Food delivery platforms: customer service.

Assembly Member Bauer-Kahan's food delivery platform legislation establishes new consumer protections and payment transparency requirements for services that connect customers with restaurants for food delivery. The bill prohibits platforms from using customer tips to offset delivery drivers' base pay and requires detailed payment breakdowns showing base compensation, gratuities, and promotional bonuses for each delivery.

The legislation mandates that platforms provide direct access to human customer service representatives when automated systems cannot resolve issues. For undelivered or incorrect orders, platforms must issue full refunds including taxes, fees and gratuities, unless customer fault or fraud is documented. While gratuities must be refunded to customers, platforms cannot deduct these refunded tips from drivers' earnings. For partially fulfilled orders, charges and associated fees must be adjusted to reflect only delivered items, with mechanisms allowing customers to modify pre-delivery gratuities.

To enhance transparency, platforms must disclose itemized cost breakdowns to customers and restaurants for each transaction, including purchase prices, platform fees, and gratuities. The bill maintains existing requirements that platforms cannot charge higher prices than those posted by restaurants or retain any portion of designated tips, which must be paid in full to delivery drivers for delivery orders or to restaurants for pickup orders.