A Delhi Uber customer has accused the cab aggregator service of not taking passenger safety seriously after his wife recently had a poor and potentially unsafe experience with one of their driver partners on April 19, around 8.30 pm.
Architect Gajender Yadav claimed that the Uber cab driver had asked her to pay Rs 200 extra for the ride, refusing which she was asked to get off the cab mid-ride. He added that when she tried to reach out to Uber support through their SOS button installed inside the cab, it did not work.
"After driving for one km, the cab driver asked for Rs 200 extra. My wife even pressed the SOS button for help from Uber to fix this matter. It's been two days and not a single person from Uber cared to know exactly why SOS button was pressed. No follow-up. That's the condition of Uber India," Yadav wrote on X.
Uber, however, has clarified that they are only responsible for the functioning of the SOS feature in the app. A company spokesperson said, "Uber has an in-app SOS button, which connects you to local law enforcement authorities, when pressed".
According to Uber's website, the SOS feature allows riders to trigger a real-time Safety Emergency Alert to Uber, the rider's emergency contacts and the local authorities in the rare event of an emergency or incident during an Uber trip. Once triggered, the rider is supposed to be able to share live trip status and get immediate assistance.
"On initiating the SOS trigger, you will have the option to connect with the police via a phone call. Simultaneously, instant alerts with complete rider, driver and trip information will be sent to our Incident Response Team that is on standby 24x7. Our response agents can then monitor your trip real-time, provide instant phone support and relay critical trip information to the police," the company stated in the website.
After Yadav's post on X went viral, Uber representatives reached out and gave a full refund for the trip. In subsequent posts on X, Yadav shared that Uber representatives had informed him that after an investigation, the company had decided to terminate the driver's account.
Yadav also advised the riders to use the safety helpline number of Uber to reach out to the company's safety department and added that he tried out the helplines himself. "It's working," he wrote.
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