UPDATED 11:12 EDT / JULY 18 2019

APPS

Passengers livid after Uber charges them 100X more than advertised fare

Some passengers riding with Uber Technologies Inc. got the shock of their lives this week when their fare cost them more than $1,000 for just a short ride.

People took to Twitter this week stating that they’d been charged more than 100 times more than the fare should have been. “This happened to me tonight,” one person tweeted Wednesday. “Uber charged me $1,238.00 for my trip home, even though the receipt says $12.38.”

That person also said the money was taken directly from his account, so understandably he was worried. “Among the lessons: Don’t link Uber to your debit card,” he said. “That money was immediately pulled from my checking account and is still not restored. It could take more than a day for Chase to restore it.”

There were many more instances of this happening, causing Uber customers to be very concerned. “Ubereats straight up just charged me $1,139 instead of the $11.39 I was SUPPOSED to be charged,” another person tweeted. “So now my account is frozen.” Another person was charged $1,905 instead of $19.05. Apparently, it was his birthday and that charge maxed out his account, leaving him with no money.

Uber did get back to people and apologized for the glitch. “We encountered a service interruption that resulted in a higher amount being held on the card at the time of trip booking,” Uber said to one victim of the glitch. “This interruption has been fixed. Hope this helps.”

It seems most the people affected were in San Diego and Washington, although Uber hasn’t said how many people were charged those outlandish prices. Uber said all the passengers will be fully reimbursed and apologized for the problems caused.

This is the second major glitch this month for Uber. According to scores of drivers, they were told by the app to go to a passenger’s final destination and not pickup point. Meanwhile, the passengers were left waiting.

Photo: StockCatalog/Flickr

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