Taking Uber to Small-claims Court
The Uber car was squeezed into the narrow Boston street between other cars, and Wilcox had to shimmy out. So he hauled out just the suitcases, telling the driver he’d be back in a minute to grab the backpack. But when he reached the curb, the Uber car immediately drove off with his backpack still sitting in the back seat.
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At that point, Wilcox went to the police and filed a report. He had the driver’s first name, a picture of him from the Uber app, the car’s license plate number, and confirmation of his ride details.
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When Wilcox finally got the police report, it contained a big surprise. Uber had stonewalled Wilcox but emphasized—in court, in phone conversations, and in public statements—that it always cooperates with law enforcement. Yet the police report showed that Uber maintained the ride hadn’t even taken place […]
The investigating police officer made multiple visits to the address on record of the vehicle’s owner, but no one had answered. Uber, meanwhile, said the driver hadn’t worked for them for two years.
See also: Wilcox’s blog post.
2 Comments RSS · Twitter
"The Uber rep told me that it was fishy that I happened to have such a preponderance of evidence, and accused me of setting the whole situation up to scam their company."
This is the world we live in. That hurts.
"Again the Uber representative brought up that I should have heard the car drive away. I responded with the level of ambient noise on that night is unknown and unprovable. What is provable was that by 2019 all hybrid and electric vehicles in the United States will be forced to make an audible noise at all speeds less than 19 miles per hour. I had printed out the press release from the NHTSA and had a copy of the 137 text [sic] of the regulations with me in PDF form. This regulation is estimated to prevent over 2,400 pedestrian related injuries because it is a common occurrence that people do not hear the electric drive motors."
Well played.
[…] don’t trust Uber to use this entitlement responsibly. Nor do I trust App Review to be able to police how […]
