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DISNEY REPORTEDLY ELIMINATING METAVERSE DIVISION IN COST PURGE





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 3. Internet/Online Services


A DRIVER SPENT $180,000 TO START AN UBER BLACK BUSINESS. THEN THE COMPANY
DEACTIVATED HIS ACCOUNT.

Last Updated: March 11, 2023 at 7:59 a.m. ET First Published: March 10, 2023 at
4:10 p.m. ET
By

LEVI SUMAGAYSAY

  comments


UBER REVERSES ITS DECISION AND REACTIVATES DRIVER AFTER BEING CONTACTED BY
MARKETWATCH

UBER DEACTIVATED MIGUEL ABREU’S ACCOUNT IN DECEMBER AFTER HE HAD DRIVEN SEVEN
YEARS FOR THE COMPANY, BUT RECENTLY REACTIVATED IT AFTER MARKETWATCH CONTACTED
THE COMPANY ABOUT HIS CASE.

Miguel Abreu/Special to MarketWatch
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UBER
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Miguel Abreu, a ride-hailing driver, bought a Chevy Tahoe for about $80,000 last
summer. He spent about $10,000 getting a commercial license and hiring an
accountant to set up a luxury Uber Black business, then bought a Mercedes for
$90,000 and lined up another driver for that vehicle. Then, in early December,
Uber Technologies Inc. deactivated his account.

Abreu, of Lynn, Mass., told MarketWatch the company kicked him off the Uber
UBER, -0.36% app permanently because it suspected he was splitting his account,
meaning two people were driving for one account.

One day, Uber asked Abreu to prove he was at the airport, so he sent the company
a photo of himself. He was then told the photo’s metadata showed him as being
somewhere else. That somewhere else was on an island unreachable by car,
pointing to an obvious mistake, he said. Yet after seven years of driving for
Uber, he found his account deactivated.


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Abreu tried to plead his case a few times by going to the company’s office in
Saugus, Mass.

“How could that be?” Abreu said he told Uber. “You know I’m an Uber Black
driver. I bought this expensive car; I got a commercial license. I shouldn’t
just be deactivated.” Uber Black is the company’s premium service — which, among
other things, requires drivers to have higher ratings, commercial licenses and
newer cars, and lets passengers reserve rides up to 30 days in advance.

Abreu is just one of many drivers who face deactivations by gig companies like
Uber at any moment. The issue is common and widespread enough that some states,
such as New York, New Jersey and Washington, have enacted laws that include
provisions on deactivation processes. It is mentioned in a proposed ordinance in
Chicago, as well as in proposed legislation in Massachusetts — the only state in
the nation that conducts an additional background check for drivers in addition
to the one carried out by ride-hailing companies, and that also can play a role
in deactivations if it deems it necessary.


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See: ‘If they can win here, they can win anywhere’: The next battleground for
Uber and Lyft is Massachusetts, where drivers are fighting for the right to
unionize

New: Uber, Lyft, DoorDash win as appeals court upholds California’s Prop. 22

Abreu said the person at the Uber office told him he had sent an appeal, and
that it had been insufficient to reopen his account. But he hadn’t actually sent
an appeal, he said.

“I left the Uber office pretty unhappy,” Abreu said. “I had invested so much in
this effort. So I went back to Uber the next day. I was so dumbfounded, I asked
them to please check everything.”



He said he tried to figure out what else could’ve contributed to his
deactivation. The 42-year-old native of the Dominican Republic had recently
become a U.S. citizen. Might that have something to do with it?

“The woman who showed me all the information Uber had said it had to be a
mistake because [the photo indicated] ‘you were on an island where cars can’t
go,'” Abreu recounted. The woman said she would ask for the decision about his
account to be reconsidered, he said.

After a week, he went back to the office and was told his deactivation was final
and permanent. Not long after that, he gave up on contacting Uber. He had also
driven for Lyft Inc. LYFT, -1.96%, so he continued doing that.


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This week, MarketWatch asked Uber for comment about Abreu’s situation. Within
two days, a spokesperson said the company had reversed its decision to
deactivate him, which appeared to be based on suspicion of fraud.

“We approach any deactivation decision with caution and consideration,”
spokesperson Austen Radcliff said. “Drivers are also able to appeal eligible
deactivations, which includes submitting additional evidence. We’re committed to
listening to drivers and continuing to make our processes better.”

Also: ‘Sometimes, there is no way for drivers to prove their innocence’: Rules
seek to address apps banning gig workers

And: Uber and Lyft drivers are facing discrimination from customers — and
getting banned from the apps, report finds

Abreu said he was able to return to driving on the Uber app the same day, and
plans to try to restart his Uber Black business. He had to sell the Mercedes
after his account was deactivated, but he plans to buy a less-expensive vehicle
and find another driver for that one. Because it has been months since Abreu’s
deactivation, he said, the driver he had previously lined up to drive for his
business — essentially to become his partner and share earnings, as he provides
the vehicle and commercial insurance — had to find another job.

While Abreu expressed gratitude about being reactivated on Uber, he said what
happened to him was arbitrary and calls for action. He said he will continue to
support fellow drivers in pushing for proposed legislation in Massachusetts that
aims to give drivers collective-bargaining power.

“What happened to me shouldn’t happen to anybody else,” Abreu said. “We need
protections.”


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FTX FOUNDER SAM BANKMAN-FRIED CHARGED WITH BRIBING CHINESE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:
COURT DOCUMENT

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE IS HEADED FOR A ‘REAL MESS’ BUT COULD AVERT FINANCIAL
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3 CYBERSECURITY THREATS THAT INVESTORS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

SHOULD THERE BE AGE LIMITS FOR DRIVERS? DICK VAN DYKE’S CAR CRASH IN MALIBU
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APPLE COO SELLS $30 MILLION IN STOCK AFTER SHARES GAIN 22% OVER FIRST QUARTER

Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams sold $30 million in stock last week
in what one expert deemed an "opportunistic" move by the longtime executive.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Levi Sumagaysay


Levi Sumagaysay is a senior reporter at MarketWatch in San Francisco. A longtime
Silicon Valley tech reporter, she covers the gig economy, inequality and
corporate accountability.



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