Oliver Kaplan, a young man from Manchester (England), went to the pub with his friend after a long day’s work. After having a good time, he ordered an Uber to get home safely, as he had done many times before. But this time, he woke up with a hangover and a £35,000 (~$39,000) bill for his Uber ride.
Perhaps “fortunately” for him, he had insufficient funds in the bank, and the transaction failed. He contacted Uber’s customer service because he remembered that the quoted price was $11 or $12, which was confirmed by the ride service.
His destination was set to arrive in “Australia,” even though the driver dropped him at the expected place. Therefore, it’s unclear what happened, but it seems like an issue in the back end rather than a user error.
You have to wonder how this could even happen in the first place. If you try plotting a course from the USA to Australia, the app won’t give you a quote or plan a route because… you can’t get there by car.
There have been instances where people entered the wrong address and dropped hundreds of miles from their destination, but it looks like the user was not at fault here. Imagine having to fight a $39,000 charge with your bank. That could be “interesting.”
Fortunately, Uber quickly recognized the problem and charged Olivier the proper amount. Now he has a great story for next Friday at the pub.
Filed in . Read more about Uber. Source: manchestereveningnews