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Uber has been accused by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of misleading its users regarding its Uber One subscription service.
According to the FTC, Uber has signed up users to the service without their knowledge and misled them regarding the service’s benefits, according to Reuters.
Uber One is a subscription service for Uber users that costs US$9.99 a month. With the service, users get discounts on delivery fees for food, ride costs and more.
In a lawsuit against Uber filed in San Francisco, the FTC said that Uber claimed that Uber One users would save roughly $25 a month and made it seem like cancellation is easy.
However, the FTC alleges that the cancellation process takes users through as many as 23 screens and requires up to 32 actions.
“Americans are tired of getting signed up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel,” said Andrew Ferguson, FTC chairman.
“The Trump-Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the American people.”
However, Uber said the claims made regarding the cancellation process are false.
“[C]ancellations can now be done anytime in-app and take most people 20 seconds or less,” said Uber spokesperson Ryan Thornton in a statement seen by the BBC. Prior to the new cancellation process, Uber One users had to contact support within 48 hours of their next billing period, but this is no longer the protocol.
“We are disappointed that the FTC chose to move forward with this action, but are confident that the courts will agree with what we already know: Uber One’s sign-up and cancellation processes are clear, simple, and follow the letter and spirit of the law,” spokesperson Noah Edwardsen said.
The FTC has also accused Uber of signing up users to Uber One without their consent, citing a case of a user being charged the subscription without having signed up.
However, Uber denied the claim, saying that it “does not sign up or charge consumers without their consent”, added Edwardsen.
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