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Uber’s latest honest mistake? Charging $14,000 for a $20 ride

Published Dec 12th, 2017 8:00PM EST
Uber Overcharge Complaint

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Imagine going about your day, calling an Uber for a short $20 ride only to discover that you’ve been charged more than $14,000.
Yes, this is one of Uber’s latest honest mistakes.

The company did refund the money eventually, but not immediately. And this isn’t the first time its system has overcharged customers by thousands of dollars.

The whole thing happened in Canada, where a user was charged CAD$18,518.50, which is about $14,418.69 for a 21-minute ride that should have cost around $20. Per Slate, the following screenshot was shared on Telegram, before a friend of the Uber user posted it on Twitter:

The crazy part of that tweet is that tidbit about Uber sticking with it.

“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,” an Uber spokeswoman told Slate. “We have safeguards in place to help prevent something like this from happening, and we are working to understand how this occurred.”

Well, obviously, the safeguards do not work if these things keep happening, and if corrections aren’t instantaneous.

Furthermore, similar mistakes have happened in the past, Buseness Insider reminds us. In 2016, Uber charged a Philadelphia resident $30,000 for a ride due to a glitch. A year before that, a woman in Manhattan got a $12,000 charge for a $56.40 ride.

Uber refunded these charges, but it’s still surprising to see them happen. You’d think Uber found the time to improve its safeguards. Then again, Uber may have been working on more pressing matters. Like preventing from stealing user data, keeping such hacks secret, or killing its programs that helped it spy on drivers working for competing services.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.