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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

#231

Post by catalogia »

pmiller2 wrote: post #140
BeetleB wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To be fair, I have been surprised many times how difficult it can be to find an online menu for places I like in my area. Lots of places might not even have a website, but in these cases, I actually use GrubHub and the like to read the menus only. Don't. Do. This. Grubhub menus are often incomplete (and we all know the prices are wrong). I just checked a nearby restaurant I often frequent and the items I usually bu…

Just FYI, the menu photos on Yelp are not guaranteed to be up to date, either. The only real way to see what the restaurant's actual menu is without going there is if they have it up on their own website.

Or just ask the human being on the phone with you if $ITEM is still being offered for $PRICE. The beauty of communicating with humans instead of machines is there are no rules, you're allowed to go 'off script' like that.

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

#232

Post by catalogia »

chrisseaton wrote: post #180
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…

Most people these days just really don’t like having to speak on the phone.

Why is this? Shyness?

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

#233

Post by mark-r »

yedava wrote: post #82
mark-r wrote: post #34

So how do you avoid calling a 3rd party when Google won't show you the correct phone number?

Most restaurants have a website. Their real phone number will be listed there.

I wouldn't say "most". The small local restaurants that you really want not to get taken by predatory schemes are the ones least likely to have a web presence.

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

#234

Post by chrisseaton »

catalogia wrote: post #232
chrisseaton wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people these days just really don’t like having to speak on the phone.

Why is this? Shyness?

You have to give a phone call your complete attention - you can't do anything else while doing it. You need to be somewhere relatively quiet to do it. It blocks both people for the duration of the call. Some people have accents that are hard to understand. It's easier to make a mistake when reading something out or writing it down. There's no record of the phone call being made and the food ordered. Lots of reasons.

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

#235

Post by mark-r »

splonk wrote: post #116
yedava wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most restaurants have a website. Their real phone number will be listed there.

Just try to make sure you've found the real website and not one of Grubhub's autogenerated fake sites. They all look pretty similar so you'll be able to identify them after you've seen a few, but it's easy to mistakenly think you're at the real site the first time. https://www.eater.com/2019/6/28/19171476/grubhub-seamless-cy...

There's nothing to keep Grubhub from changing their site design. And someone else might get the same bright idea. So learning what a fake site looks like isn't going to be a long term solution.

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

#236

Post by jedimastert »

bluntfang wrote: post #221
jedimastert wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'd need a TTY phone and a land line for that to work. This issue is not a $260 issue

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

#237

Post by TamirG »

obibring wrote: post #26

Its astonishing delivery services have the depravity to dupe customers trying to help a hurting industry. If you live in NYC or SF, I built a browser extension that will help you place delivery orders directly with local restaurants. It currently compares the price of your delivery across all delivery services, and within the next week, will link you to local restaurant websites if one is available. For those interes…

This is great. Thanks for helping local restaurants!

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

#238

Post by bluntfang »

jedimastert wrote: post #236
bluntfang wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered using the federal TTY program that is made for people who need accommodations over the phone? https://www.federalrelay.us/tty

I'd need a TTY phone and a land line for that to work. This issue is not a $260 issue

Please consider clicking through to the link before commenting. You obviously did not do that. There's also accommodations for different disabilities, like the Deaf and hard of hearing via sign language.

https://www.federalrelay.us/ip-relay.html

>IP Relay uses an Internet connection, a computer or mobile device with a web browser and a Communication Assistant (CA) . An IP user types what they want to say, the CA relays the conversation to their caller and then types their caller's response back to the IP user. To start using IP Relay, users are required to register for a 10-digit number through the Federal IP Relay website. To make your call today, go to www.federalip.us.

https://www.federalrelay.us/vri.html

>Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) is a feature of Federal Relay's Video Relay Service (VRS). This option provides deaf and hard of hearing Federal employees with on-demand remote sign language interpreting in order to facilitate communication between individuals who are in the same location (i.e. office, cubical, front desk, etc.).

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

#239

Post by tomc1985 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #181
tomc1985 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit card, I pay when I pick the food up?

What does the restaurant do if you or other people ordering over the phone don’t show up to pay?

Eat the loss, I guess. Not sure what they could do besides asking for card over the phone (of which I am glad they dont)

It must not be a problem because nobody asks me for payment info over the phone, whether its my first or 50th order to them

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

#240

Post by chrisseaton »

tomc1985 wrote: post #239
chrisseaton wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does the restaurant do if you or other people ordering over the phone don’t show up to pay?

Eat the loss, I guess. Not sure what they could do besides asking for card over the phone (of which I am glad they dont) It must not be a problem because nobody asks me for payment info over the phone, whether its my first or 50th order to them

> Not sure what they could do besides asking for card over the phone

They could use a website or an app and accept secure payments there - that was the whole point of this thread from the start.

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