Woes with Lime e-scooters in four cities
Gwyn Clarke got quite a surprise when he was charged for taking 111 Lime scooter rides, especially since he has never set foot on one.
The Christchurch man made the discovery in December when he noticed his credit card balance had crept up.
‘‘Upon further investigation I found 111 transactions between October and December totalling $696.60.’’
He rang his bank straight away and was told the transactions originated from a company called ‘‘Neutron Holdings, Inc Li.Me Ca’’, otherwise known as Lime scooters. The bank cancelled the credit card immediately.
‘‘I don’t even have the Lime app installed on my phone, so I’m not a customer.’’
Then the long fight to get his money back began.
‘‘I tried to contact Lime scooters and found they don’t have a physical presence in New Zealand. The only way to contact them is via their US website.’’
Clarke, a computer technical specialist, registered his ‘‘billing issue’’ by filling out a form on the website and asking for the money to be refunded to him.
After several days with no response he scoured the website for a phone number and the only one he found was a United States number. He rang the number but the person he spoke with refused to tell him anything about the Lime account his card had been connected to or even where the rides happened.
Almost a month later Clarke received an email saying Lime had blocked the account that had loaded his credit card details but it refused to refund him any money because it had already been used for Lime rides.
‘‘I rang the US number again and advised them that this is not acceptable to me as I believe their account checking procedures are at fault as they did not verify the Lime account owner was also the owner of the credit card.’’
He was told the rides were taken in Christchurch but if he wanted any further information he would have to get a subpoena.
‘‘I have no idea who has used my credit card details.’’
Clarke made a fraud complaint with police and did not expect to hear from More than 4000 Lime e-scooter riders have emailed Auckland’s mayor and councillors following the firm’s call for support after the scooters were withdrawn.
Users opening up the Lime app on Saturday were greeted with a message stating: ‘‘Keep Lime in Auckland. We need your support.’’ Those who then clicked into the option were urged to ‘‘take a moment to share your support for Lime’’.
The e-scooters were withdrawn from Auckland and Dunedin streets on Friday after reports of wheels locking up, throwing riders off.The suspension was to be reviewed by Auckland Council today.
Wellington is monitoring the situation. The capital doesn’t have Lime scooters yet but with a trial for two e-scooter companies looming and Lime in the running, Mayor Justin Lester said Lime would need to prove itself.
Lime again. But, late last week, he received a text from Lime saying they had investigated the case and they would now refund him in full.
‘‘One wonders why they didn’t do this earlier. They were extremely apologetic.’’ Clarke said he was happy to finally get his money back but it should not have taken three months of fighting a ‘‘faceless’’ company to get it.
If the company was operating so widely in New Zealand, then it needed to have a physical presence in the country, he said. The whole experience has put Clarke off riding a Lime scooter.
‘‘I’m reluctant to deal with a company that I’ve had an issue with before I’ve even got out of the blocks.
‘‘Whilst I’ve had a successful resolution, I’m still cautious engaging with a company that may not be playing by the rules that New Zealanders expect.’’
A Lime spokeswoman said given the number of rides taken, an extensive investigation was required to verify the claim was correct before refunding.
‘‘We apologise for any inconvenience this process of standard procedures may have caused. If these types of issues arise, we advise reporting any concerns to the Lime NZ customer service team.’’