An Uber customer was accidentally charged $12,000 for her ride
In late March, Jaime Hessel took a 35-minute, 7-mile, surge-priced UberX ride from her apartment in East Williamsburg to a bar in Midtown East. She said that her driver seemed a bit distracted, and began to ignore his GPS directions.
"I'm paying attention to his GPS, and I'm very familiar with the area, and I see him go right by McGuinness, and I'm really curious how he's going to get to 50th Street," she told Gothamist, estimating that one missed turn her driver took tacked an extra seven minutes onto the trip.
Hessel contacted Uber after the trip to contest her $56.40 receipt, and the company responded quickly. "They were really quick about it, and I was impressed," she said. "They said, 'We reviewed it, and you're right. He definitely took extra time that was unnecessary, we're going to credit your account $15."
But as of Monday Hessel noticed she hadn't been refunded yet - the credit card that Uber had on file expired at the beginning of the month, and she hadn't updated it yet, she said. She then received an unwelcome surprise from Uber in her inbox:
Later, Uber apologized for the confusion and said they weren't actually going to charge her $12,000, and that it was a mistake. It's unclear exactly why the large charge ended up on Hessel's account, however. An Uber spokesman told Gothamist: "We apologize to this rider for any inconvenience and we have provided them with a full refund."
Check out Gothamist's full story here.