Hisham Salama was charged $18,518.50 for a five-mile, 21-minute Uber ride. He has since been given a refund
A man was charged nearly $20,000 for a five-mile 21-minute Uber ride in Toronto.
Hisham Salama visited a friend at Saint Joseph’s Hospital on Friday, December 8 and was charged $18,510.50 (about $14,400 in US dollars) for his ride.
‘My first reaction was to just laugh,’ he told Vice Canada.
But he was not laughing once he realized that the charge was pending on his credit card. Such a ride would normally cost between $12 and $20.
That night, he tried reaching Uber’s customer service to no avail.
The following morning, an Uber customer service representative told him: ‘I can confirm that based on the pickup and drop-off locations of the trip you took, this fare is correct.’
Salama then tweeted: ‘@Uber @Uber_Support what turned out to be an honest mistake is now turning into the biggest blunder of 2017. I’m no longer laughing at wondering when #uber will get their act together. Can anyone help? Obviously, no 20 min fare is $18,500.’
Salama was traveling to Saint Joseph’s Hospital (pictured) in Toronto, Canada on December 8
Initially, the company said that the sum was correct. Later, it recanted
Salama and other Tweeters brought attention to the issue after Uber initially said the fare was correct
After a wave of public support, Uber refunded the fare later in the day and added a $150 credit to his account.
Uber staff clamed the massive over-charge on driver error, not a technical glitch, the Canadian Press reports.
The scandal-afflicted technology company said the ride was in a traditional taxi signed up with Uber and that the driver made a mistake in entering the fare.
The company blamed the error on the driver
In a statement to Slate, the company said: ‘There was an error here and it has been resolved. We have provided a full refund to this rider and apologized to him for this experience. We have safeguards in place to help prevent something like this from happening, and we are working to understand how this occurred.’
Salama later tweeted: ‘Thank you to everyone who tweeted and retweeted about my magical $18,500 @Uber ride. @Uber_Support has refunded the fare and apologized. I am hopeful that I will be able to speak to someone on their leadership team about my issue and timing of resolution next week.’
The company said in a statement: ‘There was an error here and it has been resolved. We have provided a full refund to this rider and apologized to him for this experience. We have safeguards in place to help prevent something like this from happening, and we are working to understand how this occurred’