Grubhub Faces Washington DC Lawsuit Over Deceptive Practices, Hidden Fees, Artificially High Prices

The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Monday that alleges food delivery platform Grubhub defrauded customers and restaurants by using deceptive business practices.

“This consumer protection enforcement case seeks to remedy, and put an end to, Grubhub’s deceptive trade practices with respect to its food delivery services in the District of Columbia,” the complaint reads.

The main complaint involves the Grubhub website price gouging by failing to provide the correct prices that a restaurant lists for their items. The complaint notes that in 2020 "Grubhub generated approximately $1.8 billion in revenue."

“Grubhub’s website and app often contain prices for menu items that are higher than the prices for the same exact menu items elsewhere, including at the restaurant and on the restaurant’s own website, without adequately disclosing that fact to consumers,” the complaint says.

Many restaurants have agreements with delivery platforms that are beneficial for both parties. The complaint notes that restaurants listed on Grubhub do not always have an agreement with the platform, resulting in a variety of problems that costs restaurants money.

“Grubhub has listed on its platform over a thousand restaurants available for delivery to District of Columbia consumers that in fact had no contractual relationship with Grubhub,” the complaint alleges.

The complaint said that when Grubhub lists restaurants on their platform without the restaurant’s consent, the listing is often inaccurate. Some of what Grubhub gets wrong include, “the menu offerings, prices, and hours for Non-Partner Restaurants were more likely to be out-of-date or incorrect.”

The complaint also states that restaurants are defrauded. There is “a greater likelihood that orders from those restaurants would take longer to fill, would be filled incorrectly, would be delivered cold, or would eventually be canceled altogether.”

Among a litany of eight total complaints listed in the suit, all allege deceptive business practices that not only defraud restaurants but consumers as well by not stating upfront any potential fees that may be incurred upon.

“We will aggressively defend our business in court and look forward to continuing to serve D.C. restaurants and diners,” Grubhub stated, as reported by the Associated Press.

Grubhub also acknowledged some of the practices mentioned in the complaint have been discontinued.

A separate lawsuit made similar allegations against Google.