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How can GrubHub represent themselves as a restaurant seemingly without the restaurant's permission? Isn't this a trademark violation?

TuringNYC 6y ago
This is an established long-standing tactic at Hotels.com as well-- you call what you think is the hotel based on a web search. The person on the line pretends to work for the hotel. They will even play along and say "oh no discounts are available this week" or "no I dont see any AAA discounts / corporate discounts" The entire time -- they are trying to book you full price. The hotel loses, because they cannot give you discounts -- they either get the sale or lose it alltogether.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  > The entire time -- they are trying to book you full price. The hotel loses, because they cannot give you discounts -- they either get the sale or lose it alltogether. How is that not considered fraud? You're falsifying your identity as an employee for services you cannot provide in order to collect a fee as a middle man. But now that you mention it, during this absurd time I actually called the number of a Thai restaurant I frequented before by searching it on yelp only to get a dead dial tone. I always suspected they were just busy as they were still doing rather well all things considered, but the woman at the counter (a local baker in my town helping out her friends in the evenings) said she never got a single call when I showed up and ordered in person and talked shop of her new kitchen that got put on hold.
  - TuringNYC 6y ago
    I only realized this late, but they were careful never to say they worked for the hotel. I called again, almost like I had understood the end of a movie, and replayed the conversation with a new call. Me: "Hi I'm trying to reach Marriott at Fisherman's Wharf, do I have the right number" Them: "I can help you with that" (note the evasive answer) Me: "Great, I have an Accenture corporate discount and this is for work, can you use corporate code XYZ123" Them: "I dont see that on my system" (not a lie I suppose, but definitely not the truth) Me: "OK well i have a client engagement Tues-Thurs and I need to book ASAP, what is your best rate? Do you have a AAA rate?" Them: "You're lucky I can lock you in at {absurdly high price} - can i have your credit card"
- tw000001 6y ago
  I can't help but notice these patterns all over society and especially in tech. FAANG, Uber, Microsoft, TV, internet, dark patterns everywhere.
sharkmerry 6y ago
they have better SEO. Grubhub doesnt answer the call, they just generate a phone number that forwards to the restaurant phone and then get that new number higher ranking (including google sidebar)

TuringNYC 6y ago

This is an established long-standing tactic at Hotels.com as well-- you call what you think is the hotel based on a web search. The person on the line pretends to work for the hotel. They will even play along and say "oh no discounts are available this week" or "no I dont see any AAA discounts / corporate discounts" The entire time -- they are trying to book you full price. The hotel loses, because they cannot give you discounts -- they either get the sale or lose it alltogether.

Melting_Harps 6y ago
> The entire time -- they are trying to book you full price. The hotel loses, because they cannot give you discounts -- they either get the sale or lose it alltogether. How is that not considered fraud? You're falsifying your identity as an employee for services you cannot provide in order to collect a fee as a middle man. But now that you mention it, during this absurd time I actually called the number of a Thai restaurant I frequented before by searching it on yelp only to get a dead dial tone. I always suspected they were just busy as they were still doing rather well all things considered, but the woman at the counter (a local baker in my town helping out her friends in the evenings) said she never got a single call when I showed up and ordered in person and talked shop of her new kitchen that got put on hold.
- TuringNYC 6y ago
  I only realized this late, but they were careful never to say they worked for the hotel. I called again, almost like I had understood the end of a movie, and replayed the conversation with a new call. Me: "Hi I'm trying to reach Marriott at Fisherman's Wharf, do I have the right number" Them: "I can help you with that" (note the evasive answer) Me: "Great, I have an Accenture corporate discount and this is for work, can you use corporate code XYZ123" Them: "I dont see that on my system" (not a lie I suppose, but definitely not the truth) Me: "OK well i have a client engagement Tues-Thurs and I need to book ASAP, what is your best rate? Do you have a AAA rate?" Them: "You're lucky I can lock you in at {absurdly high price} - can i have your credit card"
tw000001 6y ago
I can't help but notice these patterns all over society and especially in tech. FAANG, Uber, Microsoft, TV, internet, dark patterns everywhere.

sharkmerry 6y ago

they have better SEO. Grubhub doesnt answer the call, they just generate a phone number that forwards to the restaurant phone and then get that new number higher ranking (including google sidebar)