The Federal Trade Commission brought a lawsuit against Uber on Monday and claimed that the Ride-Hail and delivery giant will charge customers for its Uber One subscription service without their permission. The lawsuit also claims that Uber did not produce the savings in its subscription service and made it unreasonably difficult for users to cancel, despite the promises “Anyty Anytime Anytay”.
Uber has denied every misconduct and accused the FTC of hurrying the research process and base his claims on ‘not -witnessed allegations’.
The lawsuit comes after the FTC has pushed companies with subscription services to make them easier to cancel under her previous director Lina Khan. In October 2024, the agency completed its rule “Click to Anninion” that requires companies to make a subscription to canceling just as easy as registering for one. Although they are confronted Some challenges Groups in the industry expects the rule to take effect on 14 May.
“Americans are tired of signing up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel,” said FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson in a statement. “The Trump-Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the American people.”
The complaint from the FTC, which follows a investigation that started last year, claims that Uber customers were incorrectly promised savings of $ 25 a month.
“Even if that was true, Uber does not take into account the costs of the subscription (up to $ 9.99/month) when calculating those savings,” reads a rack From the FTC. “The company also obscures material information about the subscription (for example by using small, gray text that consumers can easily miss).”
The complaint accuses Uber of the automatic charging of consumers who have registered for a free trial period before their billing date. It also claims that Uber makes it “extremely difficult” for customers to cancel, where users can be forced to “navigate no fewer than 23 screens and take no fewer than 32 actions to cancel.” Those actions come in the form to explain why they want to cancel and deal with Uber who encourages them to pause their membership, and if that fails, she presents offers to stay.
“Some users are told that they have to contact customer service to cancel, but get no way to contact them; others claim that Uber charged them for another billing cycle after they asked to have requested cancellation and waited to hear from customer service,” reads the FTC statement.
Uber clarified that customers who wanted to cancel within 48 hours after their registration date contact the customer service to cancel. The company says this is no longer the case. Techcrunch has contacted to learn when Uber has updated his policy to have those customers canceled in the app.
The claimants force the court to prohibit Uber to continue his alleged misleading practices and force the company to pay money.
“We are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to continue with this promotion, but are convinced that the courts will agree with what we already know: the registration and cancellation processes of Uber” Uber does not report or does not charge consumers without their permission, and cancellations can now be done and most people take 20 seconds or less. “
Tim Muris, a former FTC chairman who represented Uber during the investigation period of the case, accused the FTC of doing a full investigation and base his complaint on “misunderstandings of both the facts and the law.”
The current external adviser of Uber, Christine Wilson, said: “The unconventional nature of the hurried research process that preceded this enforcement action was exacerbated by the addition of new and non -witnessed allegations at the last minute. It is disappointing to see the FTC wandering the strictness and honesty at its best.”
Uber’s member base a year ago estimated Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi that the membership costs of Uber One in 2024 would be “more than $ 1 billion”.
