A survey conducted by the NYC Hospitality Alliance last month found that some 62 percent of area eateries were charged for accepting calls through Grubhub-owned phone lines that never resulted in orders.
Grubhub — which promises to only charge for orders it helps generate — has promised to refund eateries for bogus phone fees going back 120 days. Yet, more than 91 percent of survey respondents say they have yet to receive their money, the survey found.
“We believe that it was too time consuming for restaurants to figure out how much they were owed, but it shouldn’t be their responsibility in the first place,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the industry trade group that conducted the survey of 300 NYC restaurants using an e-mail questionnaire.
The results of the survey are expected to be released as soon as Tuesday.
Grubhub, which owns delivery company Seamless, came under fire last year after The Post reported that it had been charging eateries between $4 and $9 through its Grubhub-dedicated lines for calls longer than 45 seconds — even if the customer was simply calling to complain that the food arrived cold.
Lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have called on Grubhub to reimburse restaurants, prompting the company to eventually agree to refunds of 120 days — up from 60 days.
The Chicago company, headed by CEO Matt Maloney, has said the fee data cannot be retrieved beyond four months. But 5.2 percent of Alliance members reported receiving refunds “in excess of 120 days,” the survey said.
“While I cannot comment on biased online surveys I have not seen, with imaginary findings I cannot verify, I can say that we work closely with all of our restaurant partners — both to help drive new customers to their businesses and solve problems if they come up,” a Grubhub spokesperson said.
In January, Grubhub rolled out a new phone ordering system nationwide aimed at reducing the number of erroneous fees amid threats from NYC legislators. The system allows diners to press #1 to place an order and #2 for everything else.