In litigation challenging various Uber misconduct, plaintiffs point out that Uber’s investors have begun to mark down their investments in the companies. Vanguard and T. Rowe Price reportedly marked down their shares by as much as 15%. Plaintiffs say that Uber’s loss in market capitalization was at least $18 billion.
Claimed to be an “information society service,” but regulator said actually a transportation service
Seeking to avoid regulations from individual countries in Europe, Uber argued that it is an “information society service” that could only be regulated in accordance with Europe-wide procedures. In a May 2017 decision, the European Court of Justice said that Uber “falls within the field of transport” and therefore “Uber can … be required to obtain the necessary licenses and authorizations under law.”
Texas firemen retirement fund claims Uber misled them about risks and law-breaking
In a lawsuit, the Irving Firemen’s Relief & Retirement Fund alleges that Uber and its former CEo Travis Kalanick knowingly misled them while raising funds, including failing to disclose that the company had broken laws.
The lawsuit chronicles a variety of Uber improprieties including “Greyball” evasion of law enforcement, “Hell” tracking of rivals, allegations of intellectual property theft from Google, sexual harassment and other human resources violations, knowingly renting out recalled and unsafe vehicles, and theft of a passenger’s medical records.
The lawsuit seeks class-action treatment for Uber investors.
San Francisco Police Department finds that Uber and Lyft drivers committed 65% of downtown traffic violations
At a hearing, Commander of Municipal Transportation for the San Francisco Police Department Robert O’Sullivan, reported that Uber and Lyft drivers were cited for the majority of traffic violations in downtown San Francisco. In particular, he reported that on the dozen tags SFPD studied, Uber and Lyft drivers caused 1723 of 2656 violations, 65%.
The most common violations resulted from using transit-only lanes (authorized for use by buses and taxis but not Uber or Lyft) (1144 violations). The second-most common category was obstructing a bicycle lane (183 violations).
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin remarked on the seriousness of the situation and added that “We should take this to the state attorney general.”
Stripped of license to operate in London because “not fit and proper”
In September 2017, Transport for London informed Uber that TfL will not renew Uber’s license to operate in London after September 30, 2017. TfL summarized its concern as Uber being “not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license” based on a series of deficiencies including:
- Its approach to reporting series criminal offenses
- Its approach to how medical certificates are obtained
- Its approach to how Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks are obtained
- Its approach to explaining the use of Greyball in London, software that could be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to the app and prevent officials from undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the ruling was appropriate because “companies must play by the rules.”
Uber appeared like to challenge the ruling in court, and could continue operation during litigation.
Encouraged passengers to circumvent Buenos Aires ban on payments to Uber
After Buenos Aires banned local credit card processors from providing payment to Uber, the company encouraged passengers to circumvent the ban by using prepaid card use, offering a 25% discount on rides paid with foreign prepaid cards, and sending an email to local users telling them about the required procedure.
Promotion perpetuated gender stereotypes
In India, an UberEats promotion offered a discount on food delivery, suggesting that a customer “let your wife take a day off from the kitchen” and thus presuming that all cooking is done by women and not men. Readers criticized Uber’s promotion as perpetuating gender stereotypes.
Investigation for possible bribes to foreign officials
The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Justice opened an investigation into whether Uber bribed foreign officials, in violation of US law (the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). Uber said it was cooperating with the investigation.
Fuel Card charged drivers for unauthorized purchases; Uber refused to investigate
Uber provided some drivers with “fuel cards” usable for gasoline, carwashes, and other services, at a discount, with charges deducted from future Uber earnings. Multiple drivers reported unauthorized charges posting to their cards.
When drivers reported the problem to Uber, Uber told them that records indicated that the charges were requested with the driver’s PIN, so Uber declined to investigate or look up the charges. (One Uber response: “We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. I have checked our system and it shows that your PIN Code was entered for each transaction that you have mentioned. Since your PIN Code is unique to your Fuel Card, it is not eligible to file a dispute.”) But some drivers found that charges could be made without PINs. Moreover, skimmers and concealed surveillance devices allow attackers to obtain driver card details and PINs without authorization.
Drivers who requested a phone number for the fuel card issuer — necessary to file police reports in some jurisdictions — were rebuffed by Uber, whose staff said they contacted the issuer only by email.
Drivers report never receiving terms and conditions for the fuel card, noting that no such terms were included in the postal envelope that delivered the card. Requests for the terms through Uber support and in-person visits to Uber local offices were also unsuccessful. However, fine print on the back of each card said drivers were bound by the terms.
Representative complaints from Uber drivers on online discussion boards and social media:
• “I do not use the Uber Fool Card”
• “Veteran drivers call it the Uber Fool Card.”
• “I should have never gotten that damn Uber fuel card.”
• “HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH THE GAS CARD BULL$h!t AGAIN!!! F$%) ME!!”
• “Just cancelled my Uber fuel card because it took a huge chunk out of my earnings for this past week and left me with nothing but chump change, which I spent on gas. I’m better off using my debit card to pay for gas.” (=
Some drivers explained in greater detail:
UBER SHOULD BE ASHAMED BECAUSE INSTEAD OF INVESTIGATING THEY ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO COVER THIS UP!,, I have been trying to get UBER to correct the fuel card issue but they only blew it off saying the excuse about the driver pin code which is the pin that can be cloned and UBER has had the same issues across the USA! They haven’t investigated a video I sent that showed the tall male of Caucasian or Hispanic descent using the card on a NON-UBER vehicle that was a totally different color.
My fraudulent charges are now totaling over $400. This all started on March 22 and I still have not been refunded! They keep telling me that they are waiting on the credit card company to finish their investigation. I have filed a claim with my local police department and they said since the fraud happened in another state they couldn’t do anything so I should file a complaint with the DOJ. In order to do that you have to have a phone number of the company you are filing a complaint against so I asked Uber to give me the credit card company’s contact info. They said that they didn’t have it and that they only dealt with them through email. You know this is a lie because how would they not have the contact info for a company they do business with.
An August 29, 2017 report from The Capitol Forum (paid subscription required) analyzed these concerns and tabulated these and 30+ additional driver complaints.
Passengers claim they were wrongly charged cleaning fees
Numerous passengers reported being charged cleaning fees, $50 to $150 or more, despite not making messes. Drivers can report that passengers caused messes (spilled drinks, urine, vomit, etc.) and receive compensation. But Uber has limited methods to assess whether drivers’ reports are accurate. Some passengers claimed that drivers sent false pictures or pictures taken on other occasions.
The Better Business Bureau said it has received more than 130 complaints about cleaning fees.