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Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

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Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#241

Post by pwdisswordfish0 »

asdff wrote: post #210
lastofthemojito wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

> the delivery driver doesn't deliver it well. I've waited over an hour for delivery food before.

That's the cost of delivery. You can pay to cover the cost of fast deliver with short wait times and get hot food, or you can pay a lesser amount on a gamble that it ends in a long wait and cold food, or you can pay with your time and do it yourself. The balance has never been in favor of the general availability of delivery (with the exception of maybe places like NYC). It's surprising that it's popular at all, really.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#242

Post by daveoc64 »

butterfi wrote: post #240
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…

I solve this issue by never using Grubhub and calling restaurants directly. I'm here to support restaurants, not Grubhub.

The complaint of many is that Grubhub gets its own number listed on many services such as Google Maps, so that you are tricked into thinking that their number is the restaurant.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#243

Post by nobody9999 »

RandallBrown wrote: post #234
jfim wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because affiliates are participating in an affiliate program with the consent of the business.

The phone number thing is also only affiliated businesses. There would be no way to charge them if they weren't.

>The phone number thing is also only affiliated businesses. There would be no way to charge them if they weren't.

Charge them for what? When a customer uses the GrubHub site/app to place an order, they are explicitly choosing Grubhub to service that order.

If I choose to call a restaurant rather than use the GrubHub site/app, I'm explicitly choosing to deal with the restaurant directly. As such, GrubHub isn't entitled to an "affiliate referral" fee.

When a website and/or phone number claims to be an entity that it is not, and does not disclose that fact to the customer, then charges a fee based on that deception, that's fraud.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#244

Post by KittenInABox »

jdmichal wrote: post #113
KittenInABox wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The restaurant may not be offering pickup service in a way they consent to because Grubhub is listing them against their consent. Grubhub isn't being clear that these restaurants haven't consented to orders via Grubhub.

This is just reiterating the first post I responded to, and so I'll respond in kind: Why does Grubhub have any responsibility to obtain the restaurant's consent? If I pay someone to go to the grocers and pick up some items for me, is that someone obligated to obtain the grocers' permission? Why is this situation different? If the restaurant is offering pickup service, then to me there is no obligation on any third pa…

Grubhub doesn't state that they are picking it up for you. Grubhub states that the restaurant delivers.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#245

Post by rileymat2 »

punitxsmart wrote: post #237
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…

I agree with the sentiment. But, it should not be illegal to lie about your inventory. As long as you are receiving what is promised by them at a price that you both agree, its all fair game.

I don't understand this position, how is it not a form of fraud?

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#247

Post by jberryman »

jjk166 wrote: post #216
jberryman wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The restaurant can opt out of this I was at the bar of a local restaurant when some delivery driver (not sure if GH) came in to pick up an order. The (super busy) server said "we told you we don't want to participate in this...", clearly exasperated at this happening over and over. This is a restaurant that does a lot of catering, where they set the terms/fees. The driver started trying to "explain" how it's just t…

I get that the restaurant owner was frustrated but this is like giving your waiter a bad tip because your food didn't taste good - you really think the driver has any influence on which restaurants get listed?

I assume they probably don't care about how a random scummy startup works; they want no part in it, including the rigmarole for opting out (if one exists).

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#248

Post by xenocyon »

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.

A judgement against a corporate entity after the owners have already cashed out is analogous to a judge ordering the return of stolen lemons, but the thief gets to keep the lemonade she's already squeezed out of them.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#249

Post by amdelamar »

ceejayoz wrote: post #12
mseidl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll have to find the story, but there was a comment on hn when the last story about grubhub or other food delivery services. But there was a Italian place that didn't do delivery but they were getting bad reviews about cold pizza when delivered. Then they found out company was delivering their food without their permission.

They then went on to arbitrage it. https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/18/21262316/doordash-pizza-p... > And so the story unfolds. “If someone could pay Doordash $16 a pizza, and Doordash would pay his restaurant $24 a pizza, then he should clearly just order pizzas himself via Doordash, all day long. You’d net a clean $8 profit per pizza [insert nerdy economics joke about there is such a thing as a free lunch],” wrote R…

If I remember right, GrubHub/Doordash will undercut restaurant prices to gain more customers for short-term, then later adjust prices back up once they establish a more stable audience.

Re: Grubhub sued for listing restaurants without permission

#250

Post by burpee »

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…

Interestingly, the damages can be calculated and definitely add up.

Restaurants spend a lot of time and effort to build up loyal, lifetime customers that are created by giving them three exceptional experiences in a row. There is a lot of research on getting to three exceptional experiences in return for a lifetime customer. Those exceptional experiences require investments in staff and training and take a long time to pay off.

Having GrubHub break that effort through misrepresentation they are destroying the lifetime value of those customers. If you apply that math to slightly more premium venues, GrubHub is easily costing restaurants hundreds of thousands in revenue through lost lifetime value.

Restaurants are complex, fragile businesses, and this practice damages them at the core of their business.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out in court.

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