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This seems like a "non-story". Uber has a feature (charge customer a fee for vomiting in their car) that some drivers have abused, and Uber refunded the custome

This seems like a "non-story". Uber has a feature (charge customer a fee for vomiting in their car) that some drivers have abused, and Uber refunded the customers that were wrongfully charged. Seems like a pretty cut and dry situation that they are trying to make a bigger deal than it is. EDIT: The original Miami Herald article people have now linked def paints a bit of a different picture.

endianswap 8y ago
The stories discussed previously on HN involved customers who had to chargeback after Uber wouldn't refund the charge, FWIW.
- op00to 8y ago
  I'm going venture a guess that if anyone charges back against Uber, they're summarily banned from using Uber ever again.
  - tptacek 8y ago
    You could venture a guess, or venture into the article itself to find out.
    - test6554 8y ago
      And after you do that, the answer is yes, they do get banned.
- bluetidepro 8y ago
  I don't know, I guess I just don't see it as a real story when so little customers are reporting it as a problem. Esp when all the customers referenced in the story itself didn't even have to do a chargeback. Yeah, it was a hassle with some emails back and forth, but Uber eventually took care of them all (at least the ones referenced in the article). I've personally never had a problem at all disputing a charge from Uber (I use the service every day for work).
  - NullPrefix 8y ago
    >so little customers are reporting Do you mean "so little customers are reporting it to HN" ? Or do you have some data from Uber internal support?
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - untog 8y ago
    There are people that use Uber with debit cards, and who don't have a lot of money hanging around in their accounts. An $80-$150 charge (that takes time to ever get refunded) is a big deal for those people.
    - bluetidepro 8y ago
      I understand what you're saying, but the fact is that, at least the customers in the article, all did eventually get a refund. Which makes it a "non-story" to me, personally. This could happen with any company. Company X accidentally charges you more, you dispute it, and you get your money back. It sucks, yeah, but it's not a big enough Uber specific problem to warrant a story like this trying to make it a bigger deal than it is.
      - tedivm 8y ago
        That's only because you're ignoring all the other comments which point out that there are people who didn't get refunds, and that there were others who had to go back and forth with Uber and fight for these refunds.
        bluetidepro 8y ago
        Sorry, all the Miami Herald original article links came after I made these comments. I was going off the info mentioned in the Gizmodo article. The original article def paints a bit of a different picture.
ben_jones 8y ago
I personally have yet to be refunded.
- bluetidepro 8y ago
  It's just surprising to me the article didn't reference any customers in your case that HAVEN'T been refunded. All the ones they mention in the article eventually got their refund. It doesn't really make it look like that big of a deal in the article. Would help their argument if they included people haven't been able to get a refund, like yourself.
  - tsieling 8y ago
    The Miami Herald article where I think this story broke suggests it's that not every incident gets resolved: > Despite several email exchanges, Uber never agreed to reimburse her the extra money. But she disputed the charge with her credit card company and got back her $98. Uber then canceled her account. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.h...
  - ben_jones 8y ago
    Check out this article [1] and its accompanying HN post. It references cases where chargebacks were the only option, and one particular story where a rider had two rides back to back commit vomit fraud. [1]: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.h... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17587952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17587952 EDIT: I found a way to re-open my support ticket with uber and linked them the miamiherald article - they then immediately refunded the cleaning fee.
  - michaelmrose 8y ago
    So how long have you been driving?
  - 21 8y ago
    > Despite several email exchanges, Uber never agreed to reimburse her the extra money. But she disputed the charge with her credit card company and got back her $98. Uber then canceled her account. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.h...
tedivm 8y ago
From the original article this one is referencing - > “I immediately contacted Uber through the app. I told them that I was alone, sober, that I was not carrying any drinks and that it was impossible for me to have caused that damage,” she said. “But every new email from Uber came from a different representative and always favored the driver.” > Despite several email exchanges, Uber never agreed to reimburse her the extra money. But she disputed the charge with her credit card company and got back her $98. Uber then canceled her account.
- judge2020 8y ago
  Uber account cancelations are automated whenever they receive a chargeback.
  - lostmsu 8y ago
    Which does not really excuse them of course.

endianswap 8y ago

The stories discussed previously on HN involved customers who had to chargeback after Uber wouldn't refund the charge, FWIW.

op00to 8y ago
I'm going venture a guess that if anyone charges back against Uber, they're summarily banned from using Uber ever again.
- tptacek 8y ago
  You could venture a guess, or venture into the article itself to find out.
  - test6554 8y ago
    And after you do that, the answer is yes, they do get banned.
bluetidepro 8y ago
I don't know, I guess I just don't see it as a real story when so little customers are reporting it as a problem. Esp when all the customers referenced in the story itself didn't even have to do a chargeback. Yeah, it was a hassle with some emails back and forth, but Uber eventually took care of them all (at least the ones referenced in the article). I've personally never had a problem at all disputing a charge from Uber (I use the service every day for work).
- NullPrefix 8y ago
  >so little customers are reporting Do you mean "so little customers are reporting it to HN" ? Or do you have some data from Uber internal support?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- untog 8y ago
  There are people that use Uber with debit cards, and who don't have a lot of money hanging around in their accounts. An $80-$150 charge (that takes time to ever get refunded) is a big deal for those people.
  - bluetidepro 8y ago
    I understand what you're saying, but the fact is that, at least the customers in the article, all did eventually get a refund. Which makes it a "non-story" to me, personally. This could happen with any company. Company X accidentally charges you more, you dispute it, and you get your money back. It sucks, yeah, but it's not a big enough Uber specific problem to warrant a story like this trying to make it a bigger deal than it is.
    - tedivm 8y ago
      That's only because you're ignoring all the other comments which point out that there are people who didn't get refunds, and that there were others who had to go back and forth with Uber and fight for these refunds.
      - bluetidepro 8y ago
        Sorry, all the Miami Herald original article links came after I made these comments. I was going off the info mentioned in the Gizmodo article. The original article def paints a bit of a different picture.

ben_jones 8y ago

I personally have yet to be refunded.

bluetidepro 8y ago
It's just surprising to me the article didn't reference any customers in your case that HAVEN'T been refunded. All the ones they mention in the article eventually got their refund. It doesn't really make it look like that big of a deal in the article. Would help their argument if they included people haven't been able to get a refund, like yourself.
- tsieling 8y ago
  The Miami Herald article where I think this story broke suggests it's that not every incident gets resolved: > Despite several email exchanges, Uber never agreed to reimburse her the extra money. But she disputed the charge with her credit card company and got back her $98. Uber then canceled her account. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.h...
- ben_jones 8y ago
  Check out this article [1] and its accompanying HN post. It references cases where chargebacks were the only option, and one particular story where a rider had two rides back to back commit vomit fraud. [1]: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.h... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17587952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17587952 EDIT: I found a way to re-open my support ticket with uber and linked them the miamiherald article - they then immediately refunded the cleaning fee.
- michaelmrose 8y ago
  So how long have you been driving?
- 21 8y ago
  > Despite several email exchanges, Uber never agreed to reimburse her the extra money. But she disputed the charge with her credit card company and got back her $98. Uber then canceled her account. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215299675.h...

tedivm 8y ago

From the original article this one is referencing - > “I immediately contacted Uber through the app. I told them that I was alone, sober, that I was not carrying any drinks and that it was impossible for me to have caused that damage,” she said. “But every new email from Uber came from a different representative and always favored the driver.” > Despite several email exchanges, Uber never agreed to reimburse her the extra money. But she disputed the charge with her credit card company and got back her $98. Uber then canceled her account.

judge2020 8y ago
Uber account cancelations are automated whenever they receive a chargeback.
- lostmsu 8y ago
  Which does not really excuse them of course.