There’s just no other way to say it, Uber [sigh]: You are a big, fat liar.
Investigative reporters for NBC in three separate cities--Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco—all hit the airwaves today with scathing reports of malfeasance from this greedy, multi-national corporation. But we knew that already.
In short, the reports expose the dangers of Uber, which, it turns out, is putting passengers at risk. First, it’s lying about its $1 million insurance coverage by telling passengers they are covered and then, well, not covering them.
Guess that’s one way to avoid getting stuck with the bill.
The other massive lie is about their background checks. One ex-con with a 20-year rap sheet, including burglary and assault, went undercover and applied to get a job as an uberX driver. A few weeks later, she was approved to hit the road and start ferrying passengers.
Here’s what Dave Sutton, spokesman of ‘Who’s Driving You?’ had to say on it all:
“In three separate cities today, Uber has been exposed as the dangerous and irresponsible company it truly is,” Sutton said. “These are very serious reports about felons behind the wheel, injured and uncompensated passengers, and Uber’s lack of insurance coverage. Why would any city official allow uberX, or any other unlicensed ‘ridesharing’ company, to operate in their city given these scathing reports? How could any city feel safe? The only responsible course of action now is for cities to enforce an immediate halt to these predatory and dangerous transportation companies.”
Uber, that uber-savvy social media maven, has been uber-quiet on the entire issue. They haven’t tweeted anything about their company since April 23 (they’ve only sent tweets to users regarding their rides). They haven’t issued a statement refuting the news reports, either.
Uber’s deafening silence may well be because its 12-person public policy team isin Europe at the moment trying to figure out what the hell went wrong with their plans for world domination. After all, Brussels and Berlin have banned Uber, while taxi drivers in Paris protest and Spanish drivers threaten a countrywide strike. Looks like your Eurorail trip across Europe is getting cut short, Uber!
Whatever the reason for their silence, Uber is appearing less and less like a panzer division rolling into undefended cities and more like a company under attack, hunkered down in the bunker. And that’s a good thing, for anyone concerned about safety.
We’ve had enough of the lies.