For California - AB 578 Coming into law. Live customer service, tip adjustments, etc.

Have any of you reviewed the new AB 578? Interestingly enough, DoorDash is already doing a some of this (not all) in California. Some of it will be super good for drivers on other platforms who have their tips disappear because the customer pulls it (like Uber and Spark). This new law makes it so even if the customer pulls the tip because of an issue, the driver still gets paid the original tip offer.

It's mostly consumer facing, here, but I think it may impact drivers, too. Makes me wonder if delivery fees are going to go up. This is even more annoying, considering the new bag laws in California, too. Many of us have already been dealing with the beginning of the shift to paper bags. It's awful.. but that's another rant for another day.

The new law prohibits tip skimming, so if the customer gave a $5 tip to the driver, by law, the driver must get the $5 tip. That means restaurants farming out deliveries through delivery platforms can't take the tips from the drivers.

But one of the big ones, I think, it that the platform cannot charge the customer more for an item. So if the store is selling apples for $3.00 a pound according to their website, that's what the customer pays, not $3.25/pound with a markup through the app.

See: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB578

It was signed into law in October.

Things that will now be prohibited in California:

• Charging a customer any purchase price for food or beverage that is higher than the price posted on the food delivery platform’s internet website by the food facility at the time of the order.

• Retaining any portion of amounts designated as a tip or gratuity. Any tip or gratuity for a delivery order shall be paid by a food delivery platform, in its entirety, to the person delivering the food or beverage. Any tip or gratuity for a pickup order shall be paid by a food delivery platform, in its entirety, to the food facility.

• Maintaining a payment model that uses any amount designated as tips or gratuity to offset the base pay to the person delivering the food or beverage.

Things that must be done:

• A food delivery platform shall prominently disclose to the person delivering the food or beverage an accurate, clearly identified, and itemized breakdown of the pay received for a delivery, including, but not limited to, the base pay, gratuity or tips, and any promotional bonuses.
• A food delivery platform shall prominently disclose to the customer and to the food facility an accurate, clearly identified, and itemized cost breakdown of each transaction, including, but not limited to, all of the following information:
  • The purchase price of the food and beverage.
  • A notice, if applicable, that the food delivery platform charges a fee, commission, or cost to the food facility, unless the food facility directs that the food delivery platform disclose to customers the delivery fee charged to the food facility and each fee, commission, or cost charged to the food facility.
  • Each fee, commission, and any other cost charged to the customer by the food delivery platform.
  • Any tip or gratuity payable to the delivery driver or food facility.
• A listing website shall not associate a telephone number or other method of direct communication with a food facility on the listing website’s internet website or application if the listing website knows the use of that telephone number or other method of direct communication will result in a forwarded call.
• A listing website shall clearly and conspicuously disclose if an order placed through a telephone number or other interface on the listing website’s internet website or application may result in a fee, commission, or cost paid to a party other than the food facility and shall identify that other party.
• A food delivery platform shall clearly and regularly disclose to the food facility and the customer the status of the order, including all of the following:
  • The method of delivery.
  • The anticipated date and time of the delivery of the order.
  • Confirmation that the order has been successfully delivered or that the delivery cannot be completed.
• A food delivery platform shall provide a full refund, including all taxes, commissions, fees, and gratuities, to the customer if an order is not delivered or the wrong order is delivered, unless the food delivery platform determines that the customer was responsible for the nondelivery or finds evidence indicating the refund request may be fraudulent.
• The food delivery platform shall refund the amount of the original paid gratuity to the customer but shall not take or deduct the original gratuity amount from the delivery driver.
  • If it is not feasible for the food delivery platform to refund the paid gratuity to the customer in the original method of payment, the food delivery platform shall provide an alternate refund method for the paid gratuity.
  • In the event that a customer receives an order that is only partially fulfilled, the food delivery platform shall do the following:
    • Charge the customer only for the portion of the order the customer received. Any taxes, fees, or gratuities directly associated with the undelivered items shall be adjusted to reflect the reduced order.
    • Provide a mechanism that allows the customer to adjust any gratuity that was included in the order prior to its delivery.
    • Along with any other refund options, the food delivery platform shall provide a mechanism that allows the customer to request that the amount of the refund be returned to the original method of payment.
    • This section does not prohibit a food delivery platform from removing a customer from the platform if the platform has a reasonable suspicion that the customer has committed or is committing fraud.