By Christopher Elliott
Guest Columnist

Diego Vega is signed up through Uber One. He has no idea how he’s been enrolled in the $9.99 membership, but he does know one this: He wants to unenroll. But how?

Christopher Elliott

I received an offer and an unsolicited credit for an Uber One membership through Capital One. that I never asked for and there is no way I can reject it.

Now Uber is charging me $9.99 per month for something I didn’t want, and what’s worse, I can’t cancel it because Capital One and Uber are unresponsive. Can you please help me find a solution? —- Diego Vega, Miami

Uber One shouldn’t have enrolled you in its program unless you signed up for it. So how did you end up with a membership that you didn’t want?

I wasn’t there when you clicked “accept” — but when I first saw your case, I thought I knew. Uber makes it so easy to become an Uber One member. I’ve seen the “sign up” button on my app almost every time I hail a car. Often, Uber offers a discount on your ride if you sign up. And if you’re in a hurry to get a ride, you might overlook the fine print.

Your Uber One membership offers 5% off eligible rides and orders on food, grocery and alcohol. You also get priority pick-ups and access to special offers. If you’re a heavy Uber user, it might be worth the money, but for you, it probably wasn’t worth the extra money.

Your experience with Uber One was torture. According to the paper trail you provided, Capital One not only signed you up for a $9.99-per-month membership that you didn’t want. It also made it difficult to cancel. And then — and here comes the torture part — it also sent you solicitations asking you how you liked the $9.99 membership that you neither wanted nor could cancel. Come on!

I think it’s fine to make it easy to sign up for a program like Uber One, as long as it’s something you want. It’s not fine to make it impossible to leave the program. Again, I wasn’t there when you tried to unenroll. But companies should make it as easy to sign off as they do to sign up.

And what if you can’t do it? Well, I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Uber customer service executives and Capital One customer service executives on my consumer advocacy website. A brief, polite email to one of them might have gotten you off the hook. I also publish a few helpful strategies for resolving your own customer service dispute on my site, and those could have helped you get this fixed.

A closer look at your case suggests you didn’t join Uber One. Rather, you signed up for a Capital One card that came with six “free” months of Uber One membership. The fine print noted, “Reminder — once your credited membership period expires, unless you cancel your Uber One monthly membership, your card will be charged each month for membership and you will no longer receive a statement credit. To avoid charges, cancel in the Uber One section of the Uber app or by contacting Uber Support.”

I contacted Capital One on your behalf. A representative reached out to you and helped you cancel your membership. Capital One processed a full refund for your membership fees, too.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (https://elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him at https://elliottadvocacy.org/help/