The FTC Just Sent Grubhub Refunds. The Bigger Warning Is About Marketing Claims.
The FTC announced on August 12 that it is sending more than $23.8 million to drivers and diners harmed by Grubhub's deceptive advertising claims and other unlawful conduct.
The refund program covers 640,038 payments, according to the FTC's refund page. The agency says the underlying case involved deceptive earnings claims for drivers, hidden or misleading fees for diners, blocked accounts, and restaurant listings that were not supposed to be there in the first place.
That is not just a platform story.
It is a copywriting story.
Why This Matters To Owners
The FTC says Grubhub advertised earnings that drivers could not realistically expect. In one example from the complaint, ads in New York said drivers could make up to $40 an hour when the median was around $10 an hour. The complaint also said that in Chicago, advertised earnings of up to $26 an hour were far above what most drivers actually earned.
The agency also said Grubhub made cancellation and account access harder than it should have been. In one part of the case, the complaint alleged that 97% of locked accounts were never unlocked in a given month.
If you run a service business, marketplace, lead-gen business, or subscription product, the lesson is obvious:
- do not promise earnings you cannot back up
- do not hide the real price behind friction or jargon
- do not make cancellation harder than sign-up
- do not let the marketing page say one thing while operations do another
The FTC does not care whether the bad claim came from a startup, a platform, or a giant brand. If the promise is misleading, the enforcement risk is real.
The Plain-English Rule
Here is the simplest way to think about it.
If a customer, contractor, or partner would reasonably rely on your ad, your landing page, or your email copy to make a money decision, you need proof for the claim before you publish it.
That means:
- earnings claims need evidence
- fee disclosures need to be clear
- cancellation paths need to be obvious
- testimonials need to be real
- any "up to" number needs a reality check
The Grubhub refunds are a reminder that the FTC does not just stop at warning letters. It can also make a bad claim expensive long after the campaign is over.
Owner Takeaway
If your marketing promises speed, savings, access, or income, do a fast claims audit today. Anything you cannot prove should come out of the copy before it becomes a regulator's problem.