Grubhub rolls out new phone-ordering system amid fake fee outrage

GrubHub is rolling out a new phone-ordering system as it scrambles to fend off threats from the New York City legislators over bogus fees it has been charging its restaurant customers.

The food-delivery giant said it will rein in its controversial practice of billing eateries between $4 and $9 for calls longer than 45 seconds — whether they result in an order or not.

The Chicago company, which also owns Seamless, came under fire for the practice last year — after it was first reported by The Post — because the company claims to only charge restaurants for orders that it helps generate.

Instead, it had been billing eateries for calls from people inquiring about the status of a delivery or to request hot sauce — sometimes for years, peeved restaurant owners told The Post.

Under the new system, Grubhub customers will be asked when they call through a Grubhub-dedicated line whether they are looking to make an order, the company said in the letter to the New York City Council.

“Specifically, diners using the Grubhub/Seamless platform to call restaurants — not only in New York City, but across the country — will be prompted to press #1 to place an order or #2 for everything else,” Kevin Kearns, Grubhub’s senior vice president of restaurants, told the council in the Thursday letter.

The new, “common sense” approach, which will bill only for the “#1” calls that are longer than 45 seconds, also won’t charge restaurants if a customer attempts to place an order when a restaurant is closed, or has already recently placed a food order, Kearns said.

Grubhub also said that it is doubling the number of ‘account advisors’ who handle restaurants phone order inquiries. The company declined to disclose how many such advisors it has hired.

The moves, which are effective immediately, come after a majority of City Council members demanded late last year that GrubHub refund all “erroneous phone order charges” to restaurants and threatened to “explore legislative solutions if the company fails to act.”

Nevertheless, GrubHub on Thursday stood by its policy of only handing out refunds on fees for non-orders going back 120 days — a window that was extended from 60 days last summer after getting pressure from politicians including Sen. Chuck Schumer.

“Our engineers and product teams will continue to work on development of a new phone transcription and review process,” Kearns said in the letter.

“The reforms announced today are insufficient,” City Council member Mark Gjonaj, chair of the small business committee said in a statement.

“We continue to call on Grubhub to do the right thing and increase the look back period for phone order fees and refund every dollar that was incorrectly charged to restaurants,” Gjonaj added.

A source close to the committee’s work told The Post that the council is expected to introduce legislation within a month.