Canada’s Competition Bureau Sues DoorDash Over Alleged Misleading Prices
The Competition Bureau of Canada is suing DoorDash, saying the company has shown prices and discounts that aren’t accurate.
On Monday, the Bureau said it is taking legal action against DoorDash Inc. and its Canadian branch, DoorDash Technologies Canada Inc. The issue is that DoorDash advertised lower prices on its website and app, but customers ended up paying more because of extra fees added at checkout. This is known as “drip pricing.”
Matthew Boswell, the Commissioner of Competition, said in a statement: “The Competition Bureau has been fighting this misleading practice for years. We want to make sure consumers can trust the prices they see online.”
The Bureau says DoorDash charges several extra fees—like service fees, delivery fees, small order fees, and more. These fees weren’t clearly shown and made it seem like the advertised prices were cheaper than what people actually paid.
The Bureau also claims some of the fees looked like taxes, but were actually just extra charges created by DoorDash.
According to the Bureau, DoorDash has used this pricing method in Canada for nearly 10 years and collected close to $1 billion in these fees.
The Competition Bureau has now asked the Competition Tribunal to:
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Stop DoorDash from using misleading prices and discounts
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Stop showing fees as if they are taxes
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Pay a fine
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Give money back to customers who were affected
In response, DoorDash said being honest with customers is very important to them. A spokesperson said that all fees are clearly shown during the order, including at the final checkout.
They added, “DoorDash does not hide fees or try to mislead people.” The company also said that they changed their platform to better show fees when the law around drip pricing changed.
DoorDash is not the only company facing legal trouble for this. In February, Instacart was also sued in Canada for not fully showing all the prices to customers.
