Quote:
Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive
Lost here amid all the thinly-veiled jerking of knees is the fact that this law accomplishes one very important thing.
Quality control.
Before this law the restaurant had no control, once their food was picked up by an independent driver, whether or not the cost of that food was going to have an arbitrary "delivery price" that was different (more) than what the restaurant charged, or the state of that food once delivered. I know of no other delivery system that does NOT contain mechanisms to assure those two things. Get a busted package from Amazon? You don't call the driver (or the post office if they were the deliverer) you contact AMAZON. You're also not going to have to pay more for your food than the restaurant charges, simply because the deliverer has it for a different price. Before this, the customer simply had no recourse regarding quality of food once delivered, poor delivery practices or having to pay more than the restaurant would charge.
This, from ABC Action News, Tampa Bay:
"I'm hoping being able to directly contact the customer is going to boost our sales a lot...If it was me and I was ordering from a restaurant and my order didn't come as I wanted it or didn't come on time, I would want to hear from the manager or owner that they're trying to make it right, and that would entice me to give them another chance," Camper said."
This law in effect makes the deliverer more answerable to the restaurant. I cannot see anything negative in that.
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Simply more protection for the restaurant.
1. The delivery platform must show the purchase price and itemize other charges. This protects the restaurant against delivery platforms unilaterally increasing the purchase price to hide fees and blaming it on the restaurant.
2. The purchase price *may* be higher than the in-restaurant price if the restaurant agrees with this. This does not protect the restaurant but does not protect the customer either.
3. The platform must provide a mechanism for the customer to direct concerns back to the platform. I'm surprised that doesn't exist already. If my package gets lost in UPS I can call UPS to find it. If my food is delivered late by Uber-Eats I assumed there would be an Uber-Eats number to complain to.
4. The platform must provide the restaurant with a means of contacting the customer from the time the order is place to up to two hours after it is delivered. This is the part that the news comment was about. I don't know how I am protected or my life improved as a customer by providing my information to the restaurant. I don't order out a lot, but it happens. I have *never* been contacted by the restaurant to tell me my order would not be ready when I arrived. I have *never* been contacted by the restaurant to tell me that my order was not going to be prepared the way I requested.
On the other hand, I will take the restaurant owner at his word when he says, "I'm hoping being able to directly contact the customer is going to boost our sales a lot.." I can imagine that my contact information being given to the restaurant will result in unsolicited calls or texts from the restaurant attempting to boost their sales.
I simply do not see this protecting the customer at all. I see this protecting the restaurant and I see it causing a few headaches for the platform but I don't see anything in it for me. Prices will not change, there will just be more lines on the bill. Delivery will not be faster and the food will not be warmer, there will just be a complaint line I can call. The restaurant is not going to call to tell me my food will be late, they will simply allow me to blame it on the delivery service. But the restaurant will have my contact information for use in their effort to "boost our sales a lot."