Proposed Class Action Lawsuit Alleges DoorDash Charges iPhone Users More

The odds are good that you've never paid much mind to how much a DoorDash delivery costs you versus how much it costs for a friend. However, as a new lawsuit alleges, if you use an iPhone compared to your friend's Android, you have been charged subtly more for every DoorDash delivery you have ordered.

This week, Maryland resident Ross Hecox filed a class-action lawsuit against DoorDash on the grounds that additional fees are applied to delivery orders sent from iPhone users, but not Android users. Hecox verified this claim himself by making two DoorDash orders from two different phones at the same address from the same Chipotle restaurant, with only the iPhone order incurring an additional fee.

The lawsuit posits that "DoorDash charges the expanded range fee on iPhone users more often than Android users and charges iPhone users more for 'delivering' (likely because studies reveal iPhone users earn more)." The expanded range fee is an additional fee that occasionally appears on DoorDash orders, with the precise reason for the fee not explained on DoorDash's support website. The lawsuit also cites instances where DashPass subscribers, a premium DoorDash subscription tier, are charged extra fees where a normal user wouldn't be.

The lawsuit is seeking $1 billion in damages from DoorDash on behalf of "all consumers who fell prey to DoorDash's illegal pricing scheme over the past four years."

DoorDash, for its part, has dismissed the lawsuit as baseless and insisted that any and all fees and surcharges are fully disclosed to all users prior to purchases. "Building this trust is essential, and it's why the majority of delivery orders on our platform are placed by return customers," a DoorDash spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "We will continue to strive to make our platform work even better for customers, and will vigorously fight these allegations." The spokesperson did not clarify what DoorDash's precise moves against the lawsuit will be.

The lawsuit follows a trend of increasing scrutiny of food delivery apps and services. Earlier this year, a coalition of United States Senators sent inquiries to various services including DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats, requesting detailed documentation on every fee users are charged and their precise reasoning. Additionally, back in October, United States President Joe Biden began an initiative to dial back so-called "junk fees" from delivery services, as well as similar businesses like home installation, concert ticket pre-orders, and more.