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FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

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Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#231

Post by switch007 »

I'm glad we over here have decent public transport, large non-Uber taxi companies, excellent pre-prepared food in supermarkets with high food standards, sidewalks ...

If Uber banned me it would be the mildest of inconveniences. Every airport has an established taxi company (sure, wouldn't be as cheap but I wouldn't be stood up for 45 minutes to 1 hour at night) and some form of public transport. Each city and town still has established taxi companies. Many takeaways still take orders directly.

The answer isn't to try to make a crappy capitalistic company less crappy by slapping their wrists, it's to provide competition and use it

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#232

Post by mailund »

MaKey wrote: post #139
nradov wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still can't fathom why so many customers voluntarily subject themselves to abuse by food delivery services. Overpay for cold, late food (which the driver might have already sampled). I mean I can sort of understand the use case for customers who are stuck at home due to illness or something. But I've seen plenty of young people in good health waste scarce funds on UberEats and similar services. Why? When I want tak…

The last time I checked I just had to pay 1,50€ extra compared to ordering directly with the restaurant. The delivery itself is free with Uber One. Getting your food delivered for 1,50€ seems pretty cheap to me.

that seems to be so cheap that at least one of {customer, delivery driver, restaurant} must be getting shafted for the business model to be profitable

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#233

Post by [deleted] »

acdha wrote: post #74
alfalfasprout wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you can't use it anymore... that's kind of a problem when there's a duopoly in the rideshare space.

The answer to that problem is not giving them more money. They’re going to use that money to try to drive competitors out of the market and lobby for laws which harm riders and drivers.

[deleted]

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#234

Post by watwut »

rd wrote: post #92
Forgeties79 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a city? Cabs, busses, bikes, trains...

Don't be intentionally obtuse - even for people living in a place with public transport as encompassing as say NYC, you _need_ some form of ride-sharing service eventually in day-to-day life. Being banned from the duopoly of ride-share services is a life-altering thing to happen.

I wonder how it was possible to live before ride sharing services. Like common, they are convenient, but not a life necessity. In a city with a good public transport, taxi usage was rare.

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#235

Post by MaKey »

mailund wrote: post #232
MaKey wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I checked I just had to pay 1,50€ extra compared to ordering directly with the restaurant. The delivery itself is free with Uber One. Getting your food delivered for 1,50€ seems pretty cheap to me.

that seems to be so cheap that at least one of {customer, delivery driver, restaurant} must be getting shafted for the business model to be profitable

I'm not sure how it's working. Maybe Uber is currently eating a part of the costs to gain market share. They handed out very generous 4x 15€ coupons last year for new users. That was when I signed up for Uber Eats.

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#236

Post by delfinom »

csharpminor wrote: post #80
teeray wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst thing is that you can't even do a chargeback, otherwise you get banned. There is no recourse for the consumer. If this is their solution for fighting chargebacks, they should get banned from accepting Visa / MC / AMEX.

Another sketchy practice: if you get Uber Cash through a card like Amex, when you go to use it the price for the ride is automatically $15-$20 more than someone who doesn’t have an Uber Cash balance. I’ve checked this side by side with colleagues at the airport getting ride quotes to the same hotel. When you have Uber Cash they will quote you more. You can find numerous Reddit threads on the topic as well. This feels…

Hahaha.

Play with any Uber promo code they may give you via physical mailer or otherwise.

Open Uber in two browsers. Apply the promo code in one, don't in the other.

Watch as they increase the service fees when using the promo code to basically equal the other non-promo order.

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#237

Post by acdha »

bdangubic wrote: post #162
Spooky23 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cabbies and barmen. My family owned bars, my grand uncle always said he would fire honest bartenders, because there’s no such thing, and he’s too smart to work for him. :)

geeeeez, you guys are making it sound like going to Rome is like going to ____ ( I don’t want to offend any City here… :) ).

I had a great time there, but maybe that’s because I never used a cab.

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#238

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #7
laweijfmvo wrote: post #5

> Users can be forced to navigate as many as 23 screens and take as many as 32 actions to cancel. I complain about dark patterns _a_lot_ but this one takes the cake!

Still better than having to call

There is common sense legislation that exists out there that is extremely simple: just require that you must allow users the exact same methodology and as easy to cancel as they did to sign up. Signed up with 3 clicks online? Need to be able to cancel with 3 clicks online. No exceptions.

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#239

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

ivape wrote: post #14

Anecdote: Uber Eats markets a 2 for 1 deal that I would have only ordered due to the deal. They always add both items when you take the deal to the cart, but they suddenly changed it. I didn't realize I had to manually add both, and only had one delivered. I called them up and they only refunded a portion, and not the whole thing without accounting for the fact that it was an opportunity cost for me. I would have jus…

I haven’t seen anyone mention yet what is in my opinion the worst Uber Eats dark pattern: there is a screen to confirm your basket and then a screen that prompts you to place your order directly afterwards. Well, they inserted an identical Uber one trial right in between there and made all the buttons identical and the same size. In practice what this means is that users who are just tapping through to confirm an order will inadvertently sign up for an Uber One trial

Re: FTC takes action against Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices

#240

Post by amalcon »

AdieuToLogic wrote: post #154
dghlsakjg wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it becomes a systemic problem, the CC companies will absolutely drop merchants or entire industries. CC companies, especially in the states, almost always favor the cardholder over the merchant.

FWIW, "CC companies" are banks. Visa/MasterCard/Discover/etc are little more than clearing houses. Banks serve as both issuers (to the consumer) and processors (to the merchant), often times both.

You're mostly right, but Discover specifically owns a bank. That bank does underwrite the debt on most Discover cards. Also Amex, but you didn't mention them.
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