Uber gone mad!

On 31 December about noon I received a telephone call from an unknown number asking if I had booked an Uber taxi. I had not done anything like that and told him so.

A little later there was an email to me saying that I will be charged Rs. 50 for the cancelled trip.

I had made no booking at all. When I replied the Uber message I got the following reply: “Hello, we’re sorry. You’ve contacted an address that does not accept incoming email. We’re not monitoring questions through this email address and this request has not been received by our support team. We’d love to help out if you have an issue. Please submit your request by tapping ‘Help’ in the Uber app or by visiting help.uber.com from a web browser. There you’ll find answers to frequently asked questions and have the option to submit a support request. We look forward to chatting with you soon!”

Uber has no contact number or helpdesk. The email process they suggest is long winded and a waste of time for Rs. 50. This is the second time this has happened to me. The last time I followed their instructions and they cancelled the ‘penalty’ of Rs. 50.

I am surprised that a global organisation like Uber operates in this crazy way, billing us for taxi rides we have not booked.

Perhaps the Consumer Protection Authority should look into this annoying practice of harassing persons who have not booked a service.

R. Perera