US regulators have filed a lawsuit accusing Uber of misleading users about promotional savings on its Uber One subscription service and even signing them up without their consent.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged in the complaint that the San Francisco-based company violated the Restore Online Shopper Confidence Act with the tactics in Uber One.
"Americans are tired of signing up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson was quoted by AFP as saying.
"We allege that Uber not only misled consumers about their subscriptions, but also made it unreasonably difficult for customers to cancel them."
Uber One subscribers receive discounts for rides or food deliveries made through the Uber Eats service.
Subscriptions typically cost about $10 a month. According to the complaint, Uber enticed people to sign up with the promise of $25 a month in savings, but that didn't apply to subscription fees.
The FTC attorneys argued that Uber's promise of monthly savings was misleading and that the company made it difficult for consumers to cancel Uber One subscriptions, even though it said they could easily "cancel at any time."
Uber denies signing people up without their consent and claims that most cases of subscriptions being terminated take less than 20 seconds on the app.
"We are disappointed that the FTC has decided to proceed with this action," an Uber spokesperson said. | BGNES, AFP
