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DoorDash called fees 'taxes' and hid them until checkout — Canada says that took $1B
DoorDash's fees, some framed to look like government taxes, appeared only at checkout. Canada's Bureau says the decade-long practice pulled in nearly $1B.
DoorDash · 2025-06-09
What happened
On 9 June 2025, Canada's Competition Bureau sued DoorDash Inc. and its Canadian subsidiary, alleging the company advertised food-delivery prices consumers could not actually get: mandatory service fees, delivery fees, expanded-range fees, small-order fees and a 'regulatory response fee' were added only at checkout, after the customer had already chosen what to order.
The Bureau's complaint went further than a standard drip-pricing case: it alleged DoorDash presented some of these charges in a way that made them look like government-imposed taxes, when they were discretionary fees the company itself set and kept.
The Bureau said the practice had run for close to a decade and collected close to $1 billion in mandatory fees from Canadian consumers. It is seeking a penalty, consumer restitution and an order ending both the hidden-fee advertising and the tax-like framing. DoorDash said its fees are 'clearly labeled and disclosed... including a final review before payment' and denied hiding or misleading on fees.
Why it happened
- Fees added only after a customer had already selected items and started checkout meant the advertised price was never the price available to act on.
- Naming a fee in a way that resembled a government tax borrowed the appearance of an unavoidable, non-negotiable charge for a fee the company controlled and profited from.
- The practice compounding for nearly a decade before enforcement meant the scale of the alleged penalty grew every year it went unaddressed.
The lesson
A fee's label matters as much as its disclosure: calling a company's own charge a 'tax' borrows a government-level inevitability it hasn't earned. Regulators treat that as its own violation.
Aftermath
The case followed the Bureau's record $38.9 million win against Cineplex over similar drip pricing and a parallel suit against Canada's Wonderland, part of a broader Competition Bureau push making hidden mandatory fees an active enforcement priority.
Sources
- Competition Bureau Canada — Competition Bureau sues DoorDash for allegedly advertising misleading prices and discounts
- CBC News — Competition Bureau sues food delivery company DoorDash, alleging misleading price promotions
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
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