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People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

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Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#221

Post by bluntfang »

jedimastert wrote: post #213
noelsusman wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a pretty great experience calling restaurants to place orders. I talk to a human, tell them my order, they repeat it back to me, and tell me it will be X dollars and ready at Y o'clock. I show up at the specified time and the order is ready to go. A couple times I had to wait 5 minutes because they were inundated and couldn't keep up. No stupid app to download. No account to create. No bullshit fees. No mark…

Unfortunately phones are pretty difficult for me personally. I'm somewhat hard of hearing, meaning that I can't necessarily understand the other side of a phone call. I've also recently moved to an area much more diverse than my hometown. While this is great and I'm meaning people from all walks of life, it also means that there are suddenly a lot more accents that I'm not used to hearing and having trouble understan…

Have you considered using the federal TTY program that is made for people who need accommodations over the phone?

https://www.federalrelay.us/tty

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#222

Post by tjbiddle »

HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #54
MaintenanceMode wrote: post #4

It's disheartening that there's so much due diligence required just to conduct the most basic transactions right now. I have a narrow list of vetted restaurants, where I understand the costs and to the business, the delivery model, the safety (food handling and Covid precautions), and I only take out from these particular places. I tried a new place recently, only to find out I had been duped by Grub-hub, even though…

$25??? That's criminal!

No context on the order size, so we can't really say whether that's the case or not :-)

Maybe it was a $5,000 order for the whole office!

Or maybe it was a $50 at-home binge.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#223

Post by bluntfang »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #173
Melting_Harps wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No stupid app to download. No account to create. No bullshit fees. No marketing emails. I just tell them what I want and then go get it. It's refreshing. That's how it always was, I really don't get this disconnect between people wanting to always hide behind a keyboard or smart phone when it comes to food. It's always been the most social thing I do in my entire day, as it has been done since for thousands of year…

Ordering food via telephone is, to me, the equivalent of trying to use a command line interface without knowing any of the options, and instead of "help" being automated, you have to bother a person who is probably already extremely busy and overworked to clarify the menu. It's also much easier to pay with a credit card via an app or website than over the phone.

>you have to bother a person who is probably already extremely busy and overworked to clarify the menu.

That is built into the price of the food you ordering. You aren't bothering someone. You're giving them a job.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#224

Post by toss1 »

MattGaiser wrote: post #19
MaintenanceMode wrote: post #4

It's disheartening that there's so much due diligence required just to conduct the most basic transactions right now. I have a narrow list of vetted restaurants, where I understand the costs and to the business, the delivery model, the safety (food handling and Covid precautions), and I only take out from these particular places. I tried a new place recently, only to find out I had been duped by Grub-hub, even though…

The due diligence is because the restaurants offer a terrible experience. Most still do not have an independent online ordering function. They want me to call. Most still haven't set up meaningful profiles on Yelp and other review sites. So I would need to root around to find contact information. That is in addition to needing to give my credit card over the phone, not knowing how long the order will take, and needin…

Right

Restaurants are typically swamped in the massive overhead of running an actual restaurant, and are not fully up to date with every latest bit of marketing toolkit.

Because they are not fully up to date on the latest digital marketing, you think it is justified that they be subject to what is effectively hoards of VC-backed extortionists - nice restaruant you got there... be a shame if some bad reviews got highlighted ... or here, we'll just hijack your phone listings and take care of delivery for you...

At least the mafiosi would occasionally eat at the restaurants on whom they were running protection rackets...

The Due diligence is required because of these new hordes of extortionists, not the restaurants (and no, it isn't all about your trivial convenience, OMG, they want you to call and don't have the latest web technology up for every function... nevermind the quality of the food, ambiance, or service, it's all about whether you can order it through an app, isn't it?)

sheesh

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#226

Post by catalogia »

rightbyte wrote: post #186
xupybd wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention Spotify or the early days of YouTube. Money is power, with enough of it you can bend the law.

Spotify didn't have any fuckoff money in the start and the streamed stuff they got from the Piratebay. The authorities in Sweden didn't notice since they Spotify also tried at the same time to get proper contracts I guess and the music industry seemed to look through their fingers. Youtube is more strange since they illegally hosted IP for a long while.

> Youtube is more strange since they illegally hosted IP for a long while.

They still do, their ContentID system has a lot of holes.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#227

Post by Abdulozovehe »

rightbyte wrote: post #186
xupybd wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention Spotify or the early days of YouTube. Money is power, with enough of it you can bend the law.

Spotify didn't have any fuckoff money in the start and the streamed stuff they got from the Piratebay. The authorities in Sweden didn't notice since they Spotify also tried at the same time to get proper contracts I guess and the music industry seemed to look through their fingers. Youtube is more strange since they illegally hosted IP for a long while.

Yes

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#228

Post by catalogia »

noelsusman wrote: post #106
MattGaiser wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The due diligence is because the restaurants offer a terrible experience. Most still do not have an independent online ordering function. They want me to call. Most still haven't set up meaningful profiles on Yelp and other review sites. So I would need to root around to find contact information. That is in addition to needing to give my credit card over the phone, not knowing how long the order will take, and needin…

I've had a pretty great experience calling restaurants to place orders. I talk to a human, tell them my order, they repeat it back to me, and tell me it will be X dollars and ready at Y o'clock. I show up at the specified time and the order is ready to go. A couple times I had to wait 5 minutes because they were inundated and couldn't keep up. No stupid app to download. No account to create. No bullshit fees. No mark…

I fully agree, that's how I do it too. As a bonus, when you order from the same restaurant enough times this way and become a 'regular', the process becomes even more streamlined when they start to remember your preferences.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#229

Post by eyeinthepyramid »

izzydata wrote: post #225

If you accidentally called GrubHub and asked if you were speaking directly to the restaurant, would they lie to you?

From what I can tell, they connect the caller directly to the restaurant, but charge the restaurant a fee for their connection "service".

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#230

Post by wlll »

MattGaiser wrote: post #19
MaintenanceMode wrote: post #4

It's disheartening that there's so much due diligence required just to conduct the most basic transactions right now. I have a narrow list of vetted restaurants, where I understand the costs and to the business, the delivery model, the safety (food handling and Covid precautions), and I only take out from these particular places. I tried a new place recently, only to find out I had been duped by Grub-hub, even though…

The due diligence is because the restaurants offer a terrible experience. Most still do not have an independent online ordering function. They want me to call. Most still haven't set up meaningful profiles on Yelp and other review sites. So I would need to root around to find contact information. That is in addition to needing to give my credit card over the phone, not knowing how long the order will take, and needin…

> Most still do not have an independent online ordering function. They want me to call.

There's the significant chance that most of the restaurants you have to call are running at such thin profit margins that they don't have the money to spare to hire web devs or pay hosting providers, and even if they did, do you want to hand over your credit card details to some budget build order page?

It's also likely that the profit margins are low enough that the fees for something like Grubhub cut deep.

On the flip side, having to call somewhere really isn't that hard, and to describe it as "a terrible experience" is a bit mystifying.

> needing to give my credit card over the phone

Pay in cash?

> not knowing how long the order will take

You don't need a computer to tell you this, just say "How long will the order take?" to the person on the phone and they will tell you.

> needing to be concerned about the person hearing the order right

Ask for a read-back.

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