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A comment on People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee. Parent comment

Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by mandelbrotwurst on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @08:55PM (#23398459)
I think I remember reading that they often set all of this up prior to speaking with the owner / without getting their approval and then basically go to them after the fact and say "look how much traffic we've been bringing in for you"

Edit: Ah, yup - see link to eater.com post elsewhere in the thread

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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by MattGaiser on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @10:07PM (#23398934)
In that case the owner is then getting the full price for the food though.
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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by Retric on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @10:14PM (#23398974)
It’s still destroying their reputation by charging more than the food is ‘worth’. Aka the expectation is higher for an 8$ burger than a 5$ one.
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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by throwaway2048 on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @10:14PM (#23398975)
Except now grubhub et all basically controls their web presence through vastly superior SEO, and if they don't agree to grubhub's terms, they basically disappear off the internet.
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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by ddalex on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @05:54AM (#23401699)
Except it would cost grubhub money to run an uncooperative client, so why would they ?
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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by Can_Not on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @07:36AM (#23402257)
It did cost them money to spoof an unknowing client, but they make money having a credit card form collecting fees before anyone else knows whats going on.
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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by mandelbrotwurst on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @10:29PM (#23399064)
Sure. Is it not wrong to fraudulently impersonate someone else's brand / company?
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Re:People think they're calling restaurants directly but Gru... by YokoZar on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @07:30AM (#23402216)
Reselling is generally legal. There are no particular trademark concerns when it's ultimately the genuine goods getting to the consumer at a different price.

It's very easy to understand why consumers and businesses would be annoyed by this behavior, though, and it may be deceptive or immoral in other ways.

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