The popular US food delivery service DoorDash is at the center of a lawsuit alleging price discrimination. The company has been sued by Maryland resident Ross Hecox, who claims iPhone users are being unfairly charged more for the service than Android enthusiasts.
The dispute relates to the “Pay for Extended Range” service and DashPass subscription, Gizmochina clarifies. At the same time, the subtleties of these additional charges are not reflected in any way on the delivery website, so this is seen by customers and the court as evidence of a lack of price transparency.
According to the lawsuit, iPhone users are more likely to face higher fees than Android users, often combined with higher shipping costs.
The lawsuit also alleges that DoorDash charges extra for orders placed through its DashPass subscription service. DashPass was supposed to be a way to save on shipping and handling fees, but the cost of the subscription cancels out the discounts and even increases the costs.
During the judicial investigation, it turned out that customers and even employees of the company have no idea what criteria affect the additional charge for delivery and what is the essence of the “expansion” of the range. In the case documents, for example, there is a case where an additional charge was applied for going beyond the delivery range in a situation where the order was brought to a neighboring house.
The plaintiff is seeking a $1 billion fine from DoorDash for a “discriminatory pricing scheme.” Naturally, the company denies all the claims. But it has yet to provide specific documents to prove its transparency.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
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