Is Glovo Legit & Safe? Delivery Reviews (2026)

Glovo is the delivery app you see on scooters in Madrid, Warsaw, Milan, Bucharest, Nairobi and Lagos: food, groceries, pharmacy, "anything" courier runs. It has 100M+ installs on Google Play, operates in more than 20 countries, and its store averages look healthy, 4.41 on Google Play in Spain from 2.1 million ratings and 4.71 on the App Store there from 737,000. So why do so many people search "is Glovo legit," "Glovo took my money," "Glovo estafa," and "does Glovo refund"?

We read through the recent 1-3 star reviews in English, Spanish, Polish and Italian, on both stores, to find out. The complaints are remarkably consistent from country to country. The short answer and the detail are below.

Quick Answer: Is Glovo Legit?

Glovo is a real, large, legally operating delivery company, part of the Delivery Hero group, not a fake app or a scam storefront. Millions of orders arrive every day exactly as promised.

What the 1-star reviews document is what happens when an order does not arrive, and on that the pattern is the same in every language we read: the money is taken, the order is not delivered or arrives incomplete, and the refund is partial, delayed or refused. Reviewers describe a support system that replaced human agents with an automated assistant, no phone number to call, replies promised in 48 hours, and refund decisions the company declines to explain. Layered on top: fees that keep multiplying (delivery, service, night, hot weather, packaging), prices higher in the app than in the restaurant, riders who cancel or disappear with the order, and Glovo Prime charges people say they never authorized. A legitimate company whose failure mode leaves you without your food and without your money is what the negative reviews describe.

What Is Glovo?

Glovo is a Barcelona-based on-demand delivery platform founded in 2015, now owned by Delivery Hero. You order restaurant food, groceries, pharmacy items or a custom courier pickup, a freelance or employed courier collects it, and you pay in the app. Glovo Prime is the paid subscription that promises free or reduced delivery fees above a minimum order value.

Its labour record is well documented, and it is the one part of the Glovo story where regulators have already ruled: Spain's Labour and Social Security Inspectorate fined the company repeatedly for classifying riders as false self-employed, including a record fine of about 79 million euros covering more than 10,000 riders, with total penalties reported above 200 million euros. In December 2024 Glovo announced it would abandon the freelance model in Spain and hire its couriers as employees, a change it began rolling out in 2025 at an estimated cost of around 100 million euros a year. That history matters to the review complaints in one specific way: courier availability, cancellations and the "no riders in your area" message are the operational edge of that model.

Top Complaints in Glovo 1-Star Reviews

These patterns repeat across countries and both stores. Percentages are rough shares within the 1-3 star subset, not exact figures.

1. Charged, and the Order Never Arrives (30%)

The biggest cluster, and the source of the word "estafa" (scam) in the Spanish reviews.

• "I ordered something and paid, yet they cancelled and didn't refund me."
• "I paid 22 euros for pizzas and they never arrived. They refused to give me my money back after 30 minutes on the phone. I'm switching to another app." (translated from Spanish)
• "I place an order and it turns out they charge me but they don't send it to the restaurant or show it in the app. The order does not appear, so they don't even give me a number to contact." (translated from Spanish)
• "The average score should be way lower. There have already been three instances in which, after waiting more than 3 hours, the order gets cancelled. No explanation, no immediate refund, not even an active agent to answer what is going on."
• "Two hours of waiting and cancelled. This repeats regularly and I live in the centre of a big city." (translated from Polish)
• "I have been following up on my refund after I cancelled my order and they keep saying they paid. The money has never reflected on my M-Pesa to date."

Note the second half of each of these. The undelivered order is an operational failure any delivery app can have. The reason it lands as a 1-star "scam" review is the money staying gone afterwards.

2. Missing Items and Refunds Refused or Halved (20%)

The second cluster is the partial order, and the evidence rules users say make a claim impossible.

• "There was no way to get a refund. I ordered two large McDonald's menus and both portions of fries were literally half full. Glovo simply washed their hands and said they would pass the report to McDonald's." (translated from Italian)
• "They asked me for a photo, I sent the receipt, then they asked for a photo of the products almost an hour later. I told them I had already eaten them, as you do, and they said that without evidence they cannot refund." (translated from Spanish)
• "On an item they did not have in stock they only refunded half the amount. When I complained they told me they were not going to return the rest to my card, and then hung up." (translated from Spanish)
• "Missing products in the order. After a week of exchanging messages with support, a refund was granted. Then, after I chose the refund method, they changed their mind and said I was not entitled to it. I asked for the reasoning and was told 'the details of the internal analysis and decision-making algorithms are not subject to disclosure.'" (translated from Polish)
• "Frequently they deliver the wrong products and then reject the complaint without giving a reason. Sometimes you have to file the same complaint 3 times to get your rights." (translated from Polish)

That Polish quote is the most quotable line in the whole dataset, and it captures the complaint precisely: the decision is automated, unexplained, and final.

3. Support Is a Bot, With No Phone Number (20%)

• "Clearly a lot of fake reviews to get this app up to 4.8 stars. Glovo's idea of help on an order is to send you round in a loop with an AI bot, or tell you to call the restaurant, who are clearly too busy to answer."
• "Terrible customer service. You are sold out to a computer with AI." (translated from Spanish)
• "Since they replaced customer service with a robot, the service is much worse. It used to work very well." (translated from Spanish)
• "You send a chat and they tell you they will answer within 48 hours. It is not trustworthy, it does not let you cancel orders." (translated from Spanish)
• "Today I am editing my review again to point out that customer service is practically non-existent, both in the app and by phone. If everything goes smoothly, fine. But if there are problems or delays, you are simply on your own." (translated from Italian)
• "I'm paying for a service to deliver my orders and to provide support if something happens. Glovo is not delivering and their support is useless to solve the issues."

Several reviewers connect the two clusters directly: the refund is not refused by a person, it is refused by a flow that never reaches one.

4. Fees on Fees, and Prices Higher Than In-Store (15%)

• "Is this the new way of begging or scamming people out of a few more pennies? How much until the services cost 70% of our order? We already have a delivery fee, night fee, weather fee, fee fee. Services (night) 3.49 RON. It's a flat fee since 2024."
• "Insane. Got 2 burgers for 22 euros and delivery was 6 euros plus 2 for hot weather plus 2 services plus 1 packaging."
• "Hidden fees shown only at the moment of paying. A system designed to deter any refunds or complaints. All in all very predatory."
• "This dish costs 990 din on Wolt and 1450 din on Glovo, and that is supposedly a discount from 1800 din. It is not the first time, so I uninstalled Glovo." (translated from Serbian)
• "You have to reach a 20 euro order for free delivery with Prime, on top of the roughly 8 euros Prime costs." (translated from Spanish)

Weather and night surcharges are disclosed in the app, but reviewers describe finding them only at the payment step, and the menu markup complaint (same dish, higher price than the restaurant or a rival app) is the one that pushes long-time users to uninstall.

5. Glovo Prime Charges and Accounts You Cannot Delete (15%)

The subscription cluster, and the one that most resembles a billing trap.

• "I added my card for Prime and I started getting debit alerts without ordering anything. I had to block Glovo. I was still getting attempts to remove funds from my account and all they said was the transaction didn't show on their end."
• "They gave me 1 month free with Prime, but it isn't valid for half the venues and on top of that they charge me who knows what else. I tried to delete my account once and they wouldn't let me." (translated from Spanish)
• "Prime is basically useless, only some deliveries are free." (translated from Spanish)
• "The app does not let you delete your account, and orders are constantly cancelled." (translated from Polish)
• "You have to wait 48 hours to unsubscribe. What is this?" (translated from Spanish)
• "After many problems and tickets I decided to rely on a competitor. I am waiting for them to cancel my account and all my information (GDPR article 17). I did that days ago and I am still waiting."

6. Riders: Missing Orders, Long Waits, and Safety Complaints (bonus cluster)

Smaller in volume but severe in content, and consistent across Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Kenya.

• "Couriers in Lublin steal orders, and it is not the first time. Glovo does nothing about it." (translated from Polish)
• "The riders disappear with the items twice in two days, then cancel or deliver the order, and the store still charges me."
• "My son placed an order and the courier confused him over the change until he had taken 50 euros from him. They wrote to Glovo and all they say is that they cannot do anything and that they will improve." (translated from Spanish)
• "I ordered the meal and after a 20 minute delay he writes to me 'it's hot' and obviously cancelled the order. 1 star, well deserved." (translated from Italian)
• "Three hours waiting, six delivery people, contacted support, the order got cancelled and the compensation was cheaper than a coffee."

Is Glovo Legit or a Scam?

The honest answer the reviews support: Glovo is a legitimate delivery company, not a fraud, and its most common failure mode leaves customers feeling defrauded because the money does not come back. The app works, the couriers are real, and the vast majority of orders arrive. But when an order goes wrong, the reviews from four languages describe the same sequence: automated support, an evidence requirement you often cannot meet (photograph food you already ate, or that never arrived), an unexplained decision, and a partial refund or none.

The "scam" word in these reviews is about that sequence, not about the company's existence. Judge Glovo by how it behaves on the order that fails, because that is the only part users consistently rate 1 star.

Is Glovo Safe to Use?

Payment-wise, it is a mainstream European platform with standard card processing; the safety complaints are about money going out, not credentials being stolen. Two practical risks stand out in the reviews: unexpected Prime charges after adding a card, and disputes that cannot be escalated to a human. Both are manageable if you keep the card exposure small.

How to Use Glovo Without Losing Money

• Pay with a card that has strong chargeback support, and consider a virtual or limited card. Multiple reviewers describe stopping unwanted Prime charges only by blocking the card.
• Photograph the order the moment it arrives, before you eat or unpack anything. The refund refusals in the reviews almost all hinge on missing photo evidence.
• Open the claim immediately, in the order screen. Reviewers say claims filed later, or by email, disappear into a 48-hour queue.
• Check the item price against the restaurant's own menu if you order the same thing often; the markup complaint is consistent across countries.
• Read the fee breakdown before you confirm, not at the payment step. Night, weather, service and packaging fees stack.
• Treat Prime as a monthly subscription, not a perk. Check the minimum-order rule and the venue exclusions before paying for it.
• If a refund is refused without explanation in the EU, you can escalate to your national consumer protection authority or your bank, and Glovo does respond to formal claims more often than to chat tickets.

Bottom Line: Is Glovo Legit and Safe?

Glovo is a real, large, legally operating delivery platform with solid store ratings, and its 1-star reviews across Spain, Poland, Italy, Romania, Nigeria and Kenya document one repeated failure: paid orders that never arrive or arrive incomplete, refunds that are partial, delayed or refused without explanation, an AI support loop with no phone number, fees stacked on fees, and Prime charges users say they did not authorize. It is not a fake app, and most orders are fine. The risk is concentrated in the small share of orders that go wrong, where reviewers say the platform keeps the money. Order with a card you can dispute, photograph everything, and claim immediately.

Before your next order, read the most recent 1-star reviews on the Glovo review page on Unstar, check the trust summary at is Glovo legit, and see the Android complaints, where the refund and Prime reports are heaviest. And if Prime is charging you for a service you no longer use, follow the steps on how to cancel Glovo.

Related reading: Is Whatnot Legit & Safe? covers the same paid-but-never-arrived pattern in live shopping, Is AliExpress Legit & Safe? breaks down refund disputes on a marketplace of the same scale, and Is Klarna Legit & Safe? shows what happens when the payment layer decides your dispute.