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)