Bengaluru man alleges Zomato charged 'rain surge' fees even after clear skies, company responds

Food delivery apps are facing criticism for implementing extra charges like "Weather Surcharge," "Traffic Surge," or "Platform Fee," which often lead to increased costs for customers. While these fees might be justifiable during adverse weather or heavy traffic due to delivery challenges, they're also being applied to premium users.

The main issue arises when these fees are applied even when conditions are favorable. The question is whether it's fair for the app to add these extra costs if there's no rain or traffic in the area.

Taking to socail media X, formerly Twitter, he wrote, “It’s not even drizzling a little bit but Zomato has Rain surge fees added from the last 4 hours. Bangalore! Next, there will be a traffic surge at 1am. LoL. @zomato @zomatocare."

une 10, 2025

Zomato promptly addressed the issue faced by the user, responding, "Hi Prakhyath, we’d like to get this checked. Please share your registered contact details/order details via DM so that we can look into this."

In May 2025, Zomato announced that Gold Members would no longer be exempt from paying the rain surge fee. The company notified users of this change through an in-app notification, stating, "Starting May 16, surge fee waiver during rains will not be part of your Gold benefits."

Zomato’s rival Swiggy also imposes additional charges during rainy days, even for users subscribed to its Swiggy One membership.

In a separate incident, a Bangalore resident reported a similar experience. Their X post stated, "Since I have Zomato Gold, my Delivery partner fee is Zero, I am right now being charged a Rain Surge Fee (as it may be raining in Bangalore, and a Platform Fee of Rs. 10 Breakup is Shown, the Breakup of GST, Restaurant Packing, GST on Packing, and GST on Platform.”

However, this comes at a time when Rapido, the popular bike-taxi and cab-booking platform, is preparing to disrupt the food delivery space with its own budget-friendly service, Ownly. According to a pitch deck accessed by CNBC, Rapido aims to build a low-cost, transparent food delivery ecosystem. Unlike existing players like Zomato and Swiggy, which charge restaurants a commission per order, Rapido plans to skip commission and platform fees altogether. Instead, it will adopt a subscription model for partner restaurants. On the customer side, the company intends to charge a flat fee: Rs 25 for orders under Rs 400 and Rs 50 for those above Rs 400.

Rapido also plans to reduce delivery costs for customers. For orders above Rs 100, the app will charge a flat delivery fee of Rs 25 plus GST, but customers will pay only Rs 20, with Rapido covering the rest. For orders below Rs 100, the delivery fee will be just 10, making it one of the most affordable options in the market.