Even though our cognitive ability is integral to what we are about, human beings haven’t always it in a judicious manner. This is backed up well by all those instances of unscrupulous activities and general misdoings. Now, such a tendency, as you would guess, can really leave an undesirable impact on others, so to curb the risk in play here, the world will bring dedicated regulatory bodies into the work. The idea behind doing so revolved around having a sense of order within every area, and that’s exactly how it worked out under the real-world setting, at least until technology took over the landscape. With technology running the show, the rule breakers suddenly had a prime method to hide their lapses. The said reality ended up destabilizing the very principle of regulation, therefore causing the idea to become a nonfactor over time. Fortunately, though, the regulatory industry won’t down without a fight. Rather than making a rival out of technology, the industry will befriend it to beat rule breakers at their own game. This reinvented approach has notably made a lot of noise over the recent past, and taking a new lawsuit against Grubhub into consideration, we can say that it is very much on the right path.
District of Columbia Attorney General, Karl Racine has officially filed a lawsuit against Grubhub for misleading its customers. The complaint focuses on Grubhub Plus segment, which promises free online orders and unlimited free delivery to all the members. According to the accusations, despite the promises of free delivery, the company continues to charge a service fee. In fact, the way Grubhub has, so far, notified customers about this fee is also deemed questionable. Up until recently, it would show the service charges right alongside sales taxes, therefore deliberately keeping the customer in dark about how much of the cost was made up from a fee that they had no business paying.
“Grubhub misled District residents and took advantage of local restaurants to boost its own profits, even as District consumers and small businesses struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Racine in a statement. “Grubhub charged hidden fees and used bait-and-switch advertising tactics — which are illegal.”
It’s not the first time Grubhub has found itself in hot waters. Not long ago, the company was accused of listing over a thousand restaurants without their permission. Beyond that, the food delivery app also launched unsanctioned microsites that posed as official restaurant websites. By listing custom contact numbers on these outlets, Grubhub was able to secure a commission whenever someone would call the restaurant, even if the call didn’t translate to an order. Wait, there is more. The company had also launched a certain “Supper for Support” promotion, which somehow required restaurants to bear the cost for a special discount. It caused a huge backlash, eventually forcing Grubhub to offer each restaurant a sum worth $250 in compensation.
In response to the latest lawsuit, Grubhub has decided to fight all accusations.
“During the past year, we’ve sought to engage in a constructive dialogue with the DC attorney general’s office to help them understand our business and to see if there were any areas for improvement,” said Katie Norris, director of corporate communications at Grubhub. “We are disappointed they have moved forward with this lawsuit because our practices have always complied with DC law,”