Refunds in motion
The FTC is sending 640,038 Grubhub payments. The deadline depends on how yours arrives
A check comes with 90 days to cash it. A PayPal payment has a 30-day acceptance window, and the FTC says nobody has to pay to receive one.
The Federal Trade Commission is sending 640,038 payments to Grubhub drivers and diners. The distribution totals more than $23.8 million, but the first detail a recipient needs is not the size of the payment. It is whether the money arrived as a check or through PayPal.
A paper check gets three times as long
The FTC says a recipient who receives a check has 90 days to cash it. A recipient paid through PayPal has 30 days to accept the payment.
Those windows begin with the payment the agency sends. They are not a new application period, and they do not allow someone who was not selected to add a name to the distribution.
The official refund page does not direct people to submit a claim. It says payments are being sent to eligible users and provides a refund administrator for questions.
Drivers and diners enter the distribution for different reasons
The payments follow a settlement involving the FTC, the Illinois attorney general, and Grubhub. The agencies alleged that the company misled drivers about the earnings they could expect from delivering food.
The diner side involved different conduct. The government said some users were blocked from their accounts and could not redeem gift cards. Its broader case also addressed restaurant listings and other practices, but the current payment announcement identifies harmed drivers and diners as the recipients.
A payment does not mean every recipient had the same experience or will receive the same amount. The FTC has not presented the $23.8 million total as an even division across all 640,038 payments.
The refund should not cost anything to collect
A large federal distribution creates an opening for impersonators. The FTC says it will never require someone to pay money or provide account information to receive a refund.
A message that asks for a fee, a gift card, a bank password, or a transfer before releasing the payment does not match the agency's process. The same is true of a caller who threatens consequences unless the recipient acts immediately.
The official page directs questions to Analytics Consulting LLC at 1-888-446-4992. Checking that number on FTC.gov before making contact avoids relying on information inside an unexpected message.
Eligibility has already been decided for this round
The distribution is not a promise that every current or former Grubhub user will receive money. The FTC describes the payments as going to eligible drivers and diners identified through the case.
Someone who receives nothing cannot create eligibility by paying a service, completing a social-media form, or giving personal information to a refund finder. None of those steps appears in the official instructions.
For the people already selected, the action is simpler: identify how the payment arrived, follow the matching 30-day or 90-day window, and use the number published by the FTC if the payment raises a question.
Sources and supporting documents
Grant Mercer is a named OMG editorial voice, not a fictional human biography. This story passed separate evidence, rights, line-editing, originality, and skeptical-review checks before publication.
Federal Trade CommissionGrubhub refundsFederal Trade CommissionFTC sends more than $23.8 million to Grubhub drivers and diners
