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Despite the Profeco sanctions and reviews, the platforms maintain the modality of advance payments to users
Omar Montalvo
Mexico City. – Taxi service applications such as Uber y Didi They have been operating in the country for almost 10 years and since then they have maintained the model of charging users before finishing the trips, different from that of public transport taxis in which charging is done at the end. As announced by the Federal Consumer Protection Agency (Profeco)this method is punishable, since it violates the principle of clarity in the prices of products and services established by the Federal Consumer Protection Law (LFPC), but the companies maintain this model despite the fines ordered.
The LFPC in its article seven establishes that every provider of any service is obliged to inform and respect the prices, which applications such as Uber and Didi do not comply with with advance charges, additional charges at the end of the trip, and in recent months with the seven percent increase in rates that Uber announced without notifying users. The regulations also establish in article five that when charges are made with credit or debit cards, the delivery of the good and service must be made immediately, not before as occurs with trips by application.
Due to the way taxi applications operate in the country, the Profeco has considered on several occasions that they are punishable practices. Uber entered Mexico in 2013, but it was not until 2015 that this service began to be regulated. With the entry of Didi in 2018, the taxi service skyrocketed, but Profeco also warned that several companies took advantage of misleading clauses, which is why it ordered fines of 6 million 484 thousand pesos, of which Uber was responsible for 3 million pesos. Since then, the Uber platform, when faced with user complaints, requests that they first direct the complaint to the company instead of the federal authority.
Mexico City also carried out verifications on the applications. Between 2018 and 2020, the Ministry of Mobility (Semovi) and the Administrative Verification Institute (INVEA) carried out operations on application drivers, which resulted in 41 sanctions for not guaranteeing the safety of passengers, plus the finding that only 143 drivers had a special license for application cars. These reviews have not been resumed due to Uber protection.