Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission • Hacker News Board

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#201

Post by mytailorisrich » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

bckygldstn wrote: post #100

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 ◦ Gru…

A counter point is that an individual is free to hire someone to go and pick up food from a restaurant on their behalf and it does not make any difference to the restaurant.

I suspect that what restaurants fear, though, is that Grubhub is trying to grab as much marketshare as possible then once they are in a position of strength they'll go and demand a commission from the restaurants, or else...

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#202

Post by whitebread » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

Igelau wrote: post #191

loceng wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to recently book a hotel for a few nights. Hotels are mostly empty because of COVID. When I called to book a room it was clearly a script being followed with high pressure tactics including saying rooms are filling up quickly. Once I arrived at the hotel it looked mostly dead, and I when I asked the manager who was helping me behind the counter, he said they were at 10% capacity. It should also be illegal for b…

To be fair, they had just experienced a sudden exponential surge in interest: your phone call.

/s?

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#203

Post by asdff » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

loceng wrote: post #154

TuringNYC wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI - the same thing happens with Hotels.com. When you "call the hotel" with the number listed, I learned that the representative is actually a Hotels.com rep, not a hotel employee or hotel call-center employee. This matters. In my case, I asked about my corporate discount and they gave me a vague answer about "I dont see anything in the system", which I guess was technically not a lie, but definitely deceitful. I wi…

I had to recently book a hotel for a few nights. Hotels are mostly empty because of COVID. When I called to book a room it was clearly a script being followed with high pressure tactics including saying rooms are filling up quickly. Once I arrived at the hotel it looked mostly dead, and I when I asked the manager who was helping me behind the counter, he said they were at 10% capacity. It should also be illegal for b…

So many websites resort to this, frankly it's embarrasing used car salesmen level tactics. My favorite is the petition websites like change.org. The ticking of people signing the petition before your eyes is entirely artificial. Refresh the page and the count resets.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#204

Post by sida » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

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…

why is DD not getting sued? Why is grubhub the one getting sued?

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#205

Post by leppr » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

colejohnson66 wrote: post #198

an_opabinia wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People order every day from non Amazon, non Amazon Prime sellers on Amazon. My feeling is end users know what they’re getting into as long as they’re informed the restaurant is non partnered, and your bosses just need to take the 5m to come up with a brand.

I’ve heard many stories about people’s orders taking longer than 2 days to arrive[a] (sometimes even 5+ weeks ). When asked, they say they ordered on Amazon and are upset at Amazon for it being late. After you explain that Amazon is also a marketplace, they understand why it’s late (it’s the seller’s fault), but they’re still upset at Amazon for not making it clear enough that it wasn’t going through Prime. [a]: I.E.…

That indicates mostly a branding/communication problem and not something fundamentally wrong with the practice of layering services over other third-party services.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#206

Post by heavyset_go » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:36 PM UTC

TuringNYC wrote: post #60

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…

FYI - the same thing happens with Hotels.com. When you "call the hotel" with the number listed, I learned that the representative is actually a Hotels.com rep, not a hotel employee or hotel call-center employee. This matters. In my case, I asked about my corporate discount and they gave me a vague answer about "I dont see anything in the system", which I guess was technically not a lie, but definitely deceitful. I wi…

This can come to a head when traveling.

Years ago, I had used hotels.com to book a reservation. I had booked a hotel near the destination airport for one night before continuing to travel to my actual destination. The hotel advertised that they can give refunds or change booking with 24 hours notice.

My flight was cancelled and rescheduled for the next day, making that one-night hotel stay a waste if I couldn't reschedule or get a refund for it.

Apparently hotels.com doesn't have the same policy as the hotel I had a reservation at, so while still in the airport, I had to argue with about 3 layers of people before it was made apparent that I wasn't speaking to the hotel.

In the end, hotels.com "made an exception" for me and refunded my money which I was then able to use to book another night. I suspect that exception was made because they were able to get a refund from the hotel itself.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#207

Post by asdff » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:36 PM UTC

lastofthemojito wrote: post #51

mrguyorama wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why aren't GrubHub concerned about the legal reprecussions of this? When is the last time a company was SERIOUSLY threatened by the repercussions of doing something illegal in the US? When was the last time a company was fined/sued out of existence for something they were doing to average people?

I know there's been a lot of criticism of the details of the settlement, but Purdue Pharma was sued out of existence by the DOJ last week.

I don't think being left with 3 billion in profit is being sued out of existence.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#208

Post by colejohnson66 » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:39 PM UTC

nogabebop23 wrote: post #170

SilasX wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

>> class actual settlements are Usually underwhelming not for the firms that bring them: millions in fees & billing, ranging from the upfront certification efforts (riskier) to the payment & settlement (at this stage, risk-free and very lucrative)

I preface this by saying I’m not ok with how this is. I’m just explaining the reasons “class action” lawsuits are the way they are.

----

That’s because the purpose of “class action” lawsuits isn’t to provide relief to the harmed class (despite what many think). It’s to punish the company (financially) for their wrongdoing. It doesn’t always work out that way,[a] but that’s the idea.

The reason (supposedly) for not getting relief is that the injured class members can still file their own cases against the company with their own lawyers. But then you need to pay out-of-pocket for that lawyer and hope the judge not only sides with you, but awards cost in addition to the claimed damages.

Of course, there’s always the perverse incentive of the lawyers working for the class to take a bigger cut for themselves (“why would I take a $5 million payday when I could get $15 million instead?”). There’s also a push to settle because then they work less, but still get their payday.

[a]: Especially if the payout is less than they made harming the class

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#209

Post by LocalH » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:41 PM UTC

ciarannolan wrote: post #164

nobody9999 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How many mom and pop restaurants do you know of who have the extra financial capital to find a lawyer to sue over an issue like this against a company as well-funded as grubhub or doordash? It's much, much worse than that. many of those restaurants thrived for years on 5-10% profit margins. Grubhub comes along and charges them 12-30% "commissions" just for forwarding orders and processing credit cards. Forget about…

What's the mechanism that forces restaurants to partner with these food delivery services? Threat of competition if they don't?

Seems like part of it is that at least GrubHub seems to go ahead and do it anyway.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#210

Post by asdff » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 5:43 PM UTC

lastofthemojito wrote: post #94

jartelt wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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.

It's not so much as it doesn't travel well, it's that the delivery driver doesn't deliver it well. I've waited over an hour for delivery food before. Actually, 45 mins to over an hour is typical no matter the service I use, so I've stopped using it. The model is that the food sits out and gets cold because the delivery driver doesn't get there in time.

Instead, I order takeout. I call the restaurant directly, with their actual number and not some phishing line from a delivery service, and place an order. I immediately leave, and travel the 5-15 mins to the restaurant. By the time I arrive, the food had been finished just moments before, and I travel back home and enjoy my piping hot food. All told the process takes me half the time or less and the food is in perfect condition.