Uber Fraud and Faulty App Design

I reported a fraud on Uber yesterday stating that when the driver cancelled a scheduled trip, I was still charged for the same.

Since yesterday I have been pursuing the complaint on twitter and though the complaint was acknowledged, there has been no resolution so far.

I also point out that the complaint mechanism is inefficient since my issue is not clearly listed in the standard complaints and there is no proper provision for sending an e-mail complaint. According to Indian law namely ITA 2000/8, Uber is an intermediary and has to provide a “Grievance Officer” as per the requirements of Section 79. The contact details of the Grievance officer should be available on the website but there is no such information.

I would like to present here the trip details

The first picture here was taken from the Uber website and indicates in the billing that  I have travelled from one place in Bangalore 560050 to another place in Bangaore 560023.

The time of departure is 4.40 am and time of reaching is 4.58.

But the map shows that the icon has not moved from near the South end circle and the trip time s 00.00.14.

The second picture below shows the bill sent to my email.

The incident points out that the Uber App is faulty and provides false information about the trips.

From the critical point of view of “Evidence”, the records give mistaken impression that I was at two different places at the same time.

Secondly, despite the trip showing “Zero Time of Travel”, a charge was made for a trip showing a point of pick up and point of drop.

It is therefore evident on the basis of the data that a “Fraud” has been committed. The rewards have been shared between the driver and the Uber. If and when I am provided a refund, the fraud may be downgraded to “Attempt to Commit a Fraud”.

From the technical view point, it is possible that the App may have a bug and if so, it is for Uber to come out and make the necessary confession that the App is faulty.

I have received information from other users with similar experience and some of them have felt that this is done deliberately by Uber under the hope that certain number of customers would not challenge the wrong debit and the company would profit from those debits even while those who complain are provided the refund.

At this point of time, this is a charge which needs to be investigated.

If Uber is honest as a technology company, it should conduct an audit of all incidents of billing where there is zero time of travel but a positive billing and identify the amount of wrongful gain they have made.

The information I have provided here is sufficient for the Bangalore Police to launch an enquiry for “Cheating” and also for the Adjudicator to take up Suo moto an enquiry for wrongful gain. The CERT In should also undertake an audit of the Uber App and check if the charges made here in are correct.

Naavi