Uber charges UK man R720 000… for 15 minute trip to Australia

Imagine having to fork out R720 000 for a 15-minute Uber trip to another country, due to an error – that’s exactly what happened to a man in the United Kingdom (UK). According to The Independent, 22-year-old Oliver Kaplan ordered an Uber in a city near Manchester after knocking from work and had planned on going out with friends for some drinks.

MAN CHARGED R720 000 FOR UBER TRIP

Oliver, who is a trainee chef, says his Uber picked him up from the Buxton Inn, outside Hyde in Greater Manchester and took him to a local pub, which was just six kilometres away.

The price quoted for the ride on the e-hailing service was between £10 and £11 (between R204 and R225), which he accepted. Everything was fine… until the next day when he woke up to a message from Uber, notifying him of insufficient funds – his trip cost a staggering £35,427.97 (more than R720 000).

“I ordered an Uber like I do most nights on the way home from work and everything seemed normal. The driver arrived, I got in the Uber and he took me exactly where I was meant to be going. It was a 15-minute journey – tops – and the bill was said to be between £10 and £11, charged to my debit card. But when I woke up hungover the next morning, the last thing I expected was a charge of over £35,000!,” he said.

Oliver then contacted Uber to inform them about the error and they were quite shocked to learn about the ridiculously large bill, but there was a reason – the drop-off location had been wrongly set to Australia. Uber then adjusted his fare to the real amount of £10.73 (more than R204) before the money came out of his bank account.

“If I had have had that sort of money, I would have had to chase them for a refund – it could have landed me in all sorts of financial trouble. I’m still wondering how the location was even set to Australia in the first place, seeing as it is the other side of the globe,” Oliver said.