Bengaluru Man Criticises Urban Company's 'Dark' Subscription Tactics, App Designer Responds

In a recent uproar, a man from Bengaluru stepped forward to criticise Urban Company’s user interface (UI), alleging that his 60-year-old father fell victim to the app’s ‘dark patterns,’ unknowingly subscribing to their premium plan. Chandra Ramanujan, a Bengaluru-based designer, took to social media to criticise the company’s design choices, sparking a response from the app’s designer.

The issue arose when Ramanujan recounted, “My dad (late 60s, not tech savvy) got confused by one of the worst dark patterns I’ve ever seen inside the Urban Company app, and ended up paying for UC plus even though he didn’t mean to. They automatically add a 6 month membership to your cart and make it confusing to remove.” He accompanied his statement with a screenshot illustrating the perplexing UI prior to the checkout process.

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So, what’s the issue with the UI? Well, when a user books a service, it is added to their cart, which then opens with a prompt about the app’s ‘Plus’ services and subscription. However, the problem arises here. The 6-month subscription is automatically added to the cart, increasing the total cost of the selected services. While there is an option to opt out of the subscription, the ‘Call to Action’ (CTA) is in red, saying, “No, I will pay full price.”

Choosing this option removes the subscription amount the user never intended to add. So, if users are in a hurry, they’re likely to overlook the fine print, and with the red CTA signalling caution, they might dismiss it altogether.

Ramanujan highlighted this issue by attaching a screen recording showing the confusing process. He criticised it as “basket sneaking,” emphasising that it is illegal.

Following Ramanujan’s post, others in the comments joined in criticising Urban Company for deceiving customers with their poor design. One user pointed out, “The option of not paying for plus is in red so it feels like the wrong option to pick. Not sure if it was meant to be a dark pattern but there could have been a clearer distinction here for sure.” Another added, “Thats why i trust this app very low. I can see dark patterns all over the app. Clear approach of being business first instead of being user first.”

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The viral post eventually caught the attention of Urban Company’s Director of Design, Amit Jaglan, who pledged to right the wrongs: “As a principle, we always strive to do right by our users and our partners. We will fix this by next week, Tuesday.” He assured that post-fix, no plan would be auto-selected, the CTA wouldn’t be in red, and would instead read, “Maybe later.”

That’s the power of social media, you see!