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Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

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Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#91

Post by chrisseaton »

pc86 wrote: post #83
chrisseaton wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is that Grubhub is not asking permission But nothing says they have to as far as I know? Do you have to ask permission from an author before you resell a book you own? > because they simply don't to share a hefty cut with Grubhub They don't have to share a cut in this case. The restaurant still gets the full retail price that they set. Grubhub marks up on top of that or takes it as a loss as I understan…

In your book example, I am buying a book from you . A better example would be you buy search ads for the author's name, create a website with a button "Contact the author" which goes to you, and then you sell me the book.

And I’m buying the food from GrubHub who buy the food from the restaurant. Like if I buy a book from a bookshop who buy it from the publisher.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#92

Post by tartoran »

redwall_hp wrote: post #4

DoorDash does this too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23216852 In many cases, it can hurt the reputation of restaurants. Maybe your food doesn't travel well, or you don't have the capacity to handle orders beyond what you have physical seating for...

Absolutely! Bad reviews because of the delivery service impacts the said restaurant. This type of middleman service should be optional IMO.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#93

Post by shadowgovt »

ghthrowaway99 wrote: post #82
mabbo wrote: post #19

I hope there's a strong precedent set here. Companies like Grubhub list restaurants on their site/app, but put the wrong phone number on it- one that goes to their own people instead. That's clearly some kind of fraud or misrepresentation. Makes me feel like I should setup a phone number and a website called something like "GrubhubHelp.com", and list a help number for assistance with GrubHub orders. Then when custome…

[ Disclaimer: GH employee but speaking independently & not representing the company in this message ] You're mixing up controversies - there was a separate "feature" Grubhub did years ago where grubhub would stand up online presence for restaurants to bring in web search traffic (branded websites, search results on grubhub.com, etc) and list a grubhub phone number instead of the real phone number so that grubhub coul…

To a first approximation, I can't really see why Place and Pay should be illegal. It's basically paying the neighbor kid to go pick up some dinner for you, writ large.

It "competes" with any delivery service a restaurant runs, but if the restaurant offers takeout at all, it's hard for me to see why the market should care who is doing the taking out.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#94

Post by lastofthemojito »

jartelt wrote: post #46
chrisshroba wrote: post #30

Tbh I don't see a major problem with this. If folks want to pay someone (Grubhub) to go pick up food for them, why should the restaurants be allowed to say no? > Food may not travel well. Fair point, but if the customer still wants it, that's on them. > But that may lead to unfairly low ratings for the restaurant. If (say) 30% of the restaurant's patrons choose to get the food via food delivery, why shouldn't those f…

>> But that may lead to unfairly low ratings for the restaurant. > If (say) 30% of the restaurant's patrons choose to get the food via food delivery, why shouldn't those folks' ratings of the food be factored into the restaurant's rating? If the restaurant has chosen to focus on dine in service because that generates the much of their revenue (alcohol sales, desserts, etc.), it would be a shame if their ratings were…

If the food doesn't travel well, maybe don't offer it for take-out? I'm just as likely to ding a restaurant with a bad review if I pick up food and don't like it as if GrubHub delivers it and I don't like it.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#95

Post by LandR »

chrisseaton wrote: post #53
mabbo wrote: post #19

I hope there's a strong precedent set here. Companies like Grubhub list restaurants on their site/app, but put the wrong phone number on it- one that goes to their own people instead. That's clearly some kind of fraud or misrepresentation. Makes me feel like I should setup a phone number and a website called something like "GrubhubHelp.com", and list a help number for assistance with GrubHub orders. Then when custome…

> That's clearly some kind of fraud or misrepresentation. I don't really understand this point of view. They're saying you'll get food from restaurant X. That's exactly what you do get, at the price you agreed. I can't conceive how that's fraud or misrepresentation?

WHat if the delivery person that grubhub uses is useless and the regular delivery person that Restaurant X uses isn't.

YOu can end up getting poorly delivered cold food from GrubHub and make restaurant X look bad.

Restaurant X might end up having a load of disappointed customers, reduced custom and have no idea why. They dont know there is actually now a middle man they didn't agree to between them and their customer.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#96

Post by pc86 »

mgkimsal wrote: post #49
sharkweek wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I know is I’m still waiting for my Equifax settlement check. Any day now, I’m sure!

I got a mortgage in 2005. Company had problems with fraudulent stuff and class action suit brought against them. Outside of whatever their behavior was that triggered the class action, they had poor service to me as an individual, so I'm not terribly surprised they probably cut many other corners (ethically/legally/etc). Anyway... I got my class action settlement checks yesterday. $71 and $74. w00t. EDIT: this was mo…

Congrats on the free money. It's pretty well known class action suits serve only to enrichen counsel, and in rare occasions may have a side effect of marginally disrupting a business's cash flow.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#97

Post by tartoran »

abernard1 wrote: post #88
tartoran wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think this abusive behavior practiced by big companies extends beyond party lines and would have a hard time believing otherwise. If it only were that easy and these type of abuses would simply be caught when the other party takes control of the house..

> I really think this abusive behavior practiced by big companies extends beyond party lines and would have a hard time believing otherwise. How many on-demand services aren't in the Bay Area, Chicago, or NYC?

More for sure but that has to do with density not party lines. Again I wish it were that simple but corruption doesn't know party lines.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#98

Post by SilasX »

mgkimsal wrote: post #49
sharkweek wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I know is I’m still waiting for my Equifax settlement check. Any day now, I’m sure!

I got a mortgage in 2005. Company had problems with fraudulent stuff and class action suit brought against them. Outside of whatever their behavior was that triggered the class action, they had poor service to me as an individual, so I'm not terribly surprised they probably cut many other corners (ethically/legally/etc). Anyway... I got my class action settlement checks yesterday. $71 and $74. w00t. EDIT: this was mo…

I agree that class actual settlements are Usually underwhelming, but were you specifically (even in expectation/probabilistically) hurt by those wrongs, and if so, what do you think is the more accurate figure for the harm you faced?

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#99

Post by mumblemumble »

abernard1 wrote: post #65
mumblemumble wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prosecution is handled by the executive branch, not the lower house of the legislative branch.

Except that what they're doing is just barely legal, so it would require legislative policy changes. But on that note, if someone from the Executive branch wants to try to prosecute GrubHub for this, I'm all for it. Highly unethical at the very least.

I'm no expert on this particular issue, but I would guess that the FTC has the authority to impose regulation against things like this. If so, then, if everything were functioning well, there wouldn't necessarily be any need to change laws.

It's also possible that it's already a tort, or can relatively quickly be established as tort by the outcome of a lawsuit like this.

In general, Congress isn't where you go first; Congress is where you go when all else fails and you're willing to take your chances putting a decision like this to a bunch of people whose paychecks are, to an approximation, paid by the companies with the deepest pockets.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#100

Post by bckygldstn »

The lawsuit [1] lists the following Factual Allegations:

• Gruhub tells consumers it’s working cooperatively with restaurants

• Grubhub decides to add unaffiliated restaurants to its website and mobile apps without the restaurants’ permission

• Grubhub’s unauthorized use of restaurants’ names and logos misleads consumers and harms restaurants

• Restaurants have good reasons for choosing not to work with Grubhub

◦ Grubhub knows restaurants don’t want its business and tells drivers to disguise their affiliation with Grubhub

◦ Consumers continue to believe restaurants on Grubhub are working cooperatively with Grubhub

◦ Customer confusion leads to poor experiences that hurt restaurants’ hard-earned reputations

◦ Grubhub diverts and impairs demand for local restaurants

• Grubhub knows it is harming restaurants and uses that harm to force restaurants into unwanted partnerships

[1] https://www.classlawgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/Grubhub-Cla...

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