Harlem Shake — a New York City burger restaurant — has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against DoorDash, arguing against the nearly $13,932 in allegedly “miscalculated fees” that were incurred between Nov. 2019 and May 2023. The restaurant company alleges that DoorDash has run afoul of the New York City law passed in 2020 capping third-party delivery company fees at 20%, which includes a 15% fee cap for the delivery itself and 5% for additional fees.
“Since 2020, DoorDash has intentionally and repeatedly charged [Harlem Shake] and, on
information and belief, other members of the putative class, fees in excess of those permitted under the governing regulations,” the lawsuit claims.
In June 2023, Harlem Shake claims that it began detecting fees that were in excess of the legal 20% limit imposed by the New York City government, and demanded an explanation from DoorDash. The lawsuit alleges that DoorDash admitted the fees had been charged, asked for a release and settlement, and then provided a partial accounting of the charges DoorDash had made on Harlem Shake’s account. The lawsuit then claims that DoorDash admitted it charged fees in excess of the cap.
“We know that every business is different, so local restaurants who choose to partner with DoorDash can select the products and services that are right for them — including pricing options starting as low as 15% — and we’ve made sure that they can even choose options that don’t have a commission at all,” the company said in a statement. “If there’s ever an inadvertent error, we work with the merchant to fix it and refund any amounts owed.
We stand by our commitment to New York City restaurants and hope to quickly resolve this matter.”
This is not the first time a third-parry delivery company has had to deal with potential legal ramifications for charging more than the fee cap. In January, Grubhub reached a legal settlement with the state of Massachusetts for repeatedly violating the Massachusetts pandemic-era 15% delivery fee caps. In 2021, the city of Chicago sued DoorDash and Grubhub over allegedly deceiving customers with hidden delivery fees. In return, DoorDash and its third-party delivery colleagues have filed lawsuits against multiple cities like San Francisco for instituting permanent fee caps, calling these business practices “irrational.”
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