Grab’s recent acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations has made it the undisputed king of regional ride-hailing services, but the move has thrown Uber’s food-delivery services into disarray, according to users and restaurant owners.

The past weekend saw many frustrated Uber Eats customers, with restaurants and eaters alike taking to social media to air their grievances over hour-long delays and, in some cases, the delivery men failing to show up altogether.

Thonglor’s fried-chicken specialist, FowlMouth, was one of the affected restaurants, with owner Chirayu Na Ranong halting food-delivery altogether.

“It is obvious that Uber Eats is currently not 100% operational and no one from their side has addressed any of the late pickups and cancelled orders that occurred over the past few days,” Chirayu told us.

“We’ve never had any problems with the service or delivery so we were a bit surprised when a customer called to say they had waited for an hour to get their food. There was no communication from Uber [about the takeover]. I found out when I was reading the news.”

Gav Koh, the owner of Yen Akat’s northern Thai food restaurant Eats Payao, also said that his restaurant had experienced severe setbacks following the takeover. Eats Payao was forced to issue an apology to customers after delivery drivers failed to turn up for the orders.

Gav had been told via email that the official changeover would begin April 8, but described his hesitance over continuing with Grab because the delivery men are “very untrained.” For now, he's advising customers to order direct from the shop via social media.  

Restaurants were obviously not the only ones affected. Tom Tabruyn, who’s also the owner of Papa’s Kitchen, posted on Facebook his attempts to order food via the delivery service.

“Uber Eats is completely falling apart since Grab announced the take over. Tried to order on several occasion and nothing got delivered, customer support disappeared as well.”

What does Uber Eats have to say? Restaurateurs claim their messages and emails have gone unanswered. The only statement from the company is on their website:

“Nothing changes for Uber Eats customers in the immediate term, but by May, we will be transitioning all Uber Eats operations under the GrabFood brand.”

When it comes to food delivery services, Bangkokians have the options of Foodpanda, GrabFood, Line Man and Uber Eats. Up until recently, Uber Eats had been well-received for its timely deliveries, consistency and fast app tracking. Is it time to give the rivals a chance?