A Grubhub error charge, which Grubhub calls a prepaid order adjustment, is a customer refund that Grubhub charges to your restaurant after deciding the problem was within your control. You can dispute it within 30 days, in the Grubhub for Merchants portal, by email or by phone, and Grubhub says there is no limit on how many you dispute. Decisions typically come back in about 24 hours (Grubhub).
Grubhub is the most flexible of the three big apps on paper. It is also the one with the most history: until 2022 the window was 7 days, and in 2024 Los Angeles County sued, alleging Grubhub charged restaurants for refunds without checking who was at fault. This guide covers the current rules, the denial traps Grubhub publishes, and a routine that catches every adjustment inside the window.
What is a Grubhub order adjustment?
It is a deduction from your Grubhub payout to fund a refund Grubhub gave a diner. Grubhub says it "may issue a refund to the customer and apply an adjustment to your account, but only when the issue is within your control. When the issue isn't your fault, Grubhub covers the cost of the refund" (Grubhub).
Grubhub says its support team weighs the type of issue, evidence from customers, delivery partners and internal systems, and potential fraud indicators before deciding.
Who pays for what on Grubhub
| Merchant-funded adjustment (you pay) | Grubhub covers the refund |
|---|---|
| Missing items: an item on the receipt was not in the order | Grubhub Delivery Partner delivers late, to the wrong address, or damages the order |
| Incorrect preparation: wrong size, ingredients or quantity | Grubhub Delivery Partner ignores delivery instructions or never arrives |
| Food quality or safety: over or undercooked, unsafe, illness, foreign object | Customer ordering mistakes: duplicate order, wrong pickup or delivery choice, bad address or contact info |
| Incorrect or damaged orders when handed to the Grubhub driver | |
| Self-delivery more than 30 minutes late or never delivered |
Source: Grubhub for Restaurants Policies.
The self-delivery line got stricter. Since September 24, 2024, Grubhub says it "will no longer assume responsibility for late order cancellations that are over 30 minutes past the delivery ETA" on self-delivery orders, so the merchant carries those refunds. If you run your own drivers, your ETA setting is now a financial control.
Does Grubhub still charge restaurants for refunds that are not their fault?
Its current policy says no. The history is why owners are skeptical. In February 2024, Los Angeles County sued Grubhub, alleging it "deceptively and unilaterally charges restaurants for customer refunds, which Grubhub issues without restaurants' consent, and without verifying whether the customer or the restaurant was responsible" (LA County). Those are allegations in a complaint, not findings.
One correction worth making, because a competitor page gets it wrong: the December 2024 $25 million FTC and Illinois settlement with Grubhub was about hidden diner fees, driver pay claims and listing restaurants without permission. The FTC's press release does not say Grubhub charged restaurants for refunds. The refund allegation comes from the LA County suit.
What matters for you today: the burden is on your records. Grubhub reviews "evidence from customers, delivery partners, and internal systems." Your pack photos and camera clips are the only evidence from your side.
How long do you have to dispute a Grubhub adjustment?
Thirty days. Grubhub: "If you feel your store wasn't responsible for a refund, you can dispute the adjustment within 30 days. Filing early helps our team investigate quickly" (Grubhub).
The same page records the change: as of July 18, 2022, "the refund dispute window has been extended from 7 days to 30 days," with no limit on the number of orders per call or email and no cap on total credits within 30 days.
Note
Grubhub does not say whether the 30 days count from the order date or the adjustment date. Several competitor pages state "from the original order date" without a source. Count from the order date. If you are right, you lose nothing. If you assume the later date and are wrong, the dispute is dead.
There is also a second, longer clock. Grubhub's Merchant Terms (effective December 17, 2024) say you "must submit to GH any request to review a payment amount, statement, Commission, charge, fee, or tax within 90 days of receipt of payment," after which you are "deemed to have accepted the payment." That covers statement-level errors, such as a wrong commission rate or a missing payout, not individual order disputes.
Where do you find Grubhub order adjustments?
In Grubhub for Merchants, under Financials. Per Grubhub:
- Log in at restaurant.grubhub.com.
- Go to Financials, then Transactions.
- Set the date range and choose Prepaid Order Adjustment.
- Click the Order ID to see the refund type and reason.
Grubhub statements also split order-level adjustments from account-level adjustments and promotions. When you reconcile a payout, make sure every negative line is one of those three and that the adjustments tie to specific orders. If you export the transactions for a quarter, the adjustment rows are the input for a restaurant profit leak audit.
How do you dispute a Grubhub adjustment?
Grubhub gives you three channels. The portal is fastest for single orders; email is best for a batch with attachments.
In the portal
- restaurant.grubhub.com, then Financials, then Transactions.
- Filter by date range and Prepaid Order Adjustment.
- Click the Transaction ID to open the order.
- Click Dispute Adjustment.
- Explain why the adjustment was made in error.
- Click Submit.
By email or phone
Email restaurants@grubhub.com or call Merchant Care at (877) 799-0790. You can also go through your Account Advisor. Grubhub asks you to include:
- Order number
- Order date
- Date of adjustment
- Reason for dispute
Grubhub says you will "typically receive a resolution within about 24 hours," get an email when it is decided, and an approved dispute is credited automatically (Grubhub). Older sections of the same page reference restaurantcare@grubhub.com; the current dispute instructions use restaurants@grubhub.com.
An owner in r/restaurantowners described a single customer filing false "wrong order" claims for three years under changing names and numbers, and reversing each one by calling Grubhub, which they called "very time consuming." Email with attachments is usually faster than the phone for repeat cases because the file builds its own paper trail.
Why do Grubhub disputes get denied?
Grubhub publishes the list. Disputes are "generally denied" when (Grubhub):
| Denial reason | How to avoid it |
|---|---|
| Merchant did not confirm or fulfill the order | Confirm every order on the tablet. Unconfirmed orders get auto-confirmed or auto-cancelled by Grubhub's rules |
| Non-Grubhub orders or add-ons | Do not dispute items the customer added by phone or that were not on the Grubhub ticket |
| Merchant-initiated cancellation | If you cancel, you own the refund. Cancel only when you truly cannot fulfill |
| Prior refund or credit already issued | Check the order before disputing so you do not file twice |
| Self-delivery order never delivered | Keep driver proof of delivery, photo and time, for every self-delivered order |
Two operational rules from the same page prevent many adjustments before they happen:
- Adjust or cancel within 10 minutes. If you cannot make an item, select the adjustment or cancellation on the tablet "within the first 10 minutes of receiving the order" so the diner knows.
- Upcharges within 24 hours. Charges for special-instruction requests must be processed through Grubhub for Merchants within 24 hours. A new Grubhub merchant in r/restaurantowners found that upcharging on the tablet kept showing "adjustment processing, paid by restaurant," so ask your Account Advisor to walk you through it once.
For Grubhub Delivery orders, Grubhub also says that if an order needs a remake because of a late pickup, you are "empowered to remake an order and contact Grubhub for a credit." Most owners never claim that credit.
What evidence wins a Grubhub dispute?
Grubhub does not publish an evidence list the way Uber Eats does, so use the same standard that works on all three apps: order-level proof with a timestamp.
| Claim | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Missing item | Pack photo with the ticket in frame; camera clip of bagging |
| Incorrect preparation | Ticket showing modifiers as ordered; photo of the finished item |
| Wrong or damaged at handoff | Pickup camera clip showing the sealed bag going to the Grubhub driver |
| Food quality or safety | Line photo, temp log if kept, and the time the order sat before pickup |
| Repeat claimer | List of prior order numbers with the same claim, plus the phrase "Suspected diner fraud" |
The pack-out checklist
- Camera on the pack station and the pickup shelf. Keep footage at least 45 days.
- Order number and name on every bag. Grubhub's policies list "order container(s) are sealed and packed per best practices before pickup" as your responsibility, so seal it.
- Photo of the open bag with the ticket on orders above your chosen dollar threshold.
- Tablet timestamps for confirm and ready, to find footage fast.
- Hand to the right driver. Grubhub lists "orders are given to the correct driver assigned" as a merchant responsibility.
Export your Grubhub transactions with prepaid order adjustments, plus your DoorDash and Uber Eats reports. We find every adjustment still inside its window, match it to the evidence you keep, and draft the email to restaurants@grubhub.com for you to send.
How do you handle repeat refund abusers on Grubhub?
Name it, in Grubhub's words. Grubhub says: "If you suspect customer refund abuse, add 'Suspected diner fraud' to your credit request notes or inform your Account Advisor" (Grubhub).
Grubhub also lists its own controls: frequent refund requesters "may receive Grubhub credit instead of merchant adjustments or no compensation at all," customers with repeated missed deliveries must give a PIN at handoff, and drop-off photos are required for contactless deliveries. The drop-off photo is useful evidence for you too. If a customer says an order never arrived and the photo shows it at their door, the claim is Grubhub's to absorb.
You cannot block a customer account yourself. One owner caught on by declining delivery orders to a known address, only for the same person to switch to pickup (r/restaurantowners). The durable fix is documentation plus the fraud note, every time.
Can a third party dispute Grubhub adjustments for you?
Grubhub is the one app where we found no explicit public ban. DoorDash's help center and Uber's help center both say third parties may not file disputes. Grubhub's public pages do not say that.
What Grubhub's Merchant Terms do say: you are "responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security" of your account and password, and "fully responsible for all activities and actions that occur under" your account. Its policies also tell you to "limit admin access to trusted managers only."
The safe approach is the same across all three apps. Keep portal logins inside your business. Let any outside help work from reports you export and hand you a packet. Your manager sends the email or clicks Dispute.
Is a dispute service worth it for Grubhub?
For most independents, Grubhub is their smallest delivery channel, so the answer depends on volume. The only public per-store benchmark we found is a vendor's own case study: Voosh reports an 80+ location franchise group winning $108,561 in six months across delivery apps, about $1,360 per store (Voosh). It is self-reported and multi-platform. We found no independent estimate of Grubhub-specific losses per location.
| Grubhub volume | Sensible approach |
|---|---|
| A few orders a day, rare adjustments | Check monthly, dispute by email in one batch, well inside 30 days |
| Daily orders, weekly adjustments | Weekly routine below |
| Several stores, all three apps | One weekly routine across apps; consider outside help to find and package disputes |
A weekly Grubhub dispute routine
Fifteen minutes, same day each week.
- Filter Transactions to Prepaid Order Adjustment for the last 35 days.
- Cross off anything already disputed using your log.
- Sort by order date. Anything past day 20 first.
- Tag each line: dispute, accept, or pattern.
- Check the denial list above before filing, so you do not waste a dispute on a confirmed-cancel or duplicate.
- File single orders in the portal; batch repeat-claimer cases into one email to restaurants@grubhub.com with all order numbers, dates, adjustment dates and reasons, plus "Suspected diner fraud."
- Check your email for decisions the next day and confirm credits posted.
- Once a quarter, review statements against your contract rates. That is the 90-day payment review clock, and the same habit catches processor errors covered in how to audit a Toast processing statement.
How do you prevent Grubhub adjustments?
Fix the three moments Grubhub's policy makes you responsible for: prep, pack and handoff.
- Audit the menu. Grubhub says restaurants are responsible for item availability, descriptions and prices. Stale modifiers create "incorrect preparation" adjustments.
- Keep hours accurate. Grubhub closes your store 15 minutes before scheduled closing to avoid late pickups; outside that, you must update hours yourself.
- Confirm every order, and use the tablet to adjust or cancel within 10 minutes when something is out.
- Seal and label every bag, check items against the ticket, drinks and sauces last.
- Mark ready or out for delivery accurately so the diner's ETA is real, especially on self-delivery since the September 2024 change.
- Hand bags only to the assigned driver.
The rules differ app by app. DoorDash gives you only 14 days and Uber Eats gives you 30 days from the order date with a published evidence list. Delivery adjustments are one line in the restaurant profit leak audit; if your deposits never match sales, start with Toast sales vs bank deposits.