Can you imagine ordering an Uber for a 15-minute journey and winding up with a bill amounting to thousands?
Oliver Kaplan, based near Manchester in England, ordered an Uber to meet friends just a few miles away. The distance from Point A to Point B was no more than 15 minutes. But Kaplan got the shock of his life the next day.
According to Business Insider “he discovered the destination was set to Australia incorrectly.”
The amount was just over £35,000 which converts to about $39,000. But such a journey should have been no more than £11. That’s $12 or $13, depending on the rate of exchange.
Kaplan received an email from Uber claiming that he didn’t have enough funds to pay “his charge of £35,427.97.” He sent a screenshot of the shocking email to Manchester Evening News.
Business Insider reports Kaplan as saying, “I ordered an Uber like I do most nights on the way home from work and everything seemed normal. The driver arrived, I got in the Uber, and he took me exactly where I was meant to be going.”
Kaplan immediately contacted Uber’s customer service team to have the issue rectified. The representative was equally stunned by the charge, but in the end, Uber changed the charge to £10.73.
“If I had that sort of money,” Kaplan said to Manchester Evening News, “I would have had to chase them for a refund. It could have landed me in all sorts of financial trouble.”
Uber apologized for “any inconvenience caused.”