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A middle man is responsible to the consumer. A subcontractor is not. Grubhub does not tell the consumer whether they are acting as a subcontractor or middle man for a particular restaurant. This is deceptive and harms the restaurants who do not subcontract Grubhub.

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I can buy this, if the customer is ordering directly from the restaurant and Grubhub delivers that order. Because that's what a subcontractor relationship looks like; you the customer only deal with the primary contractor. But if I order from Grubhub, I am explicitly asking them to be a middle man, no?

Grubhub often partners with restaurants. The fact they do not disclose the cases when they do not is very deceptive.

No. Just as Amazon and eBay maintain that your transaction is with the third-party seller, not them, Grubhub claim that your transaction is with the restaurant, and the restaurant is responsible for problems. Except when the restaurant didn't subcontract them, but they don't mention this. They can't have it both ways.

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