The Federal Trade Committee filed a lawsuit on Monday against Uber, arguing that the giant of the route and delivery are charging customers for the Uber One subscription service without their consent. The lawsuit also claims that Uber has failed to deliver the savings that they promised to its subscription service and made it strangely difficult for users to cancel despite the promises of “cancellation at all times”.
Uber denied any offense and accused the FTC of rushing the investigation process and based on her claims on “unnecessary claims”.
The lawsuit comes after the FTC has pushed the companies with subscription services to facilitate the cancellation of the previous director of Lina Khan. In October 2024, the Agency completed the “Click to Cancel” rule that requires companies to cancel a subscription as easy as registration for one. In spite of the fact Some challenges With industry groups, the rule is expected to take effect on May 14th.
“Americans are tired of registering for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel,” FTC President Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. “FTC Trump-Vance is struggling back on behalf of the American people.”
FTC’s complaint, which is following a survey launched last year, claims that Uber customers have promised incorrect savings of $ 25 a month.
“Even if that was true, Uber does not represent the cost of subscription (up to $ 9.99/month) when calculating these savings,” he reads one statement by FTC. “The company also hides material information about subscription (for example, using a small, grumpy text that consumers can easily lose).”
The complaint accuses Uber of automatically charging consumers who have signed for free trial before their billing date. He also argues that Uber makes “extremely difficult” for customers to cancel, where users can be forced to browse “up to 23 screens and take 32 actions to cancel”. These actions come in the form explaining why they want to cancel, dealing with Uber to encourage them to stop their accession and if they fail, showing offers to stay.
“Some users say they need to contact customer support to cancel, but they are not given any way to communicate with them; others claim that Uber charges them for another billing cycle after requiring cancellation and waiting to hear from customer support,” the FTC said.
Uber clarified that previously, customers who wanted to cancel within 48 hours of their registration date had to contact customer support to cancel. The company says this is no longer the case. TechCrunch has come to learn when Uber informed its policy to allow these customers to cancel in the application.
The plaintiffs are pushing the court to prohibit Uber from continuing his supposed misleading practices and force the company to pay monetary relief.
“We are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to move on with this action, but they are sure that the courts will agree with what we already know: Uber’s registration and cancellation procedures are clear, simple and follow the letter and the spirit of the law,” a spokesman said in a statement. “Uber does not sign or charge consumers without their consent and cancellations can now be done at any time in the application and take most people 20 seconds or less.”
Tim Muris, a former FTC president, who represented Uber during his investigation period, accused the FTC of not doing complete investigation and based on his complaint of “misunderstandings of both events and law”.
Today’s Uber’s external adviser, Christine Wilson, said: “The unusual nature of the hasty exploratory process preceding this enforcement action was worsened by the addition of new and unexpected claims at the last minute.
The Uber One members reached 30 million in 34 countries in 2024 and the company says it is increasing about 60% annually. A year ago, Uber Dara Khosrowshahi CEO estimates that Uber’s participation fees would be “Over $ 1 billion” in 2024.
