ajl1239

Today, I took a "Pool" ride in Atlanta. I ran to the pick-up spot, because it said the driver was just four minutes away. After waiting 15 minutes, the driver -- who I could see was camped out at a fast food restaurant -- asked where I was and then asked if I could walk to the fast food restaurant. (Um, nope! I'm at the pick-up spot, and if I leave that spot, you can just cancel on me for not being there!) When the driver finally picks me up -- about 20 minutes after the original pick-up time -- the driver starts telling me they're having a bad day and their car needed to have the battery replaced, but then the mechanic broke something while replacing the battery. We drive a bit and the driver complains about the GPS being wrong all the time, drives down a side road, and then their car dies in the middle of the road. The driver gets out and puts up the hood, and then asks me to get in the driver's seat and help her -- I decline, because I don't want to be involved with her vehicular issues and/or risk being accused of breaking something or hurting the driver, if something goes wrong. I cancel the ride, snap a picture of the car with the hood up -- the license plate is visible, so Uber can see it's the driver's broken car -- and then walk to a new coffee shop, since I was now miles away from intended destination that I had entered in the app.

On top of being charged the full fare ($6.90), I'm charged *extra* when I cancel, and get a $8.40 total charge to my Uber Cash. (Unfortunately, I paid with Uber Cash, so I can't contest the charge.) I think that fixing this will be easy, since I took a picture of the driver with the hood up, but instead of any help, I go into Uber customer service hell, and they refuse to refund me for a ride that did not take me anywhere near my final destination and involved a dead car.

tl;dr: Uber driver's car breaks down in middle of road miles from my destination, I snap a picture of the broken car and license plate, and Uber refuses to provide a refund.

Absurd.

ijgordon

File a claim in small claims court? Out of principle, of course.

strife

That is crazy bad. Uber has been really good about refunding fares when I complain but this story gives me pause. Of course if you attempted a chargeback through your credit card I suspect Uber would just suspend your account.

ajl1239

I can't do a chargeback, because I paid with "Uber Cash" -- some gift card value I had on the account.

As of yesterday, they said they would refund in full -- I filed a complaint about the car quality -- but I have yet to get an updated receipt or see the money returned, and when I contact them, they go back to denying that I should receive a refund.

Uber's customer service is appalling and crazy.

ajl1239

Still no refund.

arollins

Hmm, waiting 20 minutes for pick up? on what should have been a 3-5 minute pick up I presume? An Express pool as well, correct? The driver should have canceled when things went south on her, and stop new request. You should have also canceled when driver did not show up, and argue with uber about the DRIVER NOT THERE, instead, you took the ride, and end it in another location. technically, you should still pay for the ride you took, since you did indeed waited to take it. You can claim against uber with the pictures you took, and their awesome customer service people will help.

ajl1239

What? Paying for a ride that left me stranded in the middle of nowhere is *worse* than not having taken the ride. But, yes, I should have cancelled when I saw the lady was more concerned about eating fast food than picking me up.

Did you read the thread? Uber has some of the world's worst customer service. It is not "awesome." Are you trolling me?

ajl1239

This morning, after yet another attempt to get a refund, Uber now claims there was "miscommunication" -- they told me I would get a full refund on the 17th -- and they will not provide a refund.

Uber can play these games in the United States, where the government lets corporations abuse citizens, but if this keeps happening in the European Union, Uber is going to be screwed.

davie355

OP, your situation basically happened to me, except instead of the car breaking down, the driver mistakenly ended the trip in the middle of the journey. I couldn't walk anywhere so I was forced to request another ride during surge pricing. I got a partial refund and ended up out of pocket for a lot more money than the quote for my original trip.

I had no luck pushing Uber's customer service and just wrote this off as the cost of being a customer with Uber.

ajl1239

I am done being a customer with Uber in the United States, where the Uber service is some of the worst in the world. I'll keep the app on my phone to use when traveling abroad -- especially in some developing countries -- but, in the United States, I will just use Lyft (and I'll try to use that as little as possible as well).

I don't want to risk having a driver invent a fake vomit fee or engage in some other fraud, and then have Uber tell me that they won't give a refund, because of some BS reason.

TravelLawyer

ajl1239

Yeah, I've already done that, both publicly and privately. Not because the $8 is a big deal for me, but because I think it's grotesque that Uber can do this over and over and over again -- systematically robbing thousands of customers. In short, it's the principle.

ajl1239

Update: provided with a refund for the ride and a $20 complimentary credit. Probably not worth the effort/energy I took to get it, but I hate being abused by a giant corporation

Kamalaasaa

ijgordon

The Attorney General office is a good place.