Food ordering giant Grubhub’s olive branch to restaurants is getting chewed up and spit out.
The Chicago-based company — which also owns delivery company Seamless — agreed on Thursday to widen the refund window for restaurants that have been unwittingly paying fees for bogus food orders.
But industry reps say the company’s plan to start refunding restaurants for up to 120 days — up from 60 days — is still not enough.
“If Grubhub charged a restaurant a bogus fee 300 days ago they must still refund it,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, who called the 120-day policy “absurd.”
As The Post first reported in May, Grubhub has been charging restaurants as much as hundreds of dollars a month — sometimes for years — for Grubhub-generated phone calls lasting over 45 seconds — whether they resulted in orders or not. The company has been sued for the practice, which has taken place on Grubhub-issued phone lines.
In addition to the longer refund window, Grubhub said it will set up a website that makes it easier for restaurants to “request direct control” of websites that have been in the establishments’ names but had been quietly registered by Grubhub.
The company will also set up a series of roundtables with restaurants, including the New York Restaurant Association, and invite members of the New York City Council to attend.
Grubhub announced the changes Thursday following months of pressure from elected officials, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and City Council member Mark Gjonaj.
Schumer’s office, which has previously called on Grubhub to refund all fake fees, called it step in the right direction.
“Grubhub’s announcement today is a productive and positive step in addressing the issues. We look forward to continuing to work with the New York State Restaurant Association, the New York City Hospitality Alliance, and others to achieve more progress as this plan unfolds,” Angelo Roefaro, Schumer spokesman, told The Post.
“They do not go far enough for the fees that should have never been charged,” Gjonaj told The Post. “And I’m not really worried about Grubhub’s bottom line. I’m worried about the bottom line for mom and pop trying to stay afloat.”
The company has previously rejected requests for refunds beyond 60 days — with some notable exceptions.
Some restaurants have already received far more extensive refunds for these phone charges, leaving the restaurant industry hungry for more. As The Post reported in June, Grubhub refunded one New York City restaurant operator more than $10,000 for the practice — covering his fees going back to 2014.
“As before, we are committed to examining and immediately refunding any phone calls that did not result in orders,” the company said in making the announcement. Additionally, we will redouble our efforts to continuously improve processes we use with regard to phone orders.”
Grubhub chief executive Matt Maloney on Tuesday went on the defensive about the 60-day policy, which he described as “fair” because it is written in restaurants’ contracts with Grubhub.
“The extension of our lookback period is a normal course of business operations,” Brendan Lewis, a spokesman for Grubhub, told The Post.
“We have worked cooperatively with [Schumer’s] staff and they have been extremely helpful in recent weeks. We are thankful for their collaboration,” Lewis added.
“While Grubhub’s announcement is a step in the right direction, it is a small step, and much more must be done. Their announcement does not even address the major complaint from so many restaurants, which is that their fees have continued to go up as they dominated the market,” Rigie said.
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