All of them use the same deceptive practices. Uber eats does exactly the same thing. That "service fee" being separate from the "delivery fee" really pissed me off, and the final straw for me was that I noticed the food prices were also inflated over what the price was in the restaurant.
The extra prices come from the restaurant side as they can control their pricing. It's done to offset the fees the apps charge them so the place still makes a profit. Those crazy delivery fees don't go to the drivers either and they don't tell you that, it hurts drivers who get a base of like $2 an order plus tip only with no compensation for time or miles until very recently and only if you count 0.0064 - 0.07 cents a mile compensation. These apps exist entirely in loopholes to exploit everyone but themselves and I hope laws catch up.
@@1212goose How the heck did you compute that? Just because some restaurant are put up on apps against their will does not mean *others* can't be voluntarily put 0n there and adjust their prices accordingly. You know there are more than one restaurant in the world and they might choose to do different things, right?
Hey if you don't like it or don't consider the service worth the added cost then don't use the service. Seems obvious. Saying that "all of them" are all deceptive in the same way completely discredits your opinion. Have you tried every such service in every geo-location multiple times to assess this bold claim? I've used Door Dash extensively and they have been excellent and well worth the added cost
I like how these companies say it's okay because we quit these bad practises. Do they think the FBI would accept a bank robber saying I have quit robbing banks as soon as we realised that it was against the law, so were good now. Then saying I don't know why the FBI are moving forward to arrest and prosecute me. They might as well say, yeah we are ripping people off, it is just business and not personal.
I miss the local delivery service that used to be where i lived at the time. But they did it right. They partnered with the actual restaurants, and the delivery menu was different than the in store menu, so only foods that worked as delivery items were deliverable. Plus, this was at the beginning of the internet, so dialup was what you got. So the menu's were in a small book. All fees and prices were clearly listed by restaurant. It was all aboveboard and legal. But unfortunately, the company wasn't managed well, and they went out of business. They were before their time, and i wish they still existed. The concept is solid, not all restaurants want the logistical headache of delivery, so why not let someone else do it for a small additional fee? They provide the delivery infrastructure so that you don't have to, and the restaurant gets access to customers who want the food to come to them. A win win in my book.
I worked for a company like that in Tennessee almost 20 years ago - I think I was 19 - called Menu Express. They were simply a delivery service and worked with restaurants; they called us when a delivery order was placed and we were dispatched. Unfortunately it wasn't very profitable (and the pay sucked too) so they folded.
I was picking up myself at my Pizza Hut. While I was there A Pizza Hut delivery person AND a Grub Hub delivery person was picking up pizzas as well. I found this odd as I know the Grub Hub customer was paying more. Also, I am a great tipper...most of the time 20%....I'd rather the Pizza Hut delivery get that tip.
Yeah, that right there is why third-party delivery services need to be opt-in rather than opt-out. Had they been opt-in from the beginning, a lot of the problems they're currently facing wouldn't be factors at all.
"I found this odd as I know the Grub Hub customer was paying more" - are you absolutely sure about that? If I order Little Caesars directly it ends up coating more than if I order via Door Dash. And even if more, how much more? With services like DD I get real time updates showing me how far away the driver is and when they are likely to arrive. I rather like that compared to having no clue when a restaurant driver is going to show up.
I can understand you not liking grub hub.... but what do you have against grub hub *drivers* ? Because that's who the tip go (or should go to, but then both PH and GH are capable of stealing tips so.... all the same on that front really) On a side note, depending on where you are, 20% may or may not be considered great. I think it is in the middle part of US but not in the coasts(as in the coasts have higher standards and thus 20 is no longer great). Also, whereas % based is totally fine for dine in, it isn't necessarily correct for delivery. I personally tip delivery based on the distance traveled and the weight and bulk of the item, more for a cheap but large pizza than an expensive steak, if you will. Now, you should also take into consideration the difficulty of access to your drop off location. This is, however, often a fixed value, so not something you need to constantly keep in mind. Luckily, I live where there is direct, ungated external access so I don't really add anything extra. But if you are in a gated apartment complex and, in the worst case scenario, not on the ground floor but also do not have elevators, it would be proper to tag on a bit extra for that.
Actually Yum Brands own part of grubhub. And due to labor shortage pizza hut and papa John's has teamed up with these apps. Many ppl order thru pizzahut but if they don't have a driver they will summon a 3rd party driver.
@@justanoman6497 This just illustrates how stupid tipping is. It depends on the customer weighing the difficulty of delivery to provide a "fair" return for service. People just want their stuff, and many are too **** to do that work estimating a fiar tip. The app should offer the drivers a bid, and if someone wants to accept the bid, he can accept it. If no one accepts, then the app should increase the bid. Tipping is stupid. Just state the price. I lived in Europe for a long time, and grew to hate tipping when I returned.
Glad to hear the story. GrubHub charged me roughly $50 extra for food that I picked up myself. As you said, the restaurant had no affiliation with GrubHub. I learned the hard way.
Why would anyone order food on grub hub to pick it up themselves? Just call the restaurant it's self and order the food. There is literally no reason to get a middle man involved...
Glad to hear there is some crackdown on these types of services, regardless of who they are going after. You listed off many of the issues both in this and from other reports. I don't mind these types of services being out there and there but some of the business practices from companies like this can be shady and not transparent to customers the relationship. There also does not seem to be much care for food handling practices at times.
They are awful to drivers too, paying less than tipped minimum wage essentially. $2 an order plus tip when you use your own vehicle and pay for all the gas and maintenance is criminal. Also hiding payouts to make drivers have to gamble if they get paid enough or not and screwing over customers who tip well. I will say though food handling practices are NOT on these apps. Drivers don't touch the food at all, just pick up the bags and drop them off. Anything wrong with your food is almost 99% of the time a restaurant issue. Drivers have zero say or control over if something is missing, cooked correctly, handled well, etc and are not allowed to even check outside just an item count.
Unfortunately there are many cases in which drivers are not handling food how they are supposed to.... Sometimes by handling food and sometimes by not using supplied thermal bags to transport etc.... Yes restaurant issues may lead to orders being messed up, but that is assuming it is ordered correctly in the first place. Since not all restaurants have their menus and things linked you have people placing an order with the service who is then placing the order with the restaurant. Basically a game of telephone, which can be made worse by out of date menus or supply shortages and when the restaurant says what they are substituting the service may just say OK rather than checking with the customer. The other issue is that restaurants without delivery services likely have never really considered if their foods can be delivered well or not. There are restaurants that have different take out / delivery menus for good reason, they know some of their menu items don't travel well. Some of these places only got into the take out / delivery game because of the pandemic or are encouraged to by these companies and there is no aide from these delivery companies about limiting menu items that may not travel well. Yes this does fall onto the restaurant largely, but if the services want to actually encourage quality food from restaurants they could be providing more information and guidance about things. The whole system is being developed on the fly during an effort to expand as much as possible to capture market share. It is unfortunately lacking the needed oversight and basic rules. The fact in most places the services are not even required to make drivers go through basic food handling courses (which these days are often just watching video training sessions with some quizzes) is one of the key reasons I won't deal with them. I have seen how many people in restaurants with the courses still have trouble with basic food handling practices (and this does not even mean touching the food or removing it from a bag / package but how you handle that package), the assumption that a random guy with a car has any clue or cares at all is why so many meals end up delivered cold etc...
These are problems with the particular company, not the concept. I've ordered from Door Dash well over a hundred times and only had issues about twice, which they immediately credited me for. In fact, ordering Little Caesars via Door Dash ends up being cheaper and arrives faster than ordering through LC directly (I've tried both). Bad / shady companies should get shut down in any industry. But when done properly these services are great
Glad you have good experiences with Door Dash, there are plenty of people out there who have bad ones. They are also named in many of these actions. Large or small at this point none of them are clean and beyond a bit of improvement or oversight. Door Dash is one of the companies who has issues listing restaurants without permission and that is the type of behavior that tends to lead to the problems, if they are working with a partner restaurant you likely get good service the issues start out when they are circumventing a proper partner relationship and they all seem to be doing this.
Your point about proper handling by the drivers is mostly moot. Proper food handling practices start at the restaurant, and I can tell you as a driver, most restaurants do not hold orders at appropriate hot/cold holding temps. Also note that a driver has no control over how long ago the food was prepared before they got there, so it could have been sitting on a rack at room temp for 30-40 min when its picked up. At that point, my heated seats and insulated bags won't do much. TLDR: Restaurants bear a lot of responsibility for proper temps, and a majority of them do not do the right thing.
I've also noticed that yelp online ordering appears to tack on ~28% to the prices of my local restaurants. This price inflation even applies to carryout orders. If I go to the restaurant's own website, I can avoid the Yelp surcharge. Apparently it's a common practice on Yelp to upcharge for "marketing".
Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
Buried in the fine print: I recently saw an ad for a great price of toilet paper being sold by a famous chain of drug stores. To get that price one had only to join their "club". Joining was "free" but one had to agree to the terms of service. The latter required that one hold them harmless for virtually any action resulting in damages and that other disputes that may arise be settled in arbitration. Resorting to the courts was forbidden.
Geesh, what a load of 💩‼️ I once was ordering a gift and suddenly after paying, a flashing sign came up on-line that said ‘get this order delivered for free’. Well, I thought ok, let me try that. Holy Moly ...... it turned out have such over the top rules that could end up costing way too much... just for ‘free’ delivery!! I canceled that in less than a week. I prefer to pay an up-front yearly fee, cause I know that it will definitely save me money.
Here's another one. I ordered food from a restaurant supposedly called Mr. Beast Burger because the food looked and sounded amazing and supposedly had free delivery( I don't remember what delivery app we used). I tried looking up the restaurant but couldn't find much about it. So one day my wife and I went to Red Robin. After talking with the host, while waiting for a table, I happen notice Mr. Beast Burger stuff being walked out of the kitchen to the delivery pick up area. And I asked him what's up about that. So I got the long confusing story of Mr. Beast. Burger is a app only restaurant and you can only get it through a app purchase and is made in the same kitchen as Red Robin. So you can't go to Red Robin and order Mr. Beast Burger Even though it's made in the same kitchen. I do need to mention that the menu items of Mr. Beast Burger are similar but different than the items available at Red Robin. Example, Red Robin fries are big steak fries, Mr Beast Burger fries were homemade shoe string fries. So who am I actually ordering from? If I'm ordering Mr. Beast Burger, is it Mr. Beast Burger or is it Red Robin?
This is a common thing in some areas. When I used to deliver for Uber Eats in Seattle, I would often go to places where there were like 2-4 restaurants renting out the same commercial kitchen at different parts of the day. Frankly, that's a genius business model if you're lucky enough to make it work, but it can generate confusion.
These are called ghost kitchens, allows a restaurant to gain more sales during downtime by agreeing to make a virtual brands food. Normally I see beast burgers made by the buca de beppo Italian restaurant chain.
There are food considerations for delivery too. Steak fries are a great example, they get soggy very fast. The ghost kitchens can have menus specifically designed to survive the lengthy delivery process. It’s weird to eat at a place that only exists in an app though. You can’t order their items because the ghost kitchen doesn’t even exist in the Red Robin POS system. I would love to know what the bookkeeping for the shared model looks like though. edit: more research, anyone can franchise it. Corporate provides training and probably authorizes suppliers. So the beast meat is probably different than the robin meat, etc. Designed to keep your staff busier, I know if I was a line cook I’d better get a raise if I was told I had to make two kitchens’ worth of dinners.
So glad I've stayed away from these delivery services (used one ONCE, ever). I want to actually support my local restaurants, not these other businesses (which seem predatory to me).
I've seen a lot of GrubHub ads on TH-cam lately, they're running an ad Blitz campaign to try and get ahead of the negativity of what's going to happen when they are forced to disclose all of their fees and up charges up front.
Well good thing even bad press is good advertisement. Look at any company after bad press, pepsi did an ad campaign where they put money in cans in a separated compartment that when you open the can cash money would spring out. Well that had alot of issues caused a recall and gave pepsi bad press but while short term they took a hit, long term they actually then had a sales spike. That is a very common thing to happen.
Had this happen at my business with both grub hub and DoorDash. They sent random people to pick up orders. They didn’t even say it was delivery or anything. Just seemed like a normal person buying food for themselves. But then someone came in wanting a huge order full of items we hadn’t served in over a year. The person picking that order up confessed to what was going on. Checked their site and my business was on there. Complete with pictures of all the meals. They stole pictures from and archived version of our site and posted them. Over half the menu they had listed was incorrect. Called both to yell at them. Door dash hung up on me but took us off the site. The grub hub rep tried to be cute so I just spent the entire time insulting him and told him I will be calling every hour until my business was off their site. After 9 calls the reps finally got tired of being cussed out and took us off. Fuck those people. Hope they get sued in to bankruptcy.
There is no theft of images as long as they represent things factually. The show ballers has all kinds of fun plots while using full nfl team branding without paying a dime. The problem is they fake prices and don't keep their menus up to date. Once their information is no longer factual, it causes harm to the business. I avoid these services due to the fake prices. I will pay a fee, but will never support false pricing or menus that don't match the real one. These delivery apps have to spend more money getting menus right and cannot just wing it like they have currently done. I would support requiring that they tell a business they are a delivery driver vs a customer, that way a business can at least add utensils, double check the order, include their own advertising, include a real menu with real prices, include the receipt, or even write a note to the customer to explain why service is worse through a delivery app. They don't want delivery drivers disclosing who they are because they don't want the business the chance to communicate the pricing discrepancies.
@@_PatrickO The image are stolen because they are taken from the site of the restaurant (achieved version as it might be), that violates copyright. You have copyright on photos even if it is mostly a factual photo. Had the delivery service got someone to take pictures of the dishes themselves, then what you said would apply.
So you called 9 times and cussed out "The Same Rep"? The rep that has no control over taking down your listing btw. Also what kind of restaurant do you run that you had no clue this was going on after about the 2nd order? Some restaurants like it some don't. But we don't need a new law. When they pushed for fee limits it ultimately cost the restaurants more.
I was surprised when I ordered a part from an auto parts store and they had door dash delivering. It apparently shocked everyone in door dash because the drivers were calling me to tell me they couldn't deliver my food because the address isn't a restaurant. I didn't order food I ordered a car part.
I can confirm that this is a common practice of delivery services. I know a restaurant that I love the food; the burrito at the store is 6 dollars and via the ordering app it was more than 1.50 more for the same burrito. In store my total for 3 is under 20. For the same 3 delivered with the inflated price and other un-understandable delivery charges total was 37 dollars and some odd cents. It was such a rip off but I wasn't able to get to the restaurant, so I paid basically double, therefore I have only done it 2 times. My wife orders lunch out at work once a week and I hate these hidden costs and try to explain how much money is wasted on them like my burrito restaurant. I in college worked at my local Hungry Howie's, talk about great pizza!
I almost married someone like your wife. She hated that I didn't want to waste money; until she married someone like herself! Then she saw the wisdom of my ways! 🤣 Too late!
I wonder if the restaurant knowingly makes an agreement with the food delivery service to inflate the food prices. It makes sense. If GH or DD charges the restaurant 30% for the order they let the restaurant tack on higher prices to pay that 30%.
@@dannydaw59 Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
@@dannydaw59 for the ones that willingly partner with them. They have backend access to raise the prices. Let's say door dash charges the restaurant 25% of the total sales the restaurant will increase the prices on door dash by at least 25% to compensate for the door dash charges.
I do software development 4 days a week and help manage a local restaurant the other three days. The tablet has an option to add cost if the customer orders something in the notes, which they often do. One customer ordered her pastas gluten-free, which is 4.00 each pasta. I charged her the 8.00. Not only did grubhub charge her 24.00 instead of the 8 I entered, they made it look like it came from us.we only got the 8 00 minus their fee, and it shows 8.00 in the back office. But I know it charged her 24 because they accidentally sent us the adjustment with that as the amount. They have never been and will never be profitable, even with their blatant theft.
That's the weird part, how are they not profitable after all their charges? Only thing I can think of is their upper management is being paid way, way, way too much. And who knows what else in perks.
I guess I just don't understand these businesses. We had another couple over for some drinks and ordered Chinese. Since we were drinking we decided to use one of those services. We worked it out, that it cost us about an extra $18 over going to pick it up. I would never use it again. In fact where I live, I could have had a cab come to my home, drive me to the restaurant, wait while I go in, then drive me home. Would be $15.
I think there is a specific monetary range in term of total of order where it could make sense, and tentatively that's about 15 to 50 dollars. Anything below that and the fees are an excessively large proportion compared to the order. Anything higher, as the fees(and hidden charge like menu markup) tend to scale with the size of order, going there yourself one way or another tend to be cheaper. In your particular example, it's kind of a close call. Now, first I'm assuming you are including tip on both side (to the delivery driver and the cab), so that the final difference is $3. I would say there are a lot of people who would spend $3 to not have to go on the trip themselves, even if it is a cab ride such that they can be on their phone or whatever for most of the time. And as such, the price thereof could be considered reasonable, because you paid a slight mark up for a slight benefit compared to the proposed alternative. Of course, there is the alterative of driving there yourself, but in that case your time is actually fully consumed. Which changes the question of whether half hour or whatever of your time is worth $18. Once again, it depends, for a lot of people it isn't, but for some it is.
Wow your time must be pretty worthless if you consider all the additional time, cost and hassle of taking a cab not worth $18. To me $18 sounds like a great deal, particularly since you had company over and had been drinking. Hey, if you'd rather waste your personal time than spend a few dollars then don't use them.
Depends on the circumstances though; if you're drinking at the time then $18 is far cheaper than a DUI! xD $18 is pretty cheap for someone to do that work too IMO, after paying whatever cut the service provider gets and gas and maintenance they're probably lucky if they break minimum wage. But I guess that's what tips are for. Also worth pointing out that I sometimes use GH for restaurants that do have their own delivery service...in some cases that's because GH gives far better service (ie, less likely they'll drop it at some house down the street and say it's been delivered without me even knowing they left yet) but also in a few cases the restaurant refuses to deliver to me (says I'm outside their delivery area) but I can still order through GH -- even though in at least one of those cases the GH order is still delivered by the restaurant's own drivers. So that extra service fee gets you a greater delivery range in addition to driver contact options and delivery tracking and some other nice features.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken ok, so don't order it. I',ve ordered high quality steaks and italian that was over $100 (rarely) and been quite happy with it. Id you don't think it is a good value, don't order. Personally I'd rather avoid traffic, lines and waiting sometimes.
LOL. Ubereats came out trying to look like saints by giving us a temporary fuel assistance whatever for every delivery when all they did was start to charge the customer the surcharge & pass it on to the driver. But I know for a fact that this caused some people to just lower the tip, and it's usually lowered more than the surcharge. So drivers end up even more screwed than before this bullshit.
@@Iceberg86300 Back when there was a Beef Shortage due to COVID hitting the Beef Industry, a local Texas BBQ Chain here (the CEO donated to Trump), added a Beef Surcharge. Ironic, they gave money to a person that worsened the COVID Outbreak, and then wanted more money because the Beef Industry couldn't supply product! Chick-Fil-A is no better! They donate to the Texas Gov..
You want somebody to cook your food in their restaurant and pack it for delivery.... Then you want somebody else to drive to the restaurant in their own car (consider TOTAL cost per mile), pick up your food, then drive to your location. You want somebody else to organize and set up this system. Expect to pay through the Nose. Plan ahead... Learn to cook... Don't put yourself in a vulnerable position.
Yeah grub hub prices are inflated for food, less than Uber eats, but still inflated. I still order regularly from grub hub, if I have an issue with my order I can call them and they sort it out, ordering from the restaurant is a pain, they often don't deliver to my house but elsewhere in the neighborhood. And contacting the restaurant to get issues fixed is a giant pain. They do add value to the chain though. But I can see the billing issues and the fact that restaurant are not nessecarily opting in.
"Our practices have always complied with DC law, and in any event many of the practices at issue have been discontinued." Hmm. If they have always complied with the law, then why were there practices that needed to be discontinued?
so many shops in the UK signed up and they get hit by so many frees and cost it like they giving the food away and the biggest issue is shops etc being added to the system when they do not deliver
Some restaurants (or chains) are also raising prices for online orders, whether the orders are for delivery or not. I used to work for a popular restaurant chain (franchise) here in Boise, Idaho. We could take a printed receipt from an online order and it would show a price 20% higher than when we entered the items directly into the POS, ourselves. I left that job at the beginning of the pandemic to deliver DoorDash full-time.
In my hometown there is a locally owned Delivery Service. The person who owns it will shop for you at grocery stores, dollar stores etc.. They will pickup orders you made at restaurant and or make orders if you have requested they do that. The company makes it very clear what they charge.
This reminds me of 20 years ago when all the cell phone companies were constantly running ads about all the stuff they would give to you for "free". They glossed over the part about how much you had to pay to get that "free" stuff.
"are no longer doing" alleged deceptive practice x or y. I've read that in some areas of civil law voluntary cessation doesn't nullify such a lawsuit. One sues to get injunctive relief or settlement agreement enforceable by a court via contempt sanctions. And that some alleged deceptive practices are no longer used doesn't address unjust enrichment claims ...
My biggest complaint: the apps/sites have a map that shows the delivery driver's progress via GPS. Often, you can watch them go 10, 20 minutes out of the way to deliver other orders (drivers have confirmed)! If you're the last one on the route, good luck getting hot, fresh, food! I get the economics of it, especially for the driver, but, still! Maybe THAT'S a declaration that needs to be conspicuous on the app/site!
This type of craziness is common in the hotel industry as well. You think you're booking with the hotel but it's actually a service they have created over top of them which means if anything goes wrong you have little recourse because you have paid the service not the hotel. These restaurants are doing the same sort of thing, sometimes without their knowledge which I get, but at the same time there are many naive, shall we say, customers out there who don't realize what is going on and then get upset. Caveat emptor!
These delivery apps/companies all have issues. I recently ordered from one of these companies, and the website reported that the food was being prepared, and the estimated delivery time. After the delivery time stretched to over an hour later than the original estimated delivery time, i tried to contact the site. Their chat function was a bot which didn't do anything, and just kept repeating the same text. I eventually had to call them to get the ordered cancelled and my money refunded. The biggest issue was the person i spoke to said the order had been placed with the restaurant and was ready to be picked up, there were no drivers available. So it was obvious i was never getting my order.
I remember one couple really upset at the small family restaurant it’s like an Olive Garden that is a little nicer right next to a Chinese restaurant very small but they were really upset about the price of delivery and I normally just avoid problems but I had to tell them they don’t offer delivery you can do takeout, but there is no delivery and they were upset with the restaurant for these GrubHub type practices and they never even realize that it wasn’t them 5:14
I have a small experience with this, but with more of a twist. There was a certain McDonalds that was near where I used to work, and I would commonly get my breakfast there on my way to work. The drive through line was sometimes stupidly long, so I started to use the McDonalds app to order my food and wait in one of the assigned places they had for those types of orders. There was one manager there who was convinced I was a GrubHub or Door Dash person and would always put my food in the bags they had specifically for them and leave it on the counter. And I'd be sitting there for 20 minutes without ever getting my food. (Wasn't late because of this always gave myself plenty of time in case something happened). Took me forever to convince them that "No I do not work for either company and yes I am ordering this food for myself."
I appreciate the restaurants who got smart and started charging a fee on all the gig apps credit cards & cash. Charging them about 100 to 200 dollars on top of the bill!😆
So wait they can’t charge more on individual items? On top of the service fee as well? Thought so (Oregon no sales tax) commonly items will be 10-30 cents more per item with as much as 75c-$1 for combos
Yup. Wife and I were in Nashville, personal overnight trip. Motel promo had a local Greek restaurant listed. At 10pm I order a Gyro. 2am Had knock on door. I opened door, said go away. 6 hr deliver is too slow. I didn't blame the restaurant, also didn't pay.
I was inside the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the very first time at the Folds of Honor NASCAR race. Much louder in person, and I didn’t know you could see the entire track from your seat.
They should put the restaurant price and add on their fee for ordering only seems fair. But I knew they added more from restaurants prices. As a truck driver I like using them because I can order something other then truck stop food. But I’d like to know the actual prices broken down. If I owned a restaurant I wouldn’t want them to put their charge on the food I’d make. What if the costumer doesn’t come back because of the overcharge and ofc the service of the drivers they didn’t hire.
DoorDash does too. Or at least allows restaurants to charge more for items on its platform. DoorDash still charges a service fee for Premium, its just a "reduced" fee.
As much as I don't like food delivery services, there is nothing hidden or deceptive about what GrubHub does. Just because you as a customer doesn't pay attention and look at what you are paying for, doesn't mean that GrubHub is being deceptive. The fees are right there in front of your face. Just because you missed them doesn't mean that GrubHub is being dishonest. People need to grow up and take accountability.
The price difference thing is a thing here but its done by the stores that have an agreement with the 3rd party services. They up the item price to compensate for the cut the 3rd parties take from the order. Things like service/delivery fees are always clearly marked here though.
Uber Eats does the same thing with prices. The price is sometimes significantly higher than in the restaurant. Uber eats also charges at some restaurants for things that are included. They make you select the item for a fee. I would guess all the apps are the same.
Around me, prices found on grubhub, uber eats were higher than the regular menu price. Also they will not offer certain products or menu items. For example if you order a combo from Burger King, you can only order the medium or large size, not the small.
Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and menu items and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
@@ScottWaa considering I work in the food industry and know that there is a back end and have access to said back end to set prices and have talked extensively about this with the owners of the restaurant I work in.
@@radfordra what is true for you isn't true for all. Ive been in the industry for years and talked to multiple owners about pricing between the services. We've used and dropped grubhub, uber eats, door dash, eat street, food dudes... They are not worth it.
@@ScottWaa they lied to you, anyone who actively participates as in advertises that you can order through these apps. BK, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, chick fil a, ihop, Taco Bell, and etc. They have full control on what’s on their menus and the pricing.
When I worked at the McDonald's they had mobile orders through Doordash and Ubereats. but occasionally grub hub people would show up and order food for someone else which can't possibly be above board. Another reason why that's bad is because the two that the restaurant is actually chosing to deal with the manager can know to call them and say hey we're closing early today and the people who work for the third party can make it unavailable on the app. If you're not a part of the game plan you don't get a copy the playback. Sometimes it's frustrating enough to get the ones we work with to stop coming in.
Grubhub also charges the restaurant to pick up food. Doordash, for example, can charge as much as 40% of an order. The higher price may have been set by the restaurant to offset this fee.
I noticed here in australia uber made a big deal of lowering their delivery fees. I noticed a new "service fee" that... how convenient, usually adds up roughly to the same amount as they dropped the delivery fee by.
Working in this Gig economy. I have come across some actions that seem to take advantage of the drivers on the platform. Lately I have run into a situation. The time they have on their app is being held back to push more deliveries or cover a larger area. Their app states 4min to next stop for example. Then Google maps/waze, herewego and tomtom are all the same with 6min. I have not been able to deliver without a few late packages and my standings get hit for it. I'm not going to break laws but have always been an aggressive driver. Still have been driving the same platform for a year and a half and only had 10 honest late deliveries that were my fault. And im only one driver out of a thousand in my area. Others have mentioned this after inquiring.
The restaurant online menus oftentimes do not include the price. This is very frustrating if you're traveling and trying to find local restaurants to eat at. So I don't buy the argument that the GrubHub price and the restaurant price are different when half the time you can't even see the restaurants real price (unless that restaurant has an online order section, that's the only time you'll see the price). I've only ever used doordash and that is usually through the restaurant and not directly through doordash.
I used to own and operate a local food delivery service. Our model was based on getting 20% of the foods cost. We did that based on how the restaurant had us set up. If the restaurant gave us a 20% discount on the food we charged the customer base price. If the restaurant didn't give us a discount we charged them 20%. Every food delivery service does some version of this. The DA in DC is going to lose.
I was under the impression that the stores do set the price, I've had some tell me though that its higher due to the 20% fee grubhub charges THEM. On TOP of all the customer fees.
I can’t say for certain about who sets the price, but grub hub absolutely takes a cut of what they’re paying the restaurant. So yea they get paid from both ends. Nothing but a hustle.
I want to say that Door Dash charges the restaurant 30% of the total cutting out most of their profit so it's actually the restaurant that charges more in Door Dash. I don't blame the restaurant for this, the company is taking probably most if not all of their profit so they need something but not showing this is slimy. I noticed this first with Buffalo Wild Wings when I noticed I was paying like $3/4 more per item and just don't use it anymore unless I really can't go anywhere
I do not understand this. Who cares what the in-restaurant price is compared to the service? Do people not look at the menu on the service site, decide if that is something they want for the price shown and act accordingly? Its not like the service shows customers a different price than they charge them (which would be absolutely dishonest). They provide a service, they clearly show the prices, they show the fees and tip before placing the order. Nothing is hidden. If people don't like the prices, don't use the service.
@@Me__Myself__and__I It is hidden, if it was the service fee, delivery fee and the tip as the extra that would totally be fine. I even have a "local regulatory fee" that I have to pay. The problem is they also add MORE fees on top of each food item. If they just said, hey we're adding 15% to this to make money for ourselves, that would be great. The problem is they add 3 or 4 extra fees on AND STILL charge more for the food
Last I heard, the average is more like 20%? But yes, it can get high as 30(or maybe even 35%). And as per the norm, those who are charged the most tend to be the ones being passed around on the internet because shock content thrives. Not great by any means, but also not as bad as you might think. Oh, but as for cutting out most of their profit.... that is a rather difficult calculation. If you take fixed cost into it, then yes, it would. But if you only consider the per order cost and profit, then no it does not. Depending on the item in question, for the item itself, profit on most food item in restaurant generally have a 40-80% profit margin, that's not counting drinks which can go as high as 90-95% sometimes. But obviously, they have to pay for their rent which if you average out to all their orders, would bring down the margin significantly. The overall effect is that for any restaurant that is not operating at capacity, for orders that would otherwise not exist, even a 35% cut could still be quite profitable. Delivery hurts restaurant only if it takes away business that would otherwise be pickup/dine in (and you can probably think of times where you would have went to the place if there was no delivery but because there is, you got lazy and didn't. I know I certainly have) And it's generally not worth really expanding your restaurant to handle more deliveries, that's where you actually need to put in additional "fixed cost". Well... not in proper restaurant style anyway, there are now "fake" delivery only restaurant that operate out of just a kitchen so there must still be margins...
I have placed orders with all of the major delivery companies, at times they will cancel your order maybe because of driver shortage or something else. They have already charged your debit or credit card and now it takes 5-7 days to get the hold dropped on your money. They will also put a hold on more money than your total order plus tip is - one time my order plus tip was $67, the food /service costing $57 and a $10 tip the service put 3 different holds on my debit card, the food/ service was $82, and the hold on the tip was $18, and another for $12. When I called to complain, they told me - Your money is still there we didn't take more than we charged, but they still had holds on $45 extra dollars that I could not access for 5-7 days until the service dropped the holds. All the services do this scam.
I love the irony of the government going after a private business for unethical or perceived unethical practices. It’s oky doky for the government to do it tho.
"They have to make money." 1980's definition: a modest profit after paying living wages to your staff. 2022 definition: The company gets a lion share of any proceeds, and pays the independent contractor a small pittance, barely earning more than the cost of operating their own vehicle to provide the service.
Bullshit. Were you even a wet dream in the 80s? People have been bitching about the same shit forever, but everyone thinks it only came into existence when they gained consciousness.
They don't even make money. None of these companies has turned an annual profit. Ever. They're all just burning through venture capital while getting people addicted to their services. I believe Doordash made a modest *_quarterly_* profit in 2020 due to a literal best-case scenario for their business model in the form of pandemic-induced lockdowns.
Husband and I have recently picked up on the pricing differences for some businesses. We've significantly cut back on using these services. Especially with COVID restrictions easing we've just been walking to pick up the food to get some extra exercise.
I've never used either of those services. I've loaded them up, but as someone who is slightly savvy to what things cost, I immediately noticed that the prices on EVERYTHING were jacked up 25-50% higher than they should have been. Literally lying about the prices of food to inflate the cost and pocketing the difference.
Take notice when you order next time .Compare the online restaurant menu item price shown online to the price for that item through delivery apps receipt. Separate from any fees cost taxes for delivery.... I am speaking of the item price on the online menu $. Example KFC menu $ 12 piece bucket online is $10 .00 less then what it will be on your Uber Eats or DoorDash receipt.... again this is separate from any fee cost taxes for delivery. Same with Chick fla la. If you try to ask them about why? They only spout the delivery fee taxes as a smoke screen reason, which is not the issue here. It is the item specific price that are higher then same item on restaurant online menu.
A pizza from a chain may end up being $18-$19, but tacking on tax & a ‘Delivery Fee’ plus tip can send it past $25 or more. Can’t order a smaller pizza as the total, even w/all kinds of toppings won’t ‘qualify for delivery’. Find it cheaper & easier just to buy a WalMart brand pizza for $3-$4 & save a pizza chain pizza for absolutely desperation & not wanting to cook anything type nights.
I wonder if you could DMCA the site over the logo. Assuming they are not fully self hosted and you can figure out whos running the hardware to tell them there's a DMCA violation and request the take down.
Restaurants that are meant to be sit-down joints and not typically delivered it's what you get is what you get and customers need to realize that when they order off these apps and get it delivered yes there's the problem where some drivers don't take proper care and have their appropriate hot bags like they should and it could be better quality but a lot of these places will just leave it sitting around my time you get it is cold
There are some real problems with these services and some provide good service. The problem is the deceptions and the lies! They know exactly what they are hiding and lying about and do it on purpose. Their claims of “we don’t do that anymore” is disegenuous because they knew it was shady to begin with! Charge a fair price, don’t rip off customers or restaurants, and you will have many repeat customers! Keep doing what you are doing and fade away!
Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
Happens here in PA all the time. When I complained about it twice for the same restaurant, the restaurant blocked me from ordering. It was door dash though. It was not my fault that the order was wrong but either door dash or the restaurant. Yet I am the one that got blocked from ordering there.
I was going to order delivery from Chipotle. With both Grubhub and DoorDash, it was going to be around $20. I drove 5-6 minutes to the restaurant and paid $8 for a to-go order.
I work at a hotel, and we had several uber drivers set up a website that pretended to be a shuttle service to multiple hotels here. They'd claim that your fee was include in the hotel price, and then charge a card at pickup like a normal uber thing, then tell the guest on the way that it'd be deducted from the hotel bill. We'd get dozens, even hundreds (in summer) of calls per week of people complaining of a difference in quoted price and charges equal to the fee of a drive from the airport to the hotel. Uber said it wasn't their problem, we'd have to talk to the drivers. We lost two stars on google for 'we lie about shuttle services'. We have no control over this. We used to get bonuses for having good reviews, making enough per month, and having high enough room rates. Now, we never get obnuses, because of bad reviews alone. I am losing about 250-400 a month, thanks to no bonuses. Fk third party delivery/driver services. Uber needs to die, Lyft needs to evaporate, and Grubhub managers and staff need prison time. Can't describe how much I hate them.
Last time they "got on this" it turned out bad for the restaurant. They obviously don't even have a clue with some points they brought up. They need to leave this alone. Not saying something shouldn't be done, but lawmakers and courts have no clue what is in the best interest of small restaurants. Hell they will probably have grubhub write the new law.
I use doordash cuz their menus are configured by the Restaurants. I buy a 6$ box from tacobell x 3 it cost me 18. + tax same as restaurant. Drivers are also seemingly happier they get their full tip.. I hope they do.
Anyone ordering through doordash or grubhub already know what the deal is. This is more between the delivery service and the restaurant. I'd considered doing food delivery before having internet on the phone, apps, etc. It was for a local university for me to just deliver McD, BK and Jacks. I delivered pizza up there while working for a big pizza chain, and college students would ask if I could pick up fast food and deliver it for them. I couldn't because I was in the clock for the pizza chain. I could just print up a menu with prices for all three fast food joints (no logos), hand them out at the university. During my off hours I could do that service. All three fast food joints were less than two miles out from the university. I could still do that now WITHOUT an app, or deceptive practies, and still kill it. The food would still be hot, and they would already know that I'm not affiliated with any fast food joint. They order it, I buy it, deliver it and collect what's on the receipt plus a separate delivery fee. Its not hard to do or figure out. But when people get greedy, that's when issues happen. So this is between doordash/grubhub, and the restaurant.
Next go after airlines with misleading headline fares... "Carrier imposed surcharge" is more than the flight...hang on, who's the carrier...oh, the same people... What's next " wings surcharge" ? Oh, even worse... cellphone networks "Unlimited for $49/month*" *+ this + that + other + more + tax + weird fees.... Make them include it all in the headline price !
Once these companies go public with an IPO it's all about profit. This is at the expense of the employees and customers. It would have been better to keep venture capitalists out of certain businesses. GrubHub could keep all stakeholders happy while still providing great service to the final consumer
The mission statement of every publicly traded company always starts with "To maximize shareholder value by......" That tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of the company.
I have mobility issues so I don’t go out to eat often. But I do use grocery delivery services. I have noticed the prices are higher for many items that are delivered compared to store prices and the selection is much smaller. The pandemic has been a boon for everyone in the delivery business.
how does the restaurant get the order? I would have thought they would receive it by an app on their end? do these companies call in the orders by phone?
I have had some 3rd party deliver food to my front door 5 or 6 times in the last several months. Since I am not expecting anyone, I take my time going to the door. This reduces door to door sales/solicitations. When I open the door, the driver is gone and food is there. Interesting part is I have never ordered it. The bag has a receipt but no information to notify the delivery company of the mistake. One was McDonalds - who orders MCDONALDS to be delivered? Usually, I move the food further out from my door, to the driveway as an indication that it was seen & not ordered. Sometimes it is picked up (but now cold) and other times, i have to dispose of it. Based upon the number of wrong deliveries to my address alone, it would seem that a lot of people get cold food. This is why I won't use 3rd party companies for food delivery.
None of those companies can navigate our apartment complex. The community bulletin board is filled with people asking if someone got their delivery and others posting what was delivered to them by mistake. There are more of these posts than lost cats.
The only time it's worth it to use one of those food delivery services is when they offer a 50% off promo. Between the fees and the inflated prices that's about how much of a discount needed to match the amount that you would pay if you bought the food directly from the restaurant.
I agree if you have food delivered to your home you may pay more but I also can see where a company using other food places in its ads that do not do business with would not want them to use their name. A company can get in trouble doing such things if the use the logos of the other businesses.
Instacart does the same thing, but worse. They up the cost of store (grocery) items by 30-50%. I didn't even realize they did it til I got an HEB order and the driver accidentally left the receipt in the bag. She paid about $60, but instacart charged me $90. Once I got a vehicle, I cancelled that membership fast after that.
@@MilwaukeeWoman yeah, that's why I have no issues paying for a year at a time of Walmart plus. The instacart was at the beginning of the pandemic. I have used Walmart plus for over a year now.
I’m going to need New York to sue grub hub too the price inflation is ridiculous. They up charge the food by a lot , then add a delivery free then a service fee, tax, then tip. You end spending like 20 bucks on a meal that’s like 10 dollars after they’re charges are processed.
Instacart has free delivery with a required tip plus a service fee. I consider that the service fee is the delivery fee because it is an additional fee. I don't mind paying a delivery fee for the convenience but prefer honesty They did not provide a refund for an item that was missing though so I won't use them anymore.
Restaurants could have kept all their employers working the last couple years if they would have done delivery themselves, rather than let some other company do it and Jack all the prices up.
Sadly, this doesn't work for most restaurants. Logistics, time management, employees able to do this, etc. My wife owns a restaurant, restaurants owners talk to each other...this cannot work in most instances. We do on occasion deliver large orders if the situation will work.
its a convenience and not a necessity. if you dont like the fees get your lazy ass up and drive your own car with 4$+ gallon gas and go place your order and wt for it and take it home and eat it or eat it there. This is no different than milk being 2$ more a gallon at 711 than the grocery store. btw i am a door dash driver with 3250 deliveries. no tip no trip
Solution: No take out. No curb side pickup. No drive through. However many places that I know of have this side of their business. Not everyone has the time to sit in a restaurant or simply don't want to.
I own a restaurant and Grubhub charges restaurants up to 30% as well. So we have different prices on Grubhub by design. We need to make money. So we increase prices 15%.
All of them use the same deceptive practices. Uber eats does exactly the same thing. That "service fee" being separate from the "delivery fee" really pissed me off, and the final straw for me was that I noticed the food prices were also inflated over what the price was in the restaurant.
Noticed that a long time ago when I went to order panda and the charged me 10 for a two entree when at store that price is a three entree
The extra prices come from the restaurant side as they can control their pricing. It's done to offset the fees the apps charge them so the place still makes a profit. Those crazy delivery fees don't go to the drivers either and they don't tell you that, it hurts drivers who get a base of like $2 an order plus tip only with no compensation for time or miles until very recently and only if you count 0.0064 - 0.07 cents a mile compensation. These apps exist entirely in loopholes to exploit everyone but themselves and I hope laws catch up.
@@FoxTenson you are incorrect. Some restaurants have had to sue to get removed from these apps they never authorized to deliver their food.
@@1212goose How the heck did you compute that? Just because some restaurant are put up on apps against their will does not mean *others* can't be voluntarily put 0n there and adjust their prices accordingly.
You know there are more than one restaurant in the world and they might choose to do different things, right?
Hey if you don't like it or don't consider the service worth the added cost then don't use the service. Seems obvious. Saying that "all of them" are all deceptive in the same way completely discredits your opinion. Have you tried every such service in every geo-location multiple times to assess this bold claim? I've used Door Dash extensively and they have been excellent and well worth the added cost
I like how these companies say it's okay because we quit these bad practises. Do they think the FBI would accept a bank robber saying I have quit robbing banks as soon as we realised that it was against the law, so were good now. Then saying I don't know why the FBI are moving forward to arrest and prosecute me. They might as well say, yeah we are ripping people off, it is just business and not personal.
Who do they think they are, the police?
or perhaps we could fine the company the bank robbers work for in order to punish them?
I miss the local delivery service that used to be where i lived at the time. But they did it right. They partnered with the actual restaurants, and the delivery menu was different than the in store menu, so only foods that worked as delivery items were deliverable. Plus, this was at the beginning of the internet, so dialup was what you got. So the menu's were in a small book. All fees and prices were clearly listed by restaurant. It was all aboveboard and legal. But unfortunately, the company wasn't managed well, and they went out of business.
They were before their time, and i wish they still existed. The concept is solid, not all restaurants want the logistical headache of delivery, so why not let someone else do it for a small additional fee? They provide the delivery infrastructure so that you don't have to, and the restaurant gets access to customers who want the food to come to them. A win win in my book.
I worked for a company like that in Tennessee almost 20 years ago - I think I was 19 - called Menu Express. They were simply a delivery service and worked with restaurants; they called us when a delivery order was placed and we were dispatched. Unfortunately it wasn't very profitable (and the pay sucked too) so they folded.
I was picking up myself at my Pizza Hut. While I was there A Pizza Hut delivery person AND a Grub Hub delivery person was picking up pizzas as well. I found this odd as I know the Grub Hub customer was paying more. Also, I am a great tipper...most of the time 20%....I'd rather the Pizza Hut delivery get that tip.
Yeah, that right there is why third-party delivery services need to be opt-in rather than opt-out. Had they been opt-in from the beginning, a lot of the problems they're currently facing wouldn't be factors at all.
"I found this odd as I know the Grub Hub customer was paying more" - are you absolutely sure about that? If I order Little Caesars directly it ends up coating more than if I order via Door Dash. And even if more, how much more? With services like DD I get real time updates showing me how far away the driver is and when they are likely to arrive. I rather like that compared to having no clue when a restaurant driver is going to show up.
I can understand you not liking grub hub.... but what do you have against grub hub *drivers* ? Because that's who the tip go (or should go to, but then both PH and GH are capable of stealing tips so.... all the same on that front really)
On a side note, depending on where you are, 20% may or may not be considered great. I think it is in the middle part of US but not in the coasts(as in the coasts have higher standards and thus 20 is no longer great). Also, whereas % based is totally fine for dine in, it isn't necessarily correct for delivery. I personally tip delivery based on the distance traveled and the weight and bulk of the item, more for a cheap but large pizza than an expensive steak, if you will. Now, you should also take into consideration the difficulty of access to your drop off location. This is, however, often a fixed value, so not something you need to constantly keep in mind. Luckily, I live where there is direct, ungated external access so I don't really add anything extra. But if you are in a gated apartment complex and, in the worst case scenario, not on the ground floor but also do not have elevators, it would be proper to tag on a bit extra for that.
Actually Yum Brands own part of grubhub. And due to labor shortage pizza hut and papa John's has teamed up with these apps. Many ppl order thru pizzahut but if they don't have a driver they will summon a 3rd party driver.
@@justanoman6497 This just illustrates how stupid tipping is. It depends on the customer weighing the difficulty of delivery to provide a "fair" return for service. People just want their stuff, and many are too **** to do that work estimating a fiar tip. The app should offer the drivers a bid, and if someone wants to accept the bid, he can accept it. If no one accepts, then the app should increase the bid.
Tipping is stupid. Just state the price. I lived in Europe for a long time, and grew to hate tipping when I returned.
Glad to hear the story. GrubHub charged me roughly $50 extra for food that I picked up myself. As you said, the restaurant had no affiliation with GrubHub. I learned the hard way.
Sheesh.
Why would anyone order food on grub hub to pick it up themselves? Just call the restaurant it's self and order the food. There is literally no reason to get a middle man involved...
Glad to hear there is some crackdown on these types of services, regardless of who they are going after. You listed off many of the issues both in this and from other reports. I don't mind these types of services being out there and there but some of the business practices from companies like this can be shady and not transparent to customers the relationship. There also does not seem to be much care for food handling practices at times.
They are awful to drivers too, paying less than tipped minimum wage essentially. $2 an order plus tip when you use your own vehicle and pay for all the gas and maintenance is criminal. Also hiding payouts to make drivers have to gamble if they get paid enough or not and screwing over customers who tip well. I will say though food handling practices are NOT on these apps. Drivers don't touch the food at all, just pick up the bags and drop them off. Anything wrong with your food is almost 99% of the time a restaurant issue. Drivers have zero say or control over if something is missing, cooked correctly, handled well, etc and are not allowed to even check outside just an item count.
Unfortunately there are many cases in which drivers are not handling food how they are supposed to.... Sometimes by handling food and sometimes by not using supplied thermal bags to transport etc.... Yes restaurant issues may lead to orders being messed up, but that is assuming it is ordered correctly in the first place. Since not all restaurants have their menus and things linked you have people placing an order with the service who is then placing the order with the restaurant. Basically a game of telephone, which can be made worse by out of date menus or supply shortages and when the restaurant says what they are substituting the service may just say OK rather than checking with the customer.
The other issue is that restaurants without delivery services likely have never really considered if their foods can be delivered well or not. There are restaurants that have different take out / delivery menus for good reason, they know some of their menu items don't travel well. Some of these places only got into the take out / delivery game because of the pandemic or are encouraged to by these companies and there is no aide from these delivery companies about limiting menu items that may not travel well. Yes this does fall onto the restaurant largely, but if the services want to actually encourage quality food from restaurants they could be providing more information and guidance about things.
The whole system is being developed on the fly during an effort to expand as much as possible to capture market share. It is unfortunately lacking the needed oversight and basic rules. The fact in most places the services are not even required to make drivers go through basic food handling courses (which these days are often just watching video training sessions with some quizzes) is one of the key reasons I won't deal with them. I have seen how many people in restaurants with the courses still have trouble with basic food handling practices (and this does not even mean touching the food or removing it from a bag / package but how you handle that package), the assumption that a random guy with a car has any clue or cares at all is why so many meals end up delivered cold etc...
These are problems with the particular company, not the concept. I've ordered from Door Dash well over a hundred times and only had issues about twice, which they immediately credited me for. In fact, ordering Little Caesars via Door Dash ends up being cheaper and arrives faster than ordering through LC directly (I've tried both). Bad / shady companies should get shut down in any industry. But when done properly these services are great
Glad you have good experiences with Door Dash, there are plenty of people out there who have bad ones. They are also named in many of these actions. Large or small at this point none of them are clean and beyond a bit of improvement or oversight. Door Dash is one of the companies who has issues listing restaurants without permission and that is the type of behavior that tends to lead to the problems, if they are working with a partner restaurant you likely get good service the issues start out when they are circumventing a proper partner relationship and they all seem to be doing this.
Your point about proper handling by the drivers is mostly moot. Proper food handling practices start at the restaurant, and I can tell you as a driver, most restaurants do not hold orders at appropriate hot/cold holding temps. Also note that a driver has no control over how long ago the food was prepared before they got there, so it could have been sitting on a rack at room temp for 30-40 min when its picked up. At that point, my heated seats and insulated bags won't do much. TLDR: Restaurants bear a lot of responsibility for proper temps, and a majority of them do not do the right thing.
I've also noticed that yelp online ordering appears to tack on ~28% to the prices of my local restaurants. This price inflation even applies to carryout orders. If I go to the restaurant's own website, I can avoid the Yelp surcharge. Apparently it's a common practice on Yelp to upcharge for "marketing".
Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
Buried in the fine print: I recently saw an ad for a great price of toilet paper being sold by a famous chain of drug stores. To get that price one had only to join their "club". Joining was "free" but one had to agree to the terms of service. The latter required that one hold them harmless for virtually any action resulting in damages and that other disputes that may arise be settled in arbitration. Resorting to the courts was forbidden.
Free!
Geesh, what a load of 💩‼️ I once was ordering a gift and suddenly after paying, a flashing sign came up on-line that said ‘get this order delivered for free’. Well, I thought ok, let me try that. Holy Moly ...... it turned out have such over the top rules that could end up costing way too much... just for ‘free’ delivery!! I canceled that in less than a week. I prefer to pay an up-front yearly fee, cause I know that it will definitely save me money.
@@slcRN1971 Saw bait like that once myself.
Here's another one. I ordered food from a restaurant supposedly called Mr. Beast Burger because the food looked and sounded amazing and supposedly had free delivery( I don't remember what delivery app we used). I tried looking up the restaurant but couldn't find much about it. So one day my wife and I went to Red Robin. After talking with the host, while waiting for a table, I happen notice Mr. Beast Burger stuff being walked out of the kitchen to the delivery pick up area. And I asked him what's up about that. So I got the long confusing story of Mr. Beast. Burger is a app only restaurant and you can only get it through a app purchase and is made in the same kitchen as Red Robin. So you can't go to Red Robin and order Mr. Beast Burger Even though it's made in the same kitchen. I do need to mention that the menu items of Mr. Beast Burger are similar but different than the items available at Red Robin. Example, Red Robin fries are big steak fries, Mr Beast Burger fries were homemade shoe string fries. So who am I actually ordering from? If I'm ordering Mr. Beast Burger, is it Mr. Beast Burger or is it Red Robin?
This is a common thing in some areas. When I used to deliver for Uber Eats in Seattle, I would often go to places where there were like 2-4 restaurants renting out the same commercial kitchen at different parts of the day. Frankly, that's a genius business model if you're lucky enough to make it work, but it can generate confusion.
These are called ghost kitchens, allows a restaurant to gain more sales during downtime by agreeing to make a virtual brands food. Normally I see beast burgers made by the buca de beppo Italian restaurant chain.
There are food considerations for delivery too. Steak fries are a great example, they get soggy very fast. The ghost kitchens can have menus specifically designed to survive the lengthy delivery process. It’s weird to eat at a place that only exists in an app though.
You can’t order their items because the ghost kitchen doesn’t even exist in the Red Robin POS system. I would love to know what the bookkeeping for the shared model looks like though.
edit: more research, anyone can franchise it. Corporate provides training and probably authorizes suppliers. So the beast meat is probably different than the robin meat, etc. Designed to keep your staff busier, I know if I was a line cook I’d better get a raise if I was told I had to make two kitchens’ worth of dinners.
So glad I've stayed away from these delivery services (used one ONCE, ever). I want to actually support my local restaurants, not these other businesses (which seem predatory to me).
The AD for you today was GrubHub. Lol. So they paid you to tell the story. Lol. Ironic!
I've seen a lot of GrubHub ads on TH-cam lately, they're running an ad Blitz campaign to try and get ahead of the negativity of what's going to happen when they are forced to disclose all of their fees and up charges up front.
I've had that happen with his carvana stories
Mine was Dominos pizza lol.
Lol
Well good thing even bad press is good advertisement. Look at any company after bad press, pepsi did an ad campaign where they put money in cans in a separated compartment that when you open the can cash money would spring out. Well that had alot of issues caused a recall and gave pepsi bad press but while short term they took a hit, long term they actually then had a sales spike. That is a very common thing to happen.
Had this happen at my business with both grub hub and DoorDash.
They sent random people to pick up orders. They didn’t even say it was delivery or anything. Just seemed like a normal person buying food for themselves.
But then someone came in wanting a huge order full of items we hadn’t served in over a year. The person picking that order up confessed to what was going on.
Checked their site and my business was on there. Complete with pictures of all the meals. They stole pictures from and archived version of our site and posted them. Over half the menu they had listed was incorrect.
Called both to yell at them. Door dash hung up on me but took us off the site. The grub hub rep tried to be cute so I just spent the entire time insulting him and told him I will be calling every hour until my business was off their site. After 9 calls the reps finally got tired of being cussed out and took us off.
Fuck those people. Hope they get sued in to bankruptcy.
There is no theft of images as long as they represent things factually. The show ballers has all kinds of fun plots while using full nfl team branding without paying a dime. The problem is they fake prices and don't keep their menus up to date. Once their information is no longer factual, it causes harm to the business. I avoid these services due to the fake prices. I will pay a fee, but will never support false pricing or menus that don't match the real one. These delivery apps have to spend more money getting menus right and cannot just wing it like they have currently done. I would support requiring that they tell a business they are a delivery driver vs a customer, that way a business can at least add utensils, double check the order, include their own advertising, include a real menu with real prices, include the receipt, or even write a note to the customer to explain why service is worse through a delivery app. They don't want delivery drivers disclosing who they are because they don't want the business the chance to communicate the pricing discrepancies.
@@_PatrickO The image are stolen because they are taken from the site of the restaurant (achieved version as it might be), that violates copyright. You have copyright on photos even if it is mostly a factual photo.
Had the delivery service got someone to take pictures of the dishes themselves, then what you said would apply.
So you called 9 times and cussed out "The Same Rep"? The rep that has no control over taking down your listing btw. Also what kind of restaurant do you run that you had no clue this was going on after about the 2nd order?
Some restaurants like it some don't. But we don't need a new law. When they pushed for fee limits it ultimately cost the restaurants more.
Oh I wish these 3rd parties would disappear but they aren't so I wish they would focus on bigger issues with these companies.
@@_PatrickO even a photograph is protected by copyright
I was surprised when I ordered a part from an auto parts store and they had door dash delivering. It apparently shocked everyone in door dash because the drivers were calling me to tell me they couldn't deliver my food because the address isn't a restaurant. I didn't order food I ordered a car part.
⁉️❓⁉️ bet several people were very confused!
I can confirm that this is a common practice of delivery services. I know a restaurant that I love the food; the burrito at the store is 6 dollars and via the ordering app it was more than 1.50 more for the same burrito. In store my total for 3 is under 20. For the same 3 delivered with the inflated price and other un-understandable delivery charges total was 37 dollars and some odd cents. It was such a rip off but I wasn't able to get to the restaurant, so I paid basically double, therefore I have only done it 2 times.
My wife orders lunch out at work once a week and I hate these hidden costs and try to explain how much money is wasted on them like my burrito restaurant.
I in college worked at my local Hungry Howie's, talk about great pizza!
I almost married someone like your wife. She hated that I didn't want to waste money; until she married someone like herself! Then she saw the wisdom of my ways! 🤣 Too late!
I wonder if the restaurant knowingly makes an agreement with the food delivery service to inflate the food prices. It makes sense. If GH or DD charges the restaurant 30% for the order they let the restaurant tack on higher prices to pay that 30%.
@@dannydaw59 Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
@@radfordra So its only the restaurants increasing the menu prices?
@@dannydaw59 for the ones that willingly partner with them. They have backend access to raise the prices. Let's say door dash charges the restaurant 25% of the total sales the restaurant will increase the prices on door dash by at least 25% to compensate for the door dash charges.
One issue is that they will often charge steep fees for places that have their own far cheaper delivery.
Their kind of like "free delivery, but we change a processing fee and jack up the prices of everything."
Their???
@@johnp139 Go away, no one likes the grammar police.
I do software development 4 days a week and help manage a local restaurant the other three days. The tablet has an option to add cost if the customer orders something in the notes, which they often do. One customer ordered her pastas gluten-free, which is 4.00 each pasta. I charged her the 8.00. Not only did grubhub charge her 24.00 instead of the 8 I entered, they made it look like it came from us.we only got the 8 00 minus their fee, and it shows 8.00 in the back office. But I know it charged her 24 because they accidentally sent us the adjustment with that as the amount. They have never been and will never be profitable, even with their blatant theft.
That's the weird part, how are they not profitable after all their charges? Only thing I can think of is their upper management is being paid way, way, way too much. And who knows what else in perks.
I guess I just don't understand these businesses. We had another couple over for some drinks and ordered Chinese. Since we were drinking we decided to use one of those services. We worked it out, that it cost us about an extra $18 over going to pick it up. I would never use it again. In fact where I live, I could have had a cab come to my home, drive me to the restaurant, wait while I go in, then drive me home. Would be $15.
I think there is a specific monetary range in term of total of order where it could make sense, and tentatively that's about 15 to 50 dollars.
Anything below that and the fees are an excessively large proportion compared to the order. Anything higher, as the fees(and hidden charge like menu markup) tend to scale with the size of order, going there yourself one way or another tend to be cheaper.
In your particular example, it's kind of a close call. Now, first I'm assuming you are including tip on both side (to the delivery driver and the cab), so that the final difference is $3. I would say there are a lot of people who would spend $3 to not have to go on the trip themselves, even if it is a cab ride such that they can be on their phone or whatever for most of the time. And as such, the price thereof could be considered reasonable, because you paid a slight mark up for a slight benefit compared to the proposed alternative.
Of course, there is the alterative of driving there yourself, but in that case your time is actually fully consumed. Which changes the question of whether half hour or whatever of your time is worth $18. Once again, it depends, for a lot of people it isn't, but for some it is.
Wow your time must be pretty worthless if you consider all the additional time, cost and hassle of taking a cab not worth $18. To me $18 sounds like a great deal, particularly since you had company over and had been drinking. Hey, if you'd rather waste your personal time than spend a few dollars then don't use them.
Depends on the circumstances though; if you're drinking at the time then $18 is far cheaper than a DUI! xD
$18 is pretty cheap for someone to do that work too IMO, after paying whatever cut the service provider gets and gas and maintenance they're probably lucky if they break minimum wage. But I guess that's what tips are for. Also worth pointing out that I sometimes use GH for restaurants that do have their own delivery service...in some cases that's because GH gives far better service (ie, less likely they'll drop it at some house down the street and say it's been delivered without me even knowing they left yet) but also in a few cases the restaurant refuses to deliver to me (says I'm outside their delivery area) but I can still order through GH -- even though in at least one of those cases the GH order is still delivered by the restaurant's own drivers. So that extra service fee gets you a greater delivery range in addition to driver contact options and delivery tracking and some other nice features.
@@Me__Myself__and__I Let's say the order was $30 + $18, and round it up to $50, for takeout chinese. That is a pretty expensive meal / snack.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken ok, so don't order it. I',ve ordered high quality steaks and italian that was over $100 (rarely) and been quite happy with it. Id you don't think it is a good value, don't order. Personally I'd rather avoid traffic, lines and waiting sometimes.
I bet that Grubhub added a Surcharge for the Gas Price Increase!
LOL. Ubereats came out trying to look like saints by giving us a temporary fuel assistance whatever for every delivery when all they did was start to charge the customer the surcharge & pass it on to the driver.
But I know for a fact that this caused some people to just lower the tip, and it's usually lowered more than the surcharge. So drivers end up even more screwed than before this bullshit.
@@Iceberg86300 Back when there was a Beef Shortage due to COVID hitting the Beef Industry, a local Texas BBQ Chain here (the CEO donated to Trump), added a Beef Surcharge. Ironic, they gave money to a person that worsened the COVID Outbreak, and then wanted more money because the Beef Industry couldn't supply product! Chick-Fil-A is no better! They donate to the Texas Gov..
You want somebody to cook your food in their restaurant and pack it for delivery.... Then you want somebody else to drive
to the restaurant in their own car (consider TOTAL cost per mile), pick up your food, then drive to
your location. You want somebody else to organize and set up this system. Expect to pay through the Nose.
Plan ahead... Learn to cook... Don't put yourself in a vulnerable position.
I order from places with their own drivers on a rare occasion. Mostly we cook. It's been years since I sat in a restaurant. (Immune compromised.)
Yeah grub hub prices are inflated for food, less than Uber eats, but still inflated. I still order regularly from grub hub, if I have an issue with my order I can call them and they sort it out, ordering from the restaurant is a pain, they often don't deliver to my house but elsewhere in the neighborhood. And contacting the restaurant to get issues fixed is a giant pain. They do add value to the chain though. But I can see the billing issues and the fact that restaurant are not nessecarily opting in.
"Our practices have always complied with DC law, and in any event many of the practices at issue have been discontinued."
Hmm. If they have always complied with the law, then why were there practices that needed to be discontinued?
so many shops in the UK signed up and they get hit by so many frees and cost it like they giving the food away and the biggest issue is shops etc being added to the system when they do not deliver
Some restaurants (or chains) are also raising prices for online orders, whether the orders are for delivery or not. I used to work for a popular restaurant chain (franchise) here in Boise, Idaho. We could take a printed receipt from an online order and it would show a price 20% higher than when we entered the items directly into the POS, ourselves. I left that job at the beginning of the pandemic to deliver DoorDash full-time.
In my hometown there is a locally owned Delivery Service. The person who owns it will shop for you at grocery stores, dollar stores etc.. They will pickup orders you made at restaurant and or make orders if you have requested they do that. The company makes it very clear what they charge.
This reminds me of 20 years ago when all the cell phone companies were constantly running ads about all the stuff they would give to you for "free". They glossed over the part about how much you had to pay to get that "free" stuff.
The mention of Hungry Howies reminds me of when they had covered a larger area...I miss having them around
"are no longer doing" alleged deceptive practice x or y. I've read that in some areas of civil law voluntary cessation doesn't nullify such a lawsuit. One sues to get injunctive relief or settlement agreement enforceable by a court via contempt sanctions.
And that some alleged deceptive practices are no longer used doesn't address unjust enrichment claims ...
It’s awfully rich that DC government goes after businesses for hidden charges. DC government wouldn’t exist without hidden charges.
Ben - Sitting comfortably atop mic 3.
Doordash jacks up the price of the food items too.
My biggest complaint: the apps/sites have a map that shows the delivery driver's progress via GPS. Often, you can watch them go 10, 20 minutes out of the way to deliver other orders (drivers have confirmed)! If you're the last one on the route, good luck getting hot, fresh, food!
I get the economics of it, especially for the driver, but, still! Maybe THAT'S a declaration that needs to be conspicuous on the app/site!
This type of craziness is common in the hotel industry as well. You think you're booking with the hotel but it's actually a service they have created over top of them which means if anything goes wrong you have little recourse because you have paid the service not the hotel. These restaurants are doing the same sort of thing, sometimes without their knowledge which I get, but at the same time there are many naive, shall we say, customers out there who don't realize what is going on and then get upset. Caveat emptor!
These delivery apps/companies all have issues. I recently ordered from one of these companies, and the website reported that the food was being prepared, and the estimated delivery time. After the delivery time stretched to over an hour later than the original estimated delivery time, i tried to contact the site.
Their chat function was a bot which didn't do anything, and just kept repeating the same text. I eventually had to call them to get the ordered cancelled and my money refunded. The biggest issue was the person i spoke to said the order had been placed with the restaurant and was ready to be picked up, there were no drivers available. So it was obvious i was never getting my order.
I remember one couple really upset at the small family restaurant it’s like an Olive Garden that is a little nicer right next to a Chinese restaurant very small but they were really upset about the price of delivery and I normally just avoid problems but I had to tell them they don’t offer delivery you can do takeout, but there is no delivery and they were upset with the restaurant for these GrubHub type practices and they never even realize that it wasn’t them 5:14
I have a small experience with this, but with more of a twist. There was a certain McDonalds that was near where I used to work, and I would commonly get my breakfast there on my way to work. The drive through line was sometimes stupidly long, so I started to use the McDonalds app to order my food and wait in one of the assigned places they had for those types of orders. There was one manager there who was convinced I was a GrubHub or Door Dash person and would always put my food in the bags they had specifically for them and leave it on the counter. And I'd be sitting there for 20 minutes without ever getting my food. (Wasn't late because of this always gave myself plenty of time in case something happened). Took me forever to convince them that "No I do not work for either company and yes I am ordering this food for myself."
I appreciate the restaurants who got smart and started charging a fee on all the gig apps credit cards & cash. Charging them about 100 to 200 dollars on top of the bill!😆
So wait they can’t charge more on individual items? On top of the service fee as well? Thought so (Oregon no sales tax) commonly items will be 10-30 cents more per item with as much as 75c-$1 for combos
Hungry Howie indeed delivered...I worked there back in 2012
Yup. Wife and I were in Nashville, personal overnight trip. Motel promo had a local Greek restaurant listed. At 10pm I order a Gyro. 2am Had knock on door. I opened door, said go away. 6 hr deliver is too slow. I didn't blame the restaurant, also didn't pay.
I was inside the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the very first time at the Folds of Honor NASCAR race.
Much louder in person, and I didn’t know you could see the entire track from your seat.
They should put the restaurant price and add on their fee for ordering only seems fair. But I knew they added more from restaurants prices. As a truck driver I like using them because I can order something other then truck stop food. But I’d like to know the actual prices broken down.
If I owned a restaurant I wouldn’t want them to put their charge on the food I’d make. What if the costumer doesn’t come back because of the overcharge and ofc the service of the drivers they didn’t hire.
DoorDash does too. Or at least allows restaurants to charge more for items on its platform. DoorDash still charges a service fee for Premium, its just a "reduced" fee.
As much as I don't like food delivery services, there is nothing hidden or deceptive about what GrubHub does. Just because you as a customer doesn't pay attention and look at what you are paying for, doesn't mean that GrubHub is being deceptive. The fees are right there in front of your face. Just because you missed them doesn't mean that GrubHub is being dishonest. People need to grow up and take accountability.
Deceptive people usually get angry when others see through the deception.
The price difference thing is a thing here but its done by the stores that have an agreement with the 3rd party services.
They up the item price to compensate for the cut the 3rd parties take from the order.
Things like service/delivery fees are always clearly marked here though.
Uber Eats does the same thing with prices. The price is sometimes significantly higher than in the restaurant. Uber eats also charges at some restaurants for things that are included. They make you select the item for a fee.
I would guess all the apps are the same.
Around me, prices found on grubhub, uber eats were higher than the regular menu price. Also they will not offer certain products or menu items. For example if you order a combo from Burger King, you can only order the medium or large size, not the small.
Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and menu items and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
@@radfordra that isn't even remotely true.
@@ScottWaa considering I work in the food industry and know that there is a back end and have access to said back end to set prices and have talked extensively about this with the owners of the restaurant I work in.
@@radfordra what is true for you isn't true for all. Ive been in the industry for years and talked to multiple owners about pricing between the services. We've used and dropped grubhub, uber eats, door dash, eat street, food dudes... They are not worth it.
@@ScottWaa they lied to you, anyone who actively participates as in advertises that you can order through these apps. BK, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, chick fil a, ihop, Taco Bell, and etc. They have full control on what’s on their menus and the pricing.
In my local area the delivery charge can be 50% of the food so if it costs 40 you'll pay 60 for a delivery of a few mile I never use them
When I worked at the McDonald's they had mobile orders through Doordash and Ubereats. but occasionally grub hub people would show up and order food for someone else which can't possibly be above board.
Another reason why that's bad is because the two that the restaurant is actually chosing to deal with the manager can know to call them and say hey we're closing early today and the people who work for the third party can make it unavailable on the app. If you're not a part of the game plan you don't get a copy the playback. Sometimes it's frustrating enough to get the ones we work with to stop coming in.
Grubhub also charges the restaurant to pick up food. Doordash, for example, can charge as much as 40% of an order. The higher price may have been set by the restaurant to offset this fee.
I manage a hungry howies in Florida and they are mostly in Michigan and Florida. It was started by a guy in Michigan named Jim
Hundo, unfolded, across the top of the third mic from the left, on top of the main cabinet. 1.4k+.
Just saw the video about the speeding kid in Canada, and it’s funny that you’re wearing the Atlanta Speedway shirt in this one! Lol
I noticed here in australia uber made a big deal of lowering their delivery fees. I noticed a new "service fee" that... how convenient, usually adds up roughly to the same amount as they dropped the delivery fee by.
Working in this Gig economy. I have come across some actions that seem to take advantage of the drivers on the platform. Lately I have run into a situation. The time they have on their app is being held back to push more deliveries or cover a larger area. Their app states 4min to next stop for example. Then Google maps/waze, herewego and tomtom are all the same with 6min. I have not been able to deliver without a few late packages and my standings get hit for it. I'm not going to break laws but have always been an aggressive driver. Still have been driving the same platform for a year and a half and only had 10 honest late deliveries that were my fault. And im only one driver out of a thousand in my area. Others have mentioned this after inquiring.
The restaurant online menus oftentimes do not include the price. This is very frustrating if you're traveling and trying to find local restaurants to eat at. So I don't buy the argument that the GrubHub price and the restaurant price are different when half the time you can't even see the restaurants real price (unless that restaurant has an online order section, that's the only time you'll see the price).
I've only ever used doordash and that is usually through the restaurant and not directly through doordash.
I live about 9 miles from DC, when am there some food place has decal of the delivery apps on there windows
About time someone addressed this problem.
I used to own and operate a local food delivery service. Our model was based on getting 20% of the foods cost. We did that based on how the restaurant had us set up. If the restaurant gave us a 20% discount on the food we charged the customer base price. If the restaurant didn't give us a discount we charged them 20%.
Every food delivery service does some version of this. The DA in DC is going to lose.
I was under the impression that the stores do set the price, I've had some tell me though that its higher due to the 20% fee grubhub charges THEM. On TOP of all the customer fees.
I can’t say for certain about who sets the price, but grub hub absolutely takes a cut of what they’re paying the restaurant. So yea they get paid from both ends. Nothing but a hustle.
The big problem with ordering Hungry Howie's from anyone is that you end up with food from Hungry Howie's.
I was totally thinking DC Comics and was like HUH?
I want to say that Door Dash charges the restaurant 30% of the total cutting out most of their profit so it's actually the restaurant that charges more in Door Dash. I don't blame the restaurant for this, the company is taking probably most if not all of their profit so they need something but not showing this is slimy. I noticed this first with Buffalo Wild Wings when I noticed I was paying like $3/4 more per item and just don't use it anymore unless I really can't go anywhere
I do not understand this. Who cares what the in-restaurant price is compared to the service? Do people not look at the menu on the service site, decide if that is something they want for the price shown and act accordingly? Its not like the service shows customers a different price than they charge them (which would be absolutely dishonest). They provide a service, they clearly show the prices, they show the fees and tip before placing the order. Nothing is hidden. If people don't like the prices, don't use the service.
@@Me__Myself__and__I It is hidden, if it was the service fee, delivery fee and the tip as the extra that would totally be fine. I even have a "local regulatory fee" that I have to pay. The problem is they also add MORE fees on top of each food item. If they just said, hey we're adding 15% to this to make money for ourselves, that would be great. The problem is they add 3 or 4 extra fees on AND STILL charge more for the food
Last I heard, the average is more like 20%? But yes, it can get high as 30(or maybe even 35%). And as per the norm, those who are charged the most tend to be the ones being passed around on the internet because shock content thrives.
Not great by any means, but also not as bad as you might think.
Oh, but as for cutting out most of their profit.... that is a rather difficult calculation. If you take fixed cost into it, then yes, it would. But if you only consider the per order cost and profit, then no it does not. Depending on the item in question, for the item itself, profit on most food item in restaurant generally have a 40-80% profit margin, that's not counting drinks which can go as high as 90-95% sometimes. But obviously, they have to pay for their rent which if you average out to all their orders, would bring down the margin significantly.
The overall effect is that for any restaurant that is not operating at capacity, for orders that would otherwise not exist, even a 35% cut could still be quite profitable. Delivery hurts restaurant only if it takes away business that would otherwise be pickup/dine in (and you can probably think of times where you would have went to the place if there was no delivery but because there is, you got lazy and didn't. I know I certainly have)
And it's generally not worth really expanding your restaurant to handle more deliveries, that's where you actually need to put in additional "fixed cost". Well... not in proper restaurant style anyway, there are now "fake" delivery only restaurant that operate out of just a kitchen so there must still be margins...
I have placed orders with all of the major delivery companies, at times they will cancel your order maybe because of driver shortage or something else. They have already charged your debit or credit card and now it takes 5-7 days to get the hold dropped on your money. They will also put a hold on more money than your total order plus tip is - one time my order plus tip was $67, the food /service costing $57 and a $10 tip the service put 3 different holds on my debit card, the food/ service was $82, and the hold on the tip was $18, and another for $12. When I called to complain, they told me - Your money is still there we didn't take more than we charged, but they still had holds on $45 extra dollars that I could not access for 5-7 days until the service dropped the holds. All the services do this scam.
I've also heard about restaurants who charge the delivery service higher menu prices.
I love the irony of the government going after a private business for unethical or perceived unethical practices. It’s oky doky for the government to do it tho.
Gov pretty much exists for the purpose of doing things that would clearly unethical if any individual did them.
"They have to make money." 1980's definition: a modest profit after paying living wages to your staff. 2022 definition: The company gets a lion share of any proceeds, and pays the independent contractor a small pittance, barely earning more than the cost of operating their own vehicle to provide the service.
That was the definition in the 80s as well.
Bullshit. Were you even a wet dream in the 80s? People have been bitching about the same shit forever, but everyone thinks it only came into existence when they gained consciousness.
They don't even make money. None of these companies has turned an annual profit. Ever. They're all just burning through venture capital while getting people addicted to their services.
I believe Doordash made a modest *_quarterly_* profit in 2020 due to a literal best-case scenario for their business model in the form of pandemic-induced lockdowns.
@@TheRealE.B. Ah, a repeat of the tech boom. Most of those companies just had a webpage, but were "worth" millions.
Husband and I have recently picked up on the pricing differences for some businesses. We've significantly cut back on using these services. Especially with COVID restrictions easing we've just been walking to pick up the food to get some extra exercise.
I've never used either of those services. I've loaded them up, but as someone who is slightly savvy to what things cost, I immediately noticed that the prices on EVERYTHING were jacked up 25-50% higher than they should have been. Literally lying about the prices of food to inflate the cost and pocketing the difference.
Take notice when you order next time .Compare the online restaurant menu item price shown online to the price for that item through delivery apps receipt. Separate from any fees cost taxes for delivery.... I am speaking of the item price on the online menu $. Example KFC menu $ 12 piece bucket online is $10 .00 less then what it will be on your Uber Eats or DoorDash receipt.... again this is separate from any fee cost taxes for delivery. Same with Chick fla la. If you try to ask them about why? They only spout the delivery fee taxes as a smoke screen reason, which is not the issue here. It is the item specific price that are higher then same item on restaurant online menu.
A pizza from a chain may end up being $18-$19, but tacking on tax & a ‘Delivery Fee’ plus tip can send it past $25 or more. Can’t order a smaller pizza as the total, even w/all kinds of toppings won’t ‘qualify for delivery’. Find it cheaper & easier just to buy a WalMart brand pizza for $3-$4 & save a pizza chain pizza for absolutely desperation & not wanting to cook anything type nights.
I wonder if you could DMCA the site over the logo. Assuming they are not fully self hosted and you can figure out whos running the hardware to tell them there's a DMCA violation and request the take down.
Restaurants that are meant to be sit-down joints and not typically delivered it's what you get is what you get and customers need to realize that when they order off these apps and get it delivered yes there's the problem where some drivers don't take proper care and have their appropriate hot bags like they should and it could be better quality but a lot of these places will just leave it sitting around my time you get it is cold
There are some real problems with these services and some provide good service. The problem is the deceptions and the lies! They know exactly what they are hiding and lying about and do it on purpose. Their claims of “we don’t do that anymore” is disegenuous because they knew it was shady to begin with! Charge a fair price, don’t rip off customers or restaurants, and you will have many repeat customers! Keep doing what you are doing and fade away!
Restaurants that are willingly partnered with these services are charged for using them too. They are in full control of the pricing and increase their prices to compensate for the service fees. It's not just the third party doing this.
Happens here in PA all the time. When I complained about it twice for the same restaurant, the restaurant blocked me from ordering. It was door dash though. It was not my fault that the order was wrong but either door dash or the restaurant. Yet I am the one that got blocked from ordering there.
I was going to order delivery from Chipotle. With both Grubhub and DoorDash, it was going to be around $20. I drove 5-6 minutes to the restaurant and paid $8 for a to-go order.
I work at a hotel, and we had several uber drivers set up a website that pretended to be a shuttle service to multiple hotels here. They'd claim that your fee was include in the hotel price, and then charge a card at pickup like a normal uber thing, then tell the guest on the way that it'd be deducted from the hotel bill. We'd get dozens, even hundreds (in summer) of calls per week of people complaining of a difference in quoted price and charges equal to the fee of a drive from the airport to the hotel. Uber said it wasn't their problem, we'd have to talk to the drivers.
We lost two stars on google for 'we lie about shuttle services'. We have no control over this. We used to get bonuses for having good reviews, making enough per month, and having high enough room rates. Now, we never get obnuses, because of bad reviews alone. I am losing about 250-400 a month, thanks to no bonuses.
Fk third party delivery/driver services. Uber needs to die, Lyft needs to evaporate, and Grubhub managers and staff need prison time. Can't describe how much I hate them.
So happy they are getting on this. It’s so damaging to a restaurants reputation
Last time they "got on this" it turned out bad for the restaurant. They obviously don't even have a clue with some points they brought up. They need to leave this alone.
Not saying something shouldn't be done, but lawmakers and courts have no clue what is in the best interest of small restaurants. Hell they will probably have grubhub write the new law.
I use doordash cuz their menus are configured by the Restaurants. I buy a 6$ box from tacobell x 3 it cost me 18. + tax same as restaurant. Drivers are also seemingly happier they get their full tip.. I hope they do.
Every time i order grub hub its 10$ more
Anyone ordering through doordash or grubhub already know what the deal is. This is more between the delivery service and the restaurant. I'd considered doing food delivery before having internet on the phone, apps, etc. It was for a local university for me to just deliver McD, BK and Jacks. I delivered pizza up there while working for a big pizza chain, and college students would ask if I could pick up fast food and deliver it for them. I couldn't because I was in the clock for the pizza chain. I could just print up a menu with prices for all three fast food joints (no logos), hand them out at the university. During my off hours I could do that service. All three fast food joints were less than two miles out from the university. I could still do that now WITHOUT an app, or deceptive practies, and still kill it. The food would still be hot, and they would already know that I'm not affiliated with any fast food joint. They order it, I buy it, deliver it and collect what's on the receipt plus a separate delivery fee. Its not hard to do or figure out. But when people get greedy, that's when issues happen. So this is between doordash/grubhub, and the restaurant.
Next go after airlines with misleading headline fares... "Carrier imposed surcharge" is more than the flight...hang on, who's the carrier...oh, the same people... What's next " wings surcharge" ? Oh, even worse... cellphone networks "Unlimited for $49/month*" *+ this + that + other + more + tax + weird fees.... Make them include it all in the headline price !
Once these companies go public with an IPO it's all about profit. This is at the expense of the employees and customers. It would have been better to keep venture capitalists out of certain businesses. GrubHub could keep all stakeholders happy while still providing great service to the final consumer
Venture capitalists are nothing more than parasites on civilization.
The mission statement of every publicly traded company always starts with "To maximize shareholder value by......"
That tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of the company.
I have mobility issues so I don’t go out to eat often. But I do use grocery delivery services. I have noticed the prices are higher for many items that are delivered compared to store prices and the selection is much smaller. The pandemic has been a boon for everyone in the delivery business.
I haven't encountered higher prices with Walmart grocery delivery. But my husband can drive for pickup most of the time.
how does the restaurant get the order? I would have thought they would receive it by an app on their end? do these companies call in the orders by phone?
I have had some 3rd party deliver food to my front door 5 or 6 times in the last several months.
Since I am not expecting anyone, I take my time going to the door. This reduces door to door sales/solicitations.
When I open the door, the driver is gone and food is there.
Interesting part is I have never ordered it.
The bag has a receipt but no information to notify the delivery company of the mistake.
One was McDonalds - who orders MCDONALDS to be delivered?
Usually, I move the food further out from my door, to the driveway as an indication that it was seen & not ordered.
Sometimes it is picked up (but now cold) and other times, i have to dispose of it.
Based upon the number of wrong deliveries to my address alone, it would seem that a lot of people get cold food.
This is why I won't use 3rd party companies for food delivery.
None of those companies can navigate our apartment complex. The community bulletin board is filled with people asking if someone got their delivery and others posting what was delivered to them by mistake. There are more of these posts than lost cats.
I just noticed all your microphones... nice!
The only time it's worth it to use one of those food delivery services is when they offer a 50% off promo. Between the fees and the inflated prices that's about how much of a discount needed to match the amount that you would pay if you bought the food directly from the restaurant.
I agree if you have food delivered to your home you may pay more but I also can see where a company using other food places in its ads that do not do business with would not want them to use their name. A company can get in trouble doing such things if the use the logos of the other businesses.
Instacart does the same thing, but worse. They up the cost of store (grocery) items by 30-50%. I didn't even realize they did it til I got an HEB order and the driver accidentally left the receipt in the bag. She paid about $60, but instacart charged me $90. Once I got a vehicle, I cancelled that membership fast after that.
Walmart in my area doesn't do that.
@@MilwaukeeWoman yeah, that's why I have no issues paying for a year at a time of Walmart plus. The instacart was at the beginning of the pandemic. I have used Walmart plus for over a year now.
could a restaurant wich would not take part in these online delivery aps/companies, block these from placing orders for a third party?
I’m going to need New York to sue grub hub too the price inflation is ridiculous. They up charge the food by a lot , then add a delivery free then a service fee, tax, then tip. You end spending like 20 bucks on a meal that’s like 10 dollars after they’re charges are processed.
We ordered from rotisserie rose and received Boston market bags and packages
the inflated menu price also raises the percent based service fee, triple dipping
Instacart has free delivery with a required tip plus a service fee. I consider that the service fee is the delivery fee because it is an additional fee. I don't mind paying a delivery fee for the convenience but prefer honesty They did not provide a refund for an item that was missing though so I won't use them anymore.
Restaurants could have kept all their employers working the last couple years if they would have done delivery themselves, rather than let some other company do it and Jack all the prices up.
Sadly, this doesn't work for most restaurants. Logistics, time management, employees able to do this, etc. My wife owns a restaurant, restaurants owners talk to each other...this cannot work in most instances. We do on occasion deliver large orders if the situation will work.
its a convenience and not a necessity. if you dont like the fees get your lazy ass up and drive your own car with 4$+ gallon gas and go place your order and wt for it and take it home and eat it or eat it there. This is no different than milk being 2$ more a gallon at 711 than the grocery store. btw i am a door dash driver with 3250 deliveries. no tip no trip
Solution: No take out. No curb side pickup. No drive through.
However many places that I know of have this side of their business. Not everyone has the time to sit in a restaurant or simply don't want to.
the delivery services charge the restaurants about 30% of the total price, so the restaurants raise their prices for the app
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Thank you for the story.
You know whats weird is the robot food delivery service.
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I own a restaurant and Grubhub charges restaurants up to 30% as well. So we have different prices on Grubhub by design. We need to make money. So we increase prices 15%.