Sunday QR-Code Payment App Adds Hidden Junk Fees to Restaurant Bills, Class Action Lawsuit Says

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that the Sunday QR-code payment platform wrongfully tacks hidden junk fees onto the restaurant bills of consumers who use the mobile app to pay their checks.

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The 27-page fraud lawsuit contends that although Sunday touts its QR-code-based payment as a way for consumers to quickly pay their bills and for restaurants to streamline operations and improve customer experience, the company has generated millions by imposing a hidden, mandatory “convenience” fee at the end of the checkout process, after consumers have already committed to using Sunday to complete their payment.

“Sunday prioritizes hidden revenue over transparency, exploiting consumer trust at each transaction,” the class action lawsuit summarizes, characterizing the Sunday app “convenience” fee as no more than a wrongful junk fee.

The complaint explains that restaurant-goers who use Sunday to pay their bill are expected to scan the QR code displayed on their receipt and proceed through the platform’s multi-step payment flow, which includes inputting their payment information and identifying details into the system. Throughout this process, customers are shown a “total price” for the transaction with an individual breakdown of products on the Sunday app, which, the case argues, implies the total amount that a consumer is expected to be charged.

The filing charges that Sunday fails to clearly and prominently disclose, before consumers reach the payment process, that it will automatically add an additional, mandatory “platform fee” to the transaction total.

“This fee is not optional, is not tied to any consumer-selected add-on, and is assessed solely because the consumer pays through Sunday which is encouraged and even required by many restaurants,” the lawsuit states. “This deceptive practice is intentionally designed to catch consumers off guard and extract additional revenue without their informed consent.”

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The suit asserts that many consumers do not notice the additional fee tacked onto their order, and those who do often decide to continue to go through with the transaction anyway due to the substantial time and effort already invested into using Sunday’s platform and completing the multi-step payment flow.

“This is a classic form of digital ‘drip pricing’ that exploits consumer inertia and effectively deprives consumers of meaningful choice,” the complaint says.

Furthermore, the case argues that, because the Sunday platform fees are issued in varying amounts, often tied to the total amount of a customer’s transaction, the “variability” of Sunday’s fees is indicative of their unreasonable, wrongful inclusion, leaving no indication of how the platform fee contributes to the operation of the platform.

“This coercive setup turns convenience into a trap, forcing consumers to pay more for no added value,” the suit alleges.

The Sunday App class action lawsuit looks to represent all consumers who paid a “Sunday Platform Fee” after making a purchase through the Sunday platform during the applicable statute of limitations period preceding the filing of the lawsuit to the date of class certification.

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