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Uber charges man £606 for 243-mile journey he never took
Uber charged a passenger £606 for a five hour journey that the driver made after dropping him off.
Rich Phillips, 27, had ordered a cab from a festival to a nearby bar – a ten mile journey across town – which usually takes 28 minutes. After waking up the next day, he saw his account claim that he had gone on an almost five hour trip from Coventry to London and then on to Nuneaton in Warwickshire, covering 243 miles.
He immediately complained to Uber to explain he was not in the car, even providing timestamped CCTV of him in a bar in Coventry while the taxi he was supposed to be in was in London.
However, Uber initially refused to refund him. The company claimed a passenger was still in the car and ‘all riders must be responsible for their own account activity’.
Corporate partnerships manager Rich, from Coventry, said: ‘I was in complete shock when I saw the charge to my bank account from Uber, especially since I was only in the car for about ten minutes.’ Rich had enjoyed a day out at Coombe Weekender festival with his fiancé, brother and a friend when he ordered an Uber on August 3 last year.
His app record showed that he had ordered an Uber at 10.04pm from Coombe Abbey, Coventry to Gregory Hood Road, Coventry – but it was cancelled by the Uber driver due to crowds. The group walked for a few minutes before ordering another Uber at 10.14pm from Gates, Coventry to The Ivy House, Coventry.
The 10.4 mile journey usually takes 28 minutes, according to Google Maps.
The vehicle made one scheduled stop en route to drop off his brother in Coventry, before continuing to The Ivy House where everyone else got out. CCTV footage shows Rich dressed in a white t-shirt and pale green chinos enjoying drinks in The Ivy House bar with friends between 10.58pm and 3.28am.
However, during the time period, Uber said the driver claimed there was a passenger still in the car, which continued the journey to Frimley in Surrey. The trip was then updated to include a final destination of St Davids Way, Nuneaton – a retail park containing a Holiday Inn hotel, where the journey ended at 3.09am.
Due to Rich booking the trip at a busy time, a surcharge of 1.8 was added to the cost of the journey, leaving him to be charged a total of £606.22 for the ride. Uber told Rich they would not be refunding him as they believed it to be a legitimate trip taken by him.
In messages from Uber to Rich on the app, Uber said: ‘The trip was requested from the device associated with your account, and we see no illegitimate logins from any other device prior to the trip taking place. ‘To further understand what may have happened, we reached out to the partner driver who advised there was more than one passenger in the vehicle and the passengers requested multiple stops along the way.’
However, Uber has since reimbursed his account in full. An Uber spokeswoman said: ‘We are always happy to review a trip if there are concerns about the route taken, and provide a fare adjustment where appropriate. ‘In this case, we apologise that we did not meet our usual high standards of customer care, and the customer has been fully refunded for the trip.’
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