App-hailed autos ditch customers, still get paid

When it rains, especially, customers are charged for trips they never made

When it rains, autos and cabs become scarce. Customers encounter another problem: Uber autos start rides without picking them up.

Rides on Uber can begin without a customer as the app does not ask for an OTP.

The customer, still waiting at the start location, is charged for the ride, and the amount is deducted from services such as PayTM, Google Pay or charged on a debit or credit card.

On a rainy Friday night (May 17), a customer booked an Uber auto from MG Road to Lavelle Road. The vehicle didn’t pick her up, but the app showed the ride had begun.

The driver did not pick up calls and completed the ride. Flustered, the customer cancelled the ride and lost Rs 41 in the process.

Two more autos drove away without picking her up. She tried reaching out to customer care: she had already been charged Rs 120. She had to cancel each booking to make the next.

Presumably, the autos get rides from people on the streets hailing them manually. When it rains, many auto drivers demand high fares and get away with it since customers are stranded and desperate.

The Uber app does not have a direct call centre number; you can only to reach them via email or choose the options available in the ‘Help’ section of the app and wait for them to call you back.

The writing of a complaint takes time—you have to mention where the auto was booked, the start and end locations, tracking number and so on.

The support team got back to the customer on Monday, three days after the incident. She had to explain it all over again over a call, and message them a second time.

After a series of messages, the customer received an email saying one of the wrongly charged payments would be refunded, but it would take some days to reach her bank account.

The rest of the wrongly charged fare is yet to be received.

Some penalties are refunded if you choose the option ‘Review my cancellation fee’ on the app, but getting refunds for trips shown as completed is way more complicated.

When Metrolife asked a Uber spokesperson about the problem, the reply was a standard “We will look into it”.

An official mail reads: “At Uber… we stand ready to assist riders and take necessary action in case of any incidents where drivers have started trips beforehand. Moreover, we… have processes in place whereby driver partners are given several warnings before they lose access to the app.”

What can customers do?
In most cases, customers complain to the cab aggregator and wait for the problem to be resolved. Nothing happens after that. Advocate KBK Swamy says such lapses constitute deficiency in service. “The customer has every right to take this matter up legally in a consumer court.” Since the documents are digitised, it is not difficult to file a petition. However, the transport department should look into this and set fair parameters for all cab aggregators, he says.

No call centre
About the absence of a customer care phone number, Uber says: ‘We believe that the technology that we have brought to the riders helps them connect with Uber much faster with just the click of a button, thus reducing the effort of calling a customer care number.’