delivery apps, including Glovo and Uber Eats to set up offices in the country to handle consumer complaints.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) said a survey revealed delayed resolution of client issues against the mostly foreign-owned outfits, a situation largely attributed to their lack of offices in the country.
“The study finds that various challenges were registered with having the head offices of the platforms outside Kenya including lengthy redress processes as some of the user complaints have been handled from the headquarters of the platforms. Customer service offices are often unreachable and emails may go unanswered for days,” the CAK notes.
“To enhance and facilitate the timely resolution of consumer issues as well as value chain issues including competition issues, the platforms should have country offices domiciled in Kenya with powers to resolve these issues promptly.”
In addition to the directive on setting up country offices, the competition watchdog has advocated for the development of a framework for self-regulation citing the absence of a legal framework governing the operations of online food and groceries delivery platforms.
Except for Jumia Food which is headquartered in Nairobi, all other online food and grocery delivery platforms have their main offices abroad.
Glovo, the multi-category delivery platform that is also the market leader by consumer preference has its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, while Uber Eats, Bolt Food, and Jumia (the marketplace) are headquartered in San Francisco, Estonia and Berlin respectively.
Delays in delivery of orders make up the most frequent complaint against the platforms at 32.9 per cent followed by unmatched product expectations and poor customer service.
However, proliferation of consumer complaints are muted with only 16 per cent of consumers having filed a complaint against the platforms.
Other complaints relating to online food and grocery delivery platforms include the non-disclosure of full-price information, price over-charge, additional delivery charges, and the delivery of the wrong product or spoiled goods.
