Mumbai protests: Stranded passenger slams Uber for asking driver to end ride midway

Uber booking

In yet another incident which highlights the need for a robust call centre support for all cab passengers in India, a Mumbai resident has slammed the ride-hailing app Uber after it asked its driver to end the ride abruptly and drop her 'somewhere' as protesters disrupted their route in the city on Wednesday.

The aggrieved passenger - Samarpita Banerjee - was stuck in an Uber for over 1.5 hours on Mumbai roads due to the ongoing protests in the city.

Banerjee said that as the cab was stuck the driver called Uber's customer care helpline to seek suggestions for an alternative route.

The executive on the other side, as per Banerjee's post on a social networking site, allegedly suggested him to end the ride and drop the customer somewhere.

Banerjee told Moneycontrol that she was travelling from Goregaon to Bandra West and had taken an Uber Pool. She also said that the driver later took help from a police officer nearby who suggested them a suitable route.

At Uber, only drivers are provided with a helpline number. Passengers have to either post on social media or text on the Uber app if they face any issue with a ride.

With no option to call the customer care as Uber does not have a call centre support for passengers, the Mumbai resident posted her experience on Facebook and Twitter. Uber assured her on Twitter that they will look into the issue.

An event to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in Pune district led to incidents of violence in Maharashtra this week. The unrest continues for the second day across Mumbai and some other parts of the state that has left people facing difficulties while commuting among other things.

This is not an isolated incident where customers are unable to contact Uber support on phone in an emergency.

In October last year, actor Mallika Dua said that an Uber driver in Mumbai stopped the car and threatened her to get out of the cab while at the same time verbally abusing her when she asked him to turn down the AC in the car.  The actress also took to social media to air her grievances.

Here's Samarpita Banerjee's post on Facebook in full:

"I have been a regular user of @uber but what a disappointment you guys have been today. I have been stuck on the streets of Mumbai for the past 1.5 hours, trying to find my way to work. Most of the main routes to Bandra have been blocked so my concerned cab driver, Mr Raiyan, called Uber to ask for alternate routes. Instead of being concerned about the situation, the Uber representative tells Mr Raiyan, who is as much a victim of this chaos as I am, to ‘drop the rider somewhere because Aapke Pass toh aur koi option nahi hai, rider ka trip end kar dijiye...’ Luckily the phone was on speaker so I heard the conversation myself. If this is how you take care of your customers as well as employees, God help you."

Uber has responded to Moneycontrol's queries in relation to this incident: 

"We have looked into this matter internally and have gone through the conversation between the driver partner and support executive. During the conversation, the support executive repeatedly reiterated to the driver to seek alternate routes where possible. The executive also advised the driver partner to seek the rider's view on ending the trip in the interest of safety if no alternate routes are navigable.

The intent of the support executive was clearly to keep both the rider as well as the driver partner out of harm's way.

Safety of our riders and driver partners is of utmost importance to us. While we regret the disruption caused to our rider and driver community in some parts of the city including the area mentioned during the protests, we remain committed to serving the city and keep Mumbai moving," said an Uber spokesperson.

priyanka.sahay@nw18.com