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Attorney General Platkin Announces Lawsuit Against Uber for Consumer Protection Violations
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The states are joining the lawsuit first filed by the Federal Trade Commission in April 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit alleges that Uber used a variety of deceptive and unfair practices in offering and selling Uber One subscription services, which Uber promotes as saving money on rides and deliveries, and then making it extremely difficult to cancel the service, once enrolled. “Too often, companies looking to sell you on the idea of convenience and the opportunity to save money are doing so with one hand already in your wallet,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Canceling a subscription service should not force you through a byzantine process that requires clicking through two dozen screens or more, only to have to repeat the process. We’ll continue to fight to ensure that all New Jerseyans are protected from deceptive and unfair corporate practices that cost them their hard-earned money.” “This lawsuit describes, in painstaking detail, how people felt trapped and scammed by this service, and how it was almost impossible to leave,” said DCA Acting Director Elizabeth M. Harris. “New Jersey has among the strongest consumer protection laws in the nation, and those laws protect against the types of corporate behavior laid out here.” An Uber One subscription typically costs $9.99 a month or $96 a year. Uber One renews automatically and charges consumers’ credit cards or debits their bank accounts directly on a recurring basis. The company claimed that Uber One customers can “cancel anytime” without additional fees, but the lawsuit illustrates how, for most subscribers, canceling the service is extraordinarily difficult. The complaint cites many instances where consumers said they were stuck in circuitous loops navigating an endless array of screens while attempting to cancel. In fact, consumers have gone through as many as 23 screens and have been forced to take at least 32 actions—including scrolling, clicking, and typing—in order to submit a cancellation request. Consumers then must wait for an Uber customer service representative to respond to their request and process their cancellation. But even consumers who have found their way to the cancellation support queue have often been unable to promptly cancel or avoid being charged due to excessively long hold times: consumers often report waiting hours or up to a full day to receive a response from Uber, and that they were already billed for the next payment in the interim. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that Uber improperly used negative option marketing tactics when it offered free trial subscriptions, a practice that automatically charges consumers if they do not cancel a free trial. A negative option is an offer in which the seller treats a consumer’s silence—their failure to reject an offer or cancel an agreement—as consent to be charged for goods or services. The complaint also alleges that Uber charged consumers before their billing date, including users whose free trial has not yet ended, and that consumers were enrolled in the service without their knowledge. The lawsuit seeks restitution, as well as penalties, costs, and an injunction against Uber for alleged violations of New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act and the federal Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act. New Jersey consumers who wish to file complaints regarding Uber One can do so online, or by writing to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 45025, Newark, New Jersey 07101. In addition to New Jersey, the state coalition, led by Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, includes the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as the District Attorney for Alameda County. |
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