More Aussie Uber customers claim to have been unfairly charged $150 cleaning fee

IN JANUARY, we reported on two Uber customers who had been ripped off. Since then, we’ve been inundated with similar stories.

Shelley was refunded her $150 fee after she complained to Uber. Picture: iStock

A MELBOURNE woman has vowed to boycott Uber after a “creepy” experience with a driver ended with her being charged $150 for a mess she claims she never made.

Shelley, whose surname has been withheld, used the ride-sharing app to book an 18-minute, $26.58 journey in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Shelley said the trip had been “completely normal” — until the driver missed the turn-off for her street.

“When I told him we’d missed the turn he became very rude and told me I ‘should’ve been watching’. I was pretty shocked by the response and asked to be let out the block or so from my house,” she told news.com.au.

“I figured I’d rather walk than just sit there intimidated by an aggressive driver. I got out and immediately gave the driver a low-star rating.

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“I consider myself an honest person and would never be flippant with a person’s livelihood, so I always try to be fair with reviews and ratings.”

Shelley put the incident from her mind, until she woke up on Sunday morning to find she’d been charged a $150 cleaning fee on top of the original fare for a mess she is adamant she did not make.

She believes she was deliberately targeted by the driver either out of “opportunism” as a result of her travelling alone late at night, or as “revenge” for the low rating.

Shelley said the photos of the mess her driver claimed she made were ‘hilariously similar’ to one sent to other customers.

“I work early on Sundays so I’m not often taking Ubers at that hour but I believe the time of night and the fact that I was alone contributed to the driver’s opportunism,” she said.

“I honestly believe this driver charged the fee to get back at me for the low rating.

“I find the whole thing pretty disturbing.”

After a “frustrating” exchange with Uber, Shelley told the company she was contacting news.com.au and Consumer Affairs, and was eventually informed her money would be refunded.

But she has been shaken by her experience and is concerned drivers are “actively punishing” riders who give them lower ratings.

She said a photo of the mess her driver claimed she made, which was sent to her as “proof” by the company, was “hilariously similar” to one sent to a Sydney couple who also claimed they had been scammed in early January.

“I’d be keen to see how far the cleaning fee scams go and if Uber drivers are actively punishing riders who give them lower ratings. I mean, are they sharing recipes for fake vomit?” Shelley said.

Shelley’s Uber driver claimed she made this mess on Sunday night.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous to put the onus on riders to take photos every time they use Uber just to protect themselves against this kind of scam.”

News.com.au also reported on a similar case in Melbourne in January, and since then, we have been inundated with emails from angry Uber customers who claim to have also been unfairly charged a cleaning fee.

One of those complaints came from Melbourne woman Lauren McAlpine, who used her friend Kelly Harding’s account for a 7km trip on October 28, 2017.

The following day, Ms Harding’s account was suspended and a $550 fee charged after the driver claimed Ms McAlpine had smeared paint all over the back seat of the car — a claim the woman strongly denies, as she was wearing a backless dress during the trip and would have felt wet paint on her skin.

Her dress was also spotless, and after contacting Uber via Twitter, the money was never collected — however, the account remains deactivated.

“I consider it terrible customer service to wrongly accuse someone of causing damage but to still ban that paying customer from using their services,” Ms McAlpine told news.com.au.

“It is also terrible practice for Uber to accept photos taken by their drivers (without any timestamp, geo-tracking or any other necessary proof) as gospel and to then take adverse action against its customers without even providing them with a chance to explain that they cannot possibly be at fault.”

Uber was contacted for comment regarding Shelley’s complaint, but a response was not received by deadline.

And when news.com.au requested figures relating to the number of cleaning fees that are being charged to Australian Uber passengers, and the number of customer complaints regarding fees, an Uber spokeswoman said earlier this year that it was “not data we release”.

By contrast, while the Australian Taxi Industry Association confirmed it did not keep national statistics on the number of “soiling events” in taxis, CEO Blair Davies said based on anecdotal evidence, it appeared that large fleets — those that dispatch more than 1000 taxis — receive between zero and two inquiries from customers per week in relation to soiling fees.

He said a “reasonable estimate” of the average number of customer complaints about soiling fees being charged would be less than one per month per large fleet.

“There are approximately 21,000 taxis in Australia so by extrapolation the average number of customer complaints about soiling fees would be expected to be comfortably less than 20 per month nationally,” he said.

“There would be good chance though that even that figure is overinflated.”

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