Tell the FTC about surprise fees, hidden costs
and the rising costs of restaurant prices

Deadline: May 18, 2026

It’s fast! Just use the comment generator below.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is asking people for input about delivery apps. Anyone can share a comment and we’ve made this easy with the comment generator below. Tell the FTC if you’ve felt tricked by hidden fees or confused about where your money goes.

Even if you don’t use the apps, you have probably been affected. Your local restaurants have likely raised their prices because the apps take 20% to 40% of their earnings for online orders. That impacts all restaurant customers.

FTC Comment Generator

1. Tell the FTC what happened to you.

Ordering food should be easy — and the prices should be clear. Tell the FTC about surprise fees, confusing tip practices, issues with refunds and more. Check the boxes below that describe your experiences.

Price Surprises

I got hit with extra fees at checkout that I didn’t see when I started.

I don’t know what a “service fee” is — it’s not explained.

I got “free delivery,” but with extra mystery fees, the price was the same.

Menu prices on the app are higher than prices at the restaurant.

My kids ordered food and I was surprised at the total. The pricing was not clear.

It’s hard to compare total price between different apps before I order.

Surge pricing is high and it’s impossible to know when it will be happening.

Tipping Issues

I’m not sure where the tip money goes.

I don’t see a way to tip the people who make my food.

Refunds

A delivery app gave me a credit when I wanted to get my money back.

There is no way to speak to a real person when trying to get a refund.

Subscriptions

I paid for a monthly subscription, but my orders with “free delivery” cost about the same as they were before.

It was hard to cancel my monthly subscription.

I signed up for a monthly subscription to get free delivery, but many restaurants didn’t qualify or had minimum order requirements.

I didn’t realize I signed up for a monthly subscription and got charged.

Restaurants & Local Economy

Menu prices at restaurants have gone up a lot to match app prices, so now I’m paying more even if I pick up my own food or dine in.

I’m concerned that too much of my money goes to billion-dollar app companies instead of local businesses.

I’m worried that the app companies are making it hard for local small businesses to survive.

The app charged me a “regulatory fee” but I don’t know what that means or who gets the money.

2. Tell the FTC how to fix it.

If you were in charge, what rules would you make to keep things fair for everyone? Choose the solutions you want the FTC to fight for.

Price Surprises

I want to know what menu items cost, including fees and taxes (known as “all in” pricing).

Show me how much of my order total goes to the restaurant, the driver, and the app company.

Tell me if app prices are higher than the restaurant’s prices.

Stop saying it’s “free delivery” if you just add on mystery fees to make the price the same.

Show a total price in large numbers — with a breakdown of all costs — before I get to the payment screen.

Use the same fee names on all apps to make comparing easier.

Stop one-tap ordering if the final total is more than 15% higher than the menu price.

Tipping Issues

Make it clear exactly who gets tips.

Don’t use tips to take the place of workers’ wages.

Create a way to tip the people who made the food.

Stop moving the place in the app where the tip is added.

Refunds

Refund my money for bad food or experiences. I don’t want app “credit.”

Require that a real person is available to help with refunds.

Return all service and delivery fees — not just the food costs — if an order is wrong.

Subscriptions

Refund subscription fees for misleading claims and be honest about how subscriptions actually save people money.

Make it easy to cancel subscriptions.

Tell me which restaurants qualify for free delivery before I sign up for a monthly subscription.

Make it clear in the app when I’m signing up for a monthly subscription, what it costs and what I get.

Restaurants & Local Economy

Show me how much money from my order goes to the restaurant and how much goes to the app company.

Put a limit on the fees that apps can charge restaurants.

Stop apps from making rules that lead to higher restaurant prices for everyone.

Clearly explain what a “regulatory fee” is and who gets that money.

Please check at least one box above to generate your comment.

3. Review and edit comment.

After your comment has been created, it’s a good idea to change it a bit to express your individual experiences and ideas. The FTC values unique, personal comments! The comment generator is just here to save you some time on putting your thoughts together.

You can make changes to your comment in the box below and then use the button to copy it. You might want to save your text in a doc before you go to the FTC website – just to make sure you don’t lose it.

✓ Copied to clipboard!

4. Paste your comment in the FTC form.

Click the link below to share your comment with the FTC. If you don’t immediately see a blank box to paste your comment, look for a big, green button that says, “SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT.” That will be near the top-right of the page, under the page headline that says “Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees in Online Food Delivery Services.”

NOTE: You can also upload receipts or screenshots that relate to your comment. This is optional, but very useful information for the FTC to have as it decides how apps should operate fairly.