8-2018 Fraud by Uber (a true story)

 Fraud by Uber (a true story)

1. 2018-08-07 : A 68 year old, sick client, books a ride from the client’s home
to Apollo Hospital, for consulting a neurologist, on a serious medical
problem which the client was having , by Uber using Uber App. on his mobile.

2. Uber accepts the call, and assigns a driver for the ride .

3. After several minutes of delay and uncertainty, the driver quietly abandons the
call. The driver, or Uber, give no indication that the call was being aborted,
neither do they give any reason for the same. Consequently, the proposed
ride NEVER took place. The client is put to enormous mental stress and
agony and anxiety. This is a clear case of irresponsible behaviour and
breach of trust.

4. Mysteriously, Uber makes a claim of “Payment pending” for Rs. 57.75,
using the Uber app. , for a trip which never took place.
This tantamounts to deliberate fraud and an act of “adding injury to insult” .

5. The client promptly lodges a protest using the Uber app. and follows up with
sternly worded emails.

6. Uber implicitly accepts the lapse, and responds that the amount collected
is being refunded to the client. Uber however keeps dilly-dallying and tries
its best, to wriggle out of the episode, by trying to call up the client by phone, so as to cover up its lapses and leave no traces.

7. After about 50 sternly worded emails and warning messages and a notice
that the matter will be reported to law enforcement agencies, the disputed
amount of Rs. 57.75 was eventually credited to the client’s bank account.

8. This matter is still far from resolved, since Uber is yet to :
a. Explain in detail why this incident occurred, in the first place.
b. Explain why Uber extracted the payment for a trip which was never
made — a deliberate act of fraud.
c. Offer an open and publicly visible apology for inflicting enormous mental
agony and anxiety to the sick client, by denying him a trip to the hospital.
d. Explain in detail the action taken on the fraudulent driver for his dishonest
and irresponsible behaviour.
e. Give all details of the transfer claimed to have been made by Uber viz.
date on which the transfer was initiated, Transaction Ref. number, Mode of
transfer, amount transferred, Name and designation of the person who
initiated this mysterious transfer.

Read more about the way Uber operates

Get in touch with — drpartha@gmail.com, if you have had any unpleasant experiences with Uber, Hyderabad, India. You have a right to defend yourself.

***

7/2018 Uber dirty games

The games never end .

Here is a new game (this is a true story, it could happen to you) played by Uber, the taxi-cab company. Also read my earlier post, to get the whole picture about Uber.

Consider yourself lucky, if the taxi ditches you, like in this current case. You may have just escaped other horrors like molestation, rape, indecent and rude behaviour, or robbery. You can expect anything from Uber.

To avoid getting hurt by Uber ::

1. Never engage in phone conversations with Uber: They will confuse you and muddle the issue with clever language. You will have no trace of what they told you or what you told them. Use emails, so that you can trace the entire episode chronologically. Do NOT let them wriggle out of all blame, with their clever play of words and cunning falsehoods.
   
2. Never give up : They will try to dilly-dally and delay the matter, until you get fed up. This is exactly what they want. Your persistence can defeat their plans to swindle you and get away with it.
   
3. Always use cashless payments : BHIM-UPI is best, since it has no intermediate agencies (like ewallets etc.) It has no other cost overheads.
   
4. Enable internet banking : You can always cross-check transactions directly with your bank. You can pin down Uber, if they try to bluff you.
   
5. Make screenshots of your booking and the confirmation (driver name and vehicle number): Before you commence the trip, email/share the screenshots with a friend or store a backup copy in your email inbox or cloud storage. This can come in handy, if there is a serious trespass, crime or accident.
   
6. Use social media platforms to warn/alert others.
   
7. Never trust Uber, if your mission is urgent or is time-bound (e.g. catch a flight, board a train, visit the doctor or hospital, appear in an exam) .
   
8. When the taxi arrives to pick you up, make a picture of its number plate and the car body. Copy the picture by email or SMS to a friend. Never mind if the driver sees you doing this. He will know that he can be caught, if there is any incident.
   
9. If your mobile phone gets stolen, snatched away or vandalised while you travel, the fallback copies you made by email or SMS can help you follow up with law enforcement agencies.

Your vigilance and your precautions are your only hope, when you deal with unscrupuluous people.

Moral of the story :

Next time you have to travel for an important reason (e.g. catch a flight, board a train, visit the hospital etc.), you will be better off if you take a bicycle, or hire a bullock cart. Beware of hi-tech swindlers like Uber. Publicly accessible transportation is a vital service, and can often be a matter of life and death. It should not become the unreliable and undependable pastime of dishonest business houses.

As a covert admission of guilt, Uber takes some more steps to protect its clients from its own accomplices/partners. Maybe this is just another eyewash.

There are a hundred other ways Uber (or its drivers) can swindle you .

In any case, take your own precautions. Don’t take chances.

Get in touch with drpartha@gmail.com if you have had any unpleasant experiences with Uber taxis. You have a right to defend yourself, and a duty to warn and alert others.

9-2017 Beware of Uber !

Beware of Uber !

I have experienced fraudulent activities by Uber in Hyderabad, India. I am sure there are many other ways Uber can fleece you. If you know any other ways you have been fleeced, let me know by email drpartha@gmail.com.

1. Uber has no contact centre where a customer can call up, if they have a problem or complaint. The mobile app. used by Uber is defective in many respects and cannot be used for lodging complaints or reporting issues which are not listed in the app. Of course, there is no email address or street address (in India), where a customer can report issues. Their website has only a few limited issues which you can report. You may be sufferiing from an issue not listed in their web pages.

2. When you book a cab, the driver may not even reach your pickup point. Instead, he would report a “no show” and charge a cancellation fee. Although the driver has your contact number, he will not even call up to warn you or alert you that he has been waiting and is aborting the wait and he will charge a “no show” fee. There is no way that a customer can prove that the driver did not reach the pick up point. The customer has no option other than paying the “no show” ransom.

3. When you finish your trip and pay the driver by cash, the driver can still make a claim using your cashless payment option (UPI, ewallet, PayTM). The claim will obviously fail for want of authentication and a “payment pending” notice will hang on your app forever until you pay up.

4. Violating all norms of corporate decency or ethics, Uber has no channel for complaint escalation, appeal, or arbitration. There is no “nodal officer”, “ombudsman” or similar person who can be contacted for grievance redressal.

5. You have no scope for posting your suggestions, remarks, or queries to Uber. So, Uber can do it again and again.

There is no way to complain or raise a dispute, since Uber has insulated itself very cleverly (see point #1 above).

Next time you book an Uber cab, be prepared for some nasty surprises. No wonder they call their drivers as “partners”. A better term would be “accomplices”.

A true story (you don’t want this to happen to you)

24/2012 Lest we forget

Have we forgotten, how he hoodwinked the whole of India,pulled wool over all our eyes, made us believe he was GOD ?

India would have been a better place without Sathya Sai Baba

Sanal Edamaruku
President
Indian Rationalist Association & Rationalist International

When Sathya Sai Baba died this morning (24 April 2011) at the age of 85 years, he proved once again that miracles and predictions fail. He had predicted at a public gathering at his head quarters in Puttaparthy, in 2000, and repeatedly many times, that he would die at the age of 96 only. And till the last moment, many of his devotees clung to his word and waited for a miracle. May it be an eye opener for the millions of gullible people whom he misguided and deluded.

De mortuis nihil nisi bene, they say, say nothing but good of the dead. But I think Sathya Sai Baba’s case qualifies for an exception. Too great is the damage that he did to India. His devastating influence on reason and scientific temper caused huge setback to the country. At a time, when scientific progress led to great social and economic leaps and scientific awakening started spreading all over India, Sathya Sai Baba launched a “counter revolution” of superstition, supported by irresponsible politicians and other public figures who should have known better. In my judgment, this is his greatest crime. I have succeeded again and again to expose him publicly as a fraud, so did some other rationalists. But due to his political protectors he was never held responsible for his crimes against public reason. Nor was he ever booked for any other crime he was accused of. Numerous cases of alleged sexual abuse and murder are yet to be investigated, not to mention the financial secrets of his empire.

Sathya Sai Baba insisted in all seriousness that he was god, the creator of the universe, and “proved” his divinity with a couple of small “miracles”. As son of a village tantric he was familiar with the hand sleights and tricks of the trade. However, he did not only fascinate poor and uneducated villagers with his fraudulent performances. Over the years, he managed to attract a galaxy of India’s rich and powerful, among them ministers, prime ministers, presidents, chief justices, top industrialists and superstars.

Sathya Sai Baba had a special modus operandi that was the key for his astonishing success and the root of his enormous clout. Many of his high society devotees came to serve their own vested interests. Some came to rub shoulders with the prominent. Many joined the club because it was working as a powerful syndicate spreading its tentacles all over the political system. It was a way to the top jobs and a way to get things done. Others were seeking financial support or wanted to get rid of ill-gotten black money: The empire, it is alleged, was based on money laundering, using foreign devotees and branches. In fact, the huge foreign donations to Sai Baba stood in contrast to the comparatively modest number of active foreign devotees and the sometimes quite weak foreign branches, some of them residing in private homes. That is no great surprise, when one considers that Sai Baba did not speak any other language than Telugu and traveled only once in his whole life abroad – to visit his friend Idi Amin in Uganda.

On his 80th birthday, Sai Baba’s supporters announced that he would turn from a miracle man to a philanthropist. That was, after I had demonstrated his miracles so often in TV shows that many kids in the streets could imitate them. That he since spent a part of the great fortunes, swindled out of the gullible, for social development around his ancestral village, is highlighted now to present him as a saint. But as useful and welcome hospitals, schools and drinking water projects for the poor always may be: this kind of alibi-philanthropy is well known even from mafia-bosses. It cannot be weighed against his crimes and the damage he has done to the Indian society.

In December 2005, I wrote a letter to then President Dr. Abdul Kalam, one of Sai Baba’s ardent supporters, which was never answered. I demanded criminal investigations against Sai Baba. If his social development projects are meant to be indulgence to nullify his crimes, this procedure is unprecedented and unacceptable, I wrote. It is a shame for India that well-founded accusations and numerous reputed witnesses against Sai Baba are ignored without any investigation. Do saffron clothes make an offender untouchable for the law? Do we have to tolerate that political protectionism raises its head so boldly, mocking India’s democracy?

Sathya Sai Baba caused great damage to India. His irresponsible political patrons corrupted the political culture of India. Encouraged by the clout of Sathya sai Baba, a new clan of miracle mongers imitated him. India would have been a better place without Sathya Sai Baba.

(This or other articles from the  Rationalist International Bulletin may be reproduced by journals, blogs or web sites without change or alteration in its content, and with due acknowledgment.)

Rationalist International: rationalistinternational@gmail.com

*************

Also see :: http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com

19/2012 Astrology, what will it be next ?

Astrology (aka ass-troll-orgy), what will it be next ?

Recently, I witnessed a video recording of a hilariously ridiculous episode. It was a discussion between Sanal Edamaruku and the Principal of a school in Delhi. The Principal had sponsored an astrologer for career counseling students based on their horoscope. Ridiculous as it may seem, this real episode is the evidence of the weird influence superstitious beliefs can have on seemingly educated people. This made me wonder what else can happen if such weird and baseless belief is allowed to proliferate. Here is a likely scenario :

Next time a criminal is arrested, the police will not make his mugshots or take his fingerprints. They will ask for his date of birth and place of birth, and summon an astrologer to “compute” the criminal’s horoscope. The horoscope will reveal all the crimes he has committed or is likely to commit, including the place and time of the crime and the details of the victim.

When the forensics team visits the site of a murder, they will not look for evidence or fingerprints. They will locate the horoscope of the victim, and predict all details of how he died, and who killed him.

Sounds great, isn’t it ?

Let us train all our Police officers in astrology, and end all crime forever. All sniffer dogs should be replaced by astrologers. Astrologers can predict what sniffer dogs can never locate by sniffing. By training the Police in black magic and witchcraft, we can make them more effective in fighting crime and terrorism.

At all international airports, immigration/emigration officers will not ask you for your passport. One look at your horoscope, and they will tell you where all you have been and what you have been up to. You wont need visas. Your horoscope should be enough.

Life is going to become so very pleasant and predictable for all of us.

It is a pity that such a useful and remarkable science called astrology is not being put to its full use, in our country.

partha

17/2012 The church strikes back

Yet another story of church fanatism.

Sanal Edamaruku (link)

Sanal Edamaruku joins people like Copernicus and Charles Darwin who were also
harassed and humiliated by the all knowing Christian church. Might is not always right. When will our religious goons understand that ?

partha

10/2012 The farce called Vedic Maths

I am now working on a report about Vedic Mathematics (VM). I came across this article, which decided what approach I should take ::

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/art-culture/the-fraud-of-vedic-maths

Another article, by a scientist from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, further confirmed my opinion on VM .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharati_Krishna_Tirtha%27s_Vedic_mathematics

There is more to come on this subject. Watch this space.

4 /2012 HTCY — How they con you

3/2012 How They Con You (HTCY)
The HTCY series of blog posts is a rogues gallery of commonplace fraud, perpetrated by unethical and dishonest and greedy and incompetent vendors and service providers.

The Oxford English Dictionary describes “con” as (noun form) “a confidence trick” The verb form of “con” could mean deceive, swindle etc.

Read these HTCY entries, and be prepared.