University of Wisconsin-Madison saw a sea of bright gold Uber One bags on campus Sept. 17-18 as a part of the company’s effort to promote Uber One to students — but some of Uber’s promises about the subscription may be too good to be true.
The bags are a part of Uber’s series of Formula-1-inspired campus activations for Uber One — a paid subscription service that gives you discounts, credits and no delivery fees across the Uber and Uber Eats apps.
In order to get a bag containing snacks, makeup, chargers and other name-brand items affiliated with Uber, students had to scan a QR code and sign up for 12 months of free Uber One — a subscription which Wisconsin joined 22 states in suing Uber for in a December lawsuit, claiming Uber One used deceptive practices to offer the subscription.
“Uber One for students is a membership to save on Uber and Uber Eats, and as a member, if you came to the activation, you actually get 12 months for free, which is insane,” Brand Ambassador Yazmin Pagan told The Daily Cardinal.
Allegedly, despite the “cancel anytime” promises Uber makes, once customers subscribed to Uber One, they are charged without consent prior to the billing date and found difficulties when they attempted to cancel their subscriptions.
According to the federal trade lawsuit, users have to navigate at least seven screens and take as many as 12 actions to cancel a subscription, “if they guess the right paths to use, despite there being no mention of cancellation until the fourth screen.”
Additionally, if users try to cancel within 48 hours of the end of the billing period, they need to navigate up to 23 screens and take as many as 32 actions.
This raises concerns about the 12 free months that Uber One is claiming to offer students; it’s important to check the conditions of the membership and learn the cancellation policies.
What happened at Uber’s activation?
At the activation, students waited in line to play F1 inspired games, the theme of the event coming from the various collaborations that have occurred between Uber and F1.
Pagan told the Cardinal that marketing Uber One through F1 is helpful in “creating the analogy: Uber One is fast, it’s speedy and it allows people to be more accessible.”
Students were also drawn to the event because of the goodie bags offered at the pop-up.
“I was in my math class, and a girl had the goodie bag, and the stuff inside was appealing, so I came to check it out,” Kasey Werachowski, a UW-Madison freshman, told the Cardinal.
Brand Ambassador Marilyn Pelcastre told the Cardinal when students sign up for Uber One, Uber places a one dollar hold on their bank account, but it’s reimbursed.
The pop-up was partly run by UW-Madison students through the Home From College program, which connects students with paid brand opportunities.
“Home From College is an experience for everyone that's here on campus to be able to make good money, do outreach with their fellow students on campus, and represent different brands,” said Student Liaison Amanda Monteiro. “For every major, it’s perfect, because you’re able to make good money, but also be here on campus and be able to get involved.”
