Uber customer charged £111 for 1.7-mile journey
FIRM SAID ‘NO REFUND’, UNTIL THE POST BECAME INVOLVED
A MUM has slammed Uber for an “outrageous” £111 fee they charged her son for a journey of less than two miles.
Matty Bennett, 18, of Arnold, booked a trip with an Uber driver from Woodthorpe Drive in Mapperley to Furlong Avenue in Arnold at 10.07pm on October 8.
This journey is estimated to take about eight minutes and is 1.7 miles long.
However, Matty, a plumber, was horrified to check his phone the next day and realise he had been charged a whopping £111.23 for the journey – which had cost him just £4.90 just two months before.
His mum, 57-year-old Mandy Bennett, told the Post: “What they charged is absolutely outrageous.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to do this. If it is a busier time, then I understand there being a reasonable surcharge, but £111? I couldn’t believe it.
“We rang the credit card company and tried to cancel the payment, but they wouldn’t do it.”
Mandy claims she was told by Uber that Matty must have accepted the surcharge via a notification on his screen before the journey started, which meant they weren’t eligible for a refund.
She says she accepts this may be true, but that being charged such a huge amount for such a short journey isn’t acceptable.
“They wouldn’t put me through to a supervisor when I asked to speak to one,” she said.
“They just told me the same thing every time – that he wouldn’t be refunded.
“Uber won’t accept responsibility for what happened. I just can’t get my head around it. I don’t want this to happen unknowingly to anyone else.”
Since she contacted the Nottingham Post, Mandy says Uber has been in touch with Matty to offer him a full refund. Uber was approached for a comment but had not responded by the time of going to press.