The answer is simple: You can easily have meals delivered to your home. However, many people prefer staying hungry to endlessly waiting for their orders to be delivered.

Nafisa Riaz, a mother of two whose husband works night shifts, said she orders food to be delivered to her home from several restaurants and feels the service is unsatisfactory. “At times, I don’t have food ready at home and my husband is at work. So, I have to rely on restaurants that deliver at home. However, either I receive an order too late or sometimes I don't receive anything at all. I would rather stay hungry than ring for food to be home delivered,” she said.

Abeer S. calls herself a fast food addict and says she needs to eat fast food at least four to five times a week. “If I want to have fast food, I simply wait for my male relatives to take me but will not depend on having food delivered at home,” she said, adding that she once placed an order with a fried chicken restaurant and did not receive her food within the promised 45 minutes. She then telephoned the restaurant after 75 minutes and was told the food had not been sent out and would be sent out in 10 to 15 minutes.

“Sadly, my waiting went in vain and I never received anything. I called five to six times but after a while my phone calls were also not answered. Earlier, they kept on transferring and dropping my calls. They hardly understood what I was saying. I’ve never received orders on time,” she said.

“There should be a compensation system like that in Western countries which guarantees deliveries within promised times. They charge SR5 for delivery but are never on time,” she added.

Marriam Khan is also dissatisfied at home-delivery services. “I ordered a pizza and a drink to be delivered to my home. The food came 20-25 minutes later minus the drink. When I asked about the drink, the delivery man ran off without saying anything and then came back after 90 minutes with a bottle of drink that wasn’t even cold. We didn’t even need it then,” she said.

“A five to 10 minutes delay is understandable but a lack of professionalism is not. Sometimes I receive pizzas that are over-cooked or not the one I ordered. There should be a compensation system to improve performance,” she said.

A representative for Kudu, who identified himself as Hassan, said his restaurants receive around 26 home-delivery orders on the weekends and around 22 to 23 orders during the week.

“We try to deliver parcels within an hour depending on the location. Sometime we deliver within 20 minutes,” he said.

Hassan agreed that at times they are unable to take or deliver orders if costumers are not registered with them or their locations are unknown to them. He also confessed that there are sometimes language problems, as most of their drivers are non-Arabs. He, however, rejected having a compensation system. “We are also humans and mistakes are possible though we try to operate as best as possible,” he added.

Al-Ahlia Restaurant Company, which owns major international restaurants in the Kingdom including KFC and Pizza Hut, both of which offer a home delivery service, claims it compensates customers in certain cases. “We do compensate in certain cases if the order is delivered late or the customer is not satisfied with the quality, given it is claimed and proven. We may offer discounts or free deliveries the next time,” said the company’s assistant marketing manager.