The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has just filed a lawsuit against Uber, the most important mobility company, accusing it of charging users for its Uber One subscription service without their consent and of making the cancellation process more complicated (intentionally, moreover). This agency claims that Uber not only failed to fulfill the savings promises associated with the subscription but also used some shady tactics to trap consumers into unwanted subscriptions. Are we facing a violation of consumer protection laws?

The hidden strategy behind Uber One

According to the lawsuit that has been filed, Uber had promised its users a savings of $25 per month by subscribing to Uber One, but they forgot to mention a small detail: that amount did not include the price of the monthly fee (yes, you have to pay month to month to belong to Uber One, did you know that? They did not either) and this cost goes up to $9.99!

Well, that is not the whole story, the worst part of this news (and the main reason for the complaint) is that they had slightly omitted the details of the conditions, in short, they knew perfectly well what they were doing but wanted to deceive the public because these details were included in very small and barely visible text.

But, to top it all, many customers claim that they did not even know they had signed up for this platform because they did not even have an active Uber account. What is going on then?

Lack of clear consent

The FTC also points out that Uber charged the subscription before the free trial period it offered ended, and although in theory users could cancel at no cost, in practice many found that the platform had charged them for the subscription long before the trial period ended.

As expected, these practices, according to the Commission, break the basic rules of explicit consent required by the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA).

Cancelling a subscription: an almost impossible mission

Another of the most serious points denounced by the FTC is that cancelling the subscription was extremely difficult.

According to the complaint, to cancel the service some users had to navigate through up to 23 screens and perform 32 different actions… Which certainly seemed like a scam to them.

In many cases, Uber asked customers to explain why they wanted to cancel, offered membership pauses as an alternative, or simply sent them to contact a customer service… that did not provide clear means of contact…

The goal: wear down the consumer

Some testimonies collected in the complaint state that even after requesting cancellation and waiting for a response, Uber charged them for another billing cycle…

This strategy is known as “dark patterns”, and it is a tactic recognized for making it difficult to leave a service and artificially increasing customer retention, something that the law explicitly prohibits. So… what was Uber playing at?

What rules would Uber have violated?

According to the FTC, Uber’s actions violate:

• The Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits deceptive or unfair practices.
• The Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA), which requires transparency and ease of cancelling subscriptions.
• The complaint was approved with an internal vote of 2-0-1 (with one recusal) and filed with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

An important precedent for the future of subscriptions

The action against Uber is part of a broader effort by the Trump-Vance administration to protect consumers against abusive practices that some companies carry out with subscriptions. More and more users are complaining that subscribing to a service is very easy, but cancelling it becomes a real odyssey when it should not be that way.

If the lawsuit succeeds, it could set a precedent for the rest of the companies and force them to facilitate their cancellation policies.

We will have to wait and see what happens with Uber first, but for now, the conclusion we can draw is that they wanted extra profits.