Uber admits to misleading Australian users about ride cancellation fees

Uber admits to misleading Australian users about ride cancellation fees

Updated

A federal court has ruled that Uber should be fined $500,000 ($9,000) for misleading Australian riders about cancellation fees.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has ordered the company to pay $500,000 to an Australian woman who was charged $153 for taking her Uber to a ride instead of the normal $75 for a regular ride.

Ms McCarthy is appealing the decision on the grounds the company’s marketing tools have not been properly tested and the company has been transparent with US regulators.

Fines have been issued to Uber for misleading other users, including US consumers, about an incident in which Ms McCarthy was told she’d pay $150 for a June 30 Uber ride with a flat rate of $10.

Uber is also owed $186,000 by the Australian Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who say the company has taken advantage of increasingly aggressive enforcement of its rules.

ACLU Victoria’s Caroline Ashcraft said it was important that Uber’s marketing tools were properly tested, and she was “seriously concerned” about the way the company showed consumers about its policy.

“When you have a company willing to deceive you and mislead you about your own policy, it’s not just about whether you’re on a smartphone or not, it’s about how much you pay for a trip.

“It’s going to be a waste of money and some people are going to be confused by the company’s policy and they’re going to go to their bank account to take a few dollars of their money out of Uber’s bank account.”

The woman said paying the $150 charge on July 24, instead of the normal $75, added to her frustration over the stigma Uber has felt to treat its customers.

“I think that people will be quite disappointed that there is a decision that the company did not comply and that behind closed doors the group has a message that they are not fit for work,” she said.

“I think that it’s really frustrating.”

Ms McCarthy said she felt “despised” for the woman’s experience.

“I don’t think there’s anything that people could do that would make me feel safer in this workplace,” she said.

“I feel so unsafe that when I go out there out and work and take my lunch out, the things that are asked of me also aren’t going to make me feel safe.”

The woman added she had been told that “the social science evidence” supports the notion women are more likely to be misbehaving in the workplace.

“So I feel like the right thing to do is go out and write down that and see what can be done to support women and break up these businesses that are recruiting them because of this culture of fraud,” she said.

Ms McCarthy said there could be a case for the company to be fined $500,000 if it was found to be misleading about its services, but at a time when the company is scrambling to move faster on its new Immigrant Visa system.

The company said it was looking into whether the woman’s complaint was true and if she could visit a lawyer if she wanted.

Topics: travel-and-tourism, changes-and-cases-and-cases, law-crime-and-justice, industry, law-crime-and-justice, australia

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