Markets 
Weather 
DoorDash Inc. is asking the Competition Tribunal to throw out a case accusing it of misleading Canadian customers by advertising food deliveries at a lower price than customers actually wind up paying.
In a recent filing made to the tribunal, the San Francisco-based food delivery company says Canada’s competition commissioner has mischaracterized its fee structure and made claims against it that are false and misleading.
“DoorDash’s fees are prominently and unavoidably displayed throughout the marketplaces ordering process, and all DoorDash users are shown the full, all-in price of their order prior to checkout and submitting their orders,” the company said in a document submitted to the tribunal Friday.
Commissioner Matthew Boswell, who oversees Canada’s competition watchdog, alleged last month that customers were unable to purchase food and other items at prices advertised on DoorDash’s websites and mobile apps because of mandatory fees added at checkout.
Those fees included service and delivery changes as well as additional sums tacked on when food or other items were couriered a further distance or customers placed smaller orders.
Boswell has alleged the charges are often framed as if they were taxes and resulted in consumers paying higher prices than advertised, amounting to a deceptive practice known as drip pricing. He claims DoorDash used drip pricing for close to a decade, earning nearly $1 billion from mandatory fees paid by customers.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
DoorDash is now arguing its fees do not constitute drip pricing because they are not obligatory or “unavoidable.”
DoorDash users can select pickup instead of delivery and collect their items at the item prices originally marketed to them, without fees, the company says. It adds that the fees can also be avoided if customers subscribe to its DashPass loyalty program, look for merchants offering free delivery promotions or, in instances when their order comes with a fee because it’s too small, add more items to their purchase.
These arguments form the crux of DoorDash’s submission which maintains its customers “are not misled” because it is “not possible” for them to navigate DoorDash’s apps or websites without being fully aware of fees they will face.
DoorDash says fees are displayed throughout its marketplaces and are featured prominently and unavoidably on merchant store pages and at checkout.
In many cases, it says delivery fees are prominently displayed in bold font and in a larger size than item prices.
As for service fees, it says it is “impossible to know” what the amount will be before a DoorDash user finishes filling their cart because the charge typically scales with the subtotal of an order.
DoorDash says this is a common convention in many industries and doesn’t seem to deter users from making purchases.
“The overwhelming majority of DoorDash users are repeat users who have seen DoorDash’s suite of fee representations multiple times,” the company’s filing said.
“They continue to, repeatedly, use the marketplaces to connect with their favourite merchants after having made their way through these representations and having agreed to pay the ‘all-in’ price.”
Read the full article here
