BENGALURU: Two days after Express published a report on an Uber cab driver who allegedly tampered with the GPS system and took a longer route to cheat a customer, the taxi aggregator has refunded the customer and apologised for the inconvenience.
On July 24, Lolaksha travelled from Yeshwanthpur to Koramangala and was charged `573. But he was billed for ‘travelling 37.46 km in 54 minutes’ during peak hours in Bengaluru (the shortest distance would be 18km).
Confirming that Uber had responded to him, Lolaksha said, “After the incident was reported by Express, Uber officials contacted me and I narrated the entire incident. Soon, they transferred the money to my account.” In the email sent to him, the company has said that a ‘fare correction’ was made and the reason cited was ‘GPS issue’.
“App-based taxi aggregators should establish a helpline for the benefit of commuters. Though they have various options for safety, I don’t think, without a helpline, they can resolve issues,” added Lolaksha.
Commenting on the Uber software being tampered, the spokesperson said, “We have taken an account of the problem. Our team is looking into the matter. We are not sure whether there it was software tampering. But we will come out with the exact reason shortly. The driver’s account is being analysed to check his previous history of rides.”