District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine announced a lawsuit Thursday against Instacart, claiming the grocery delivery service collected millions of dollars by deceiving customers into thinking that an optional service fee would be used as a tip for workers, when it allegedly went to the company instead.
The suit echos an earlier charge against food delivery service DoorDash. Racine sued DoorDash in November, alleging it pocketed tips meant for workers and deceived customers about where their money would be directed.
According to a press release announcing the suit, Instacart used to provide consumers an option to tip at checkout, with a default rate of 10% that users could adjust. But in 2016, according to the attorney general’s office, Instacart replaced the tip section with an optional service fee, placed in the same spot, with an adjustable 10% default rate.
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