'False Advertising': IP Law Expert Safir Anand Calls Out Zomato Over Misleading 'Buy One Get One' Offer

Safir Anand, one of India’s leading intellectual property (IP) law experts, has slammed food delivery platform Zomato for "false advertising". In a post on X, Anand highlighted what he described as “complete mis-selling” in one of Zomato’s promotional campaigns.

“They say buy one get one free. Then deliver one. And say it means buy two and get one free. As a lawyer and shareholder of Zomato, I can assure you this is totally false advertising. Buyers beware,” said Anand, senior partner at Anand and Anand, one of India’s leading IP law firms.

He further shared a conversation with a representative of Zomato, who reportedly claimed the terms were "in fine print" and intended to mean buy two and get one free.

Anand pointed out the legal implications and asked if Zomato knew of various court judgments on misleading notifications versus fine print.

"As a Zomato Gold client for many years, I must say this is misleading totally. Shame on you @zomato for resorting to this," he wrote.

The IP lawyer also shared a screenshot of a few Zomato items that stated "Unlimited Buy 1 Get 1 Free."

Anand's post has gone viral, with several users raising concerns over such offers. Zomato’s official support handle also responded to the viral post.

Zomato Care replied, "Hi Safir, we would never want you to go through such a hassle. Please help us with your order ID via DM we'll look into this and connect with you further."

Anand dismissed the response and said, "You already connected and did nothing. I named your person on the tweet itself. Pl see."

Aditya Mangla, the CEO for Zomato's food delivery operations, also intervened to acknowledge the problem. "Thank you for reporting this. I'm sorry about the experience you had. We're fixing this to add the same item by default in case the customer has dismissed all prompts and reminder nudges and has not added one by themselves."

Anand replied, "There were no prompts, no reminder nudges! I shared screen shots as also you can try yourself. But thanks for looking in."

The comment thread also had some light moments. Photographer Atul Kasbekar jokingly asked, "But why you eating awful carbs Safir?!?," to which Anand said, "Wasn’t. Ordered for someone else."

Other users weighed in with their own interpretations and concerns. A user called it "misleading," another termed it "fraud."

A user also criticised Zomato, calling such offers a "simple marketing gimmick" to lure customers.