Not only do they steal tips, they also jack up the prices of the food itself. I make six figures and honest to god I have no idea how anyone affords to use DoorDash.
It becomes a bit more reasonable with 2 or more people. But yeah, even then the pricing is insane on these services. From my recent Caviar order (USD):
27.35 - actual face value of food (same as the in-store menu, at least for this restaurant)
2.32 - Tax
1.30 - "Healthy SF fee"
2.00 - Courier Bonus
4.92 - "Service Fee" (huh?)
1.99 - "Delivery Fee"
> DoorDash, which launched in 2014, services 15 metro areas in the U.S.; like many other delivery apps, it employs couriers to pick up food from restaurants and deliver it to customers. But beyond the usual delivery fees, taxes, and tips customers will shell out for, DoorDash also inflates the cost of each menu item — often unbeknownst to customers. For example, a sandwich that costs $10.99 directly from a restaurant might be listed as $14.95 on DoorDash, and the app gives customers no indication they're being upcharged. As Bloomberg notes, "Other delivery apps, such as Postmates and Square Inc.'s Caviar, typically list the same prices as those on the restaurants' menus."
this is not always true. my restaurant was listed on doordash without my permission or request, with a butchered menu and completely incorrect prices.
multiple requests asking them to at least fix this info or take me off the platform altogether (because customers were starting to wonder why my prices were so low on doordash - they're not, the couriers paid the current amount in-store...) and they ignored me. it wasn't until i signed up to be contacted about being a restaurant partner that they finally paid attention.
of course, once i registered interest in partnering with doordash, they spammed me with requests to sign the terribly lopsided agreement, and then took my restaurant off as a "bargaining" chip. yeah, okay. works for me.
so, tl;dr, if a restaurant isn't directly partnered with doordash, they can do whatever the heck they want with the prices.
(which, speaking of restaurants setting prices, they all definitely have clauses in there about not charging more than you would on other services. they definitely let you upcharge... i was half tempted to put up burgers for $20 each, for real...)
Did you contact a lawyer about this incident at all? It seems like a wilful misrepresentation (advertising that your establishment is available on this service when you've explicitly said no) that switches into a kind of extortion (the threat of de-listing).
DoorDash seems to be the best value to me with their DoorPass option. I don't find the markup to be completely unreasonable, it makes sense to me and never felt shady, they have to make their money somehow.
