DoorDash accused of deliberately misleading tipping representations

An angry Doordash customer filed a class action lawsuit accusing the company of 'materially false and misleading' tipping representations on its app. 

The suit accused DoorDash of 'materially false and misleading' tipping representations, and claimed that it had failed to make clear to its customers that tips they gave through its app to couriers were not being allocated as they were intended to be, and that had customers known this, they would not have tipped through the app.

A few days earlier, New York Times journalist Andy Newman had spent 27 hours as a dasher (the term DoorDash uses for its delivery workers). Newman discovered that tips given to Doordash delivery drivers were not going to the drivers but instead were being sent in whole or in part to the company to offset other business costs, fueling outrage.

Under pressure, Doordash changed its tipping and pay model for its delivery workers so that they get all the tips customers add to their bills in August 2019. The company settled the suit for USD 2.5 million in November 2020.

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• Arkin v DoorDash Inc

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/nyregion/doordash-ubereats-food-app-delivery-bike.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/nyregion/doordash-tip-policy.html

• https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/22/20703434/delivery-app-tip-pay-theft-doordash-amazon-flex-instacart

• https://nypost.com/2019/07/29/brooklyn-man-sues-doordash-for-misleading-tipping-policy/

• https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/20/20825937/doordash-tipping-policy-still-not-changed-food-delivery-app-gig-economy

• https://fortune.com/2019/11/12/doordash-new-tipping-policy-worker-pay/

• https://www.cnet.com/news/doordash-settles-lawsuit-for-2-5m-over-deceptive-tipping-practices/