DoorDash treats an incorrect item and an entirely wrong order as two different charge amounts, not two different dispute processes. An incorrect item, the customer received something but not what they ordered, is charged 25% to 100% of that item's price plus tax. An entirely wrong order, the customer received a completely different order, is charged 100% of the order subtotal plus tax, net of commissions already paid. Same fault test, same dispute steps, different math. Source: DoorDash Merchant Help, "What are order error adjustments?"
Incorrect item vs entirely wrong order, side by side
| Incorrect item | Entirely wrong order | |
|---|---|---|
| What happened | Item received, but wrong size, wrong dish, or missing a requested modification | Customer received a completely different order |
| Charge formula | 25% to 100% of item price + tax | 100% of order subtotal + tax, net of commissions |
| Reason code | Not separately enumerated from missing items in DoorDash's docs | No published reason code; described only as a charge-calculation rule |
| Dispute process | Identical: Financials → Transactions, filter Error charge, Dispute Charge, 14-day window | |
There's no DoorDash-published reason-code enum that separately labels "incorrect item" versus "entirely wrong order" the way there is for cancellations; the wrong-order scenario is described only as a calculation rule attached to the same generic error-charge flow. Source: DoorDash Merchant Help
Hypothetical examples: what each formula actually costs
Both examples below are hypothetical, illustrating the documented formulas, not pulled from an actual statement.
Incorrect item: a $9.50 side dish, with $0.81 tax at 8.5%, comes to $10.31 total. Depending on DoorDash's severity call, the charge could run from $2.58 (25%) up to the full $10.31 (100%).
Entirely wrong order: an order with a $42.00 subtotal and $3.57 tax at 8.5% comes to $45.57 gross. If DoorDash had already paid itself a 25% commission on that order, roughly $10.50, the charge net of that commission would be about $35.07, a single charge more than three times the size of the incorrect-item example above, and it applies to the whole order, not one line item.
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Is the restaurant responsible for the refund?
DoorDash uses the same merchant-fault test for incorrect items and wrong orders as it does for missing items: charged if it rules the error occurred due to merchant fault, typically not charged for causes it considers outside the restaurant's control. We cover that restaurant-vs-dasher-vs-DoorDash breakdown in detail in our missing item charges guide, since the fault mechanism is identical across all three categories and isn't worth re-explaining twice.
How to dispute an incorrect item or wrong order charge
- Log in to the Merchant Portal with an Admin or Store Manager account.
- Open Financials → Transactions and filter by transaction type "Error charge."
- Confirm the delivery date is within the last 14 days of the delivery.
- Click Dispute Charge, select "Incorrect item" or the appropriate reason, and attach evidence such as the order ticket that shows what was actually sent (evidence examples are this guide's advisory suggestion, not DoorDash-stated policy).
- Submit and track the status: "Dispute under review," "Dispute approved," or "Dispute denied."
Source: DoorDash Merchant Help, dispute process and status tags
Related guides
- How to Dispute DoorDash Error Charges, Step by Step for the full walkthrough covering every charge category.
- DoorDash Missing Item Charges: Who Pays and How to Dispute for the restaurant-vs-dasher-vs-DoorDash fault breakdown.
- DoorDash Cancellation Charges if the order was cancelled instead of delivered wrong.
FAQ
- What's the difference between an incorrect item and an entirely wrong order on DoorDash?
- DoorDash's documentation splits them by charge amount only, not by dispute process. An incorrect item, meaning the customer got something but it wasn't what they ordered, is charged 25% to 100% of that item's price plus tax. An entirely wrong order, meaning the customer got someone else's order, is charged 100% of the order subtotal plus tax, net of commissions already paid. DoorDash doesn't publish a separate evidence or fault-determination process for either.
- How much can DoorDash charge for an entirely wrong order?
- 100% of the order subtotal plus tax, net of commissions already paid on that order. This is a flat rule, not a range, and it's the single highest-dollar error charge category DoorDash publishes, since it applies to the whole order rather than one item.
- Does DoorDash have a separate reason code for 'entirely wrong order'?
- Not in any published enum. DoorDash's public documentation names three error categories (missing items, incorrect items, substandard food quality) and then separately describes the wrong-order scenario as a charge-calculation rule, not a fourth named category with its own reason code.
- Is the restaurant responsible for the refund on a wrong-item charge?
- It depends on DoorDash's fault call, the same mechanism that applies to every error charge category. See our missing item charges guide's breakdown of who pays: restaurant, dasher, or DoorDash, since DoorDash uses the identical fault test for incorrect items and wrong orders.
- Does ErrorCharge draft dispute text for wrong-order charges?
- Yes, for DoorDash statements. ErrorCharge reads your CSV in your browser, flags incorrect-item and entirely-wrong-order charges separately, and drafts dispute text for each. You submit it yourself inside your own Merchant Portal login.
See what's actually on your statement
Drop your DoorDash or Uber Eats payout CSV into the free scanner. It runs in your browser and itemizes every error charge, with draft DoorDash dispute text for the ones worth fighting. No login required.
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