Order paid for but immedietly cancelled and no refund given - Support entirely useless

May 28, 2026: The Initial Gateway Failure An order was placed via the Uber Eats Kenya application. The payment method selected was M-Pesa. The financial pull request was initiated by Gladys Technologies and 9,463 KES was successfully deducted from the M-Pesa mobile wallet. Immediately following the deduction, the payment gateway failed to complete the technical handshake with the Uber Eats application. Uber Eats registered a payment failure and automatically canceled the order. The unallocated funds were retained within the settlement ecosystem without triggering an automatic reversal. Post-Incident: In-App Dispute Obstruction Attempts were made to resolve the missing funds through the official Uber Eats consumer support channels. Within the application, the specific dispute route for mobile money ("UberEats Kenya | Mpesa payment issues") redirects users to an external Google Form. Upon accessing this form, it was discovered to be entirely deactivated, displaying the system message: "The form is no longer accepting responses." This effectively blocked any avenue for direct consumer recourse with the merchant. June 5, 2026: Payment Processor Deflection An escalation was sent directly to Gladys Technologies, the licensed Payment Service Provider that processed the initial M-Pesa deduction. Their support team responded via email, refusing to trace or reverse the unallocated funds. They stated: "We only process the payment submission to them. Please reach out to Uber Eats directly through their help section on the app for refunds..." This directive formed a closed loop, redirecting the claimant back to the deactivated Google Form. 4. Categorized Systemic Failures This incident highlights three distinct operational and compliance failures: Technical Failure: The inability of the Gladys Technologies API to accurately communicate payment status to the Uber Eats platform, resulting in "ghost charges." Consumer Support Blockade: Uber Eats deliberately maintaining a deactivated dispute resolution form while continuing to process M-Pesa transactions. Fiduciary Negligence: The refusal by Gladys Technologies to audit a failed transaction code (UESF564NR4) and return unallocated consumer funds stuck in their settlement pipeline. 5. Escalation and Regulatory Action Due to the lack of internal resolution from either the merchant or the payment processor, this matter has been escalated to external regulatory and financial oversight bodies: Diamond Trust Bank (DTB): A formal compliance ticket (DTB34121626050) has been opened with the sponsor bank facilitating the payment gateway. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK): The National Payments Division has been copied on all communications regarding the withheld funds. Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK): Alerted to the consumer protection violation. Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK): Formal complaint preparation is underway regarding the lack of functional refund mechanisms.