The Taipei City Government vowed Tuesday to hold food delivery firm foodpanda to account over a platform service fee introduced June 7, saying it had given the company one week to come up with a "detailed and appropriate" response to customer complaints.
According to data compiled by the Executive Yuan's Department of Consumer Protection, a total of 831 complaints have been lodged as of June 15 against foodpanda's platform service surcharge, which has been set at NT$5 (US$0.17) per order for users in Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung, and NT$3 per order in Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, and Hsinchu City.
The department tasked the Taipei City Government with investigating the legality of the surcharges, resulting in representatives from the food delivery platform being called into city hall on Monday.
According to Yang Li-ping (???), Taipei City's chief consumer protection officer, foodpanda - which claims the new fees cover operational costs - has promised to fine-tune its charging policies, as well as settle customer disputes on a case-by-case basis.
Officials from the city's Department of Health and the Office of Commerce also attended the meeting on Monday to clarify any doubts surrounding the legality of the charging arrangements, Yang said.
The company has also been given one week to deliver its promised "detailed and appropriate" guidelines for handling disputes related to the platform service fee, Yang added.
If foodpanda fails to improve the handling of relevant cases within two weeks, it will be asked to come to the city hall again to provide an explanation, Yang said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel