Man’s shock at ‘horrendous’ $1170 Uber charge

A man took Uber to task after he checked his account and discovered he’d been charged for a journey of almost five hours – that he didn’t take.

A man was stunned when he took a 16km Uber ride and was charged a massive $1170. Then he wound up in a gruelling battle to prove he wasn’t in the car that continued on for an almost five-hour trip.

British man Rich Phillips, 27, ordered the Uber from Coombe Abbey Park in Coventry, UK, last August to his brother’s house and then to the Ivy House bar in the city. The journey usually takes around 28 minutes, The Sun reported.

However, when he checked his Uber account, he was shocked to discover he’d been charged £606, or $A1170.

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“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 10 minutes,” Mr Phillips, a corporate partnerships manager, said.

“We were in The Ivy House bar all night and had a great time but to wake up to a charge for £606 for a trip from Coventry to Surrey to Nuneaton was just horrendous.”

Rich Phillips said Uber charged him for a journey of close to five hours that he didn’t take.

CCTV footage shows Mr Phillips enjoying drinks in the bar with pals between 10.58pm and 3.28am.

But during that time his Uber driver charged him for a journey to Frimley in Surrey and then to a Holiday Inn in Nuneaton, where the trip ended at 3.09am.

The journey ended up spanning about 392km and lasting four hours and 42 minutes.

When Mr Phillips complained to Uber and showed them the CCTV footage, they initially claimed a passenger was still in the car and said “all riders must be responsible for their own account activity”.

In messages from Uber to Mr Phillips 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.

Mr Phillips only intended to take a ride of about 28 minutes.

“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.

“We are sorry to hear that it appears someone else may have taken your trip request.

“Unfortunately Rich, all riders must be responsible for their own account activity.”

However, the company eventually backed down and reimbursed him.

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.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission