(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The City of Chicago is suing DoorDash and Grubhub, saying the food delivery services have hurt customers and exploited restaurants by engaging in deceptive and unfair business practices.
City officials said both DoorDash and Grubhub have been taking advantage of consumers and restaurants for years. But during the pandemic, both delivery services exploited restaurants that were struggling to survive while Grubhub and DoorDash saw their business triple, officials allege.
The lawsuits claim both delivery services lured customers into a bait-and-switch — sometimes charging as much as six times the amount originally advertised.
And the lawsuits say the delivery services would falsely advertise delivery to restaurants they were not affiliated with and then leave those restaurants to deal with consumer complaints on their own.
A spokesperson for DoorDash said: “This lawsuit is baseless. It is a waste of taxpayer resources, and Chicagoans should be outraged.”
And a spokesman for Grubhub said: “We are deeply disappointed by Mayor Lightfoot's decision to file this baseless lawsuit. Every single allegation is categorically wrong.”
The city of Chicago said these legal complaints are the “first comprehensive law enforcement actions against meal delivery companies in the United States.”
Related
