Uber glitch sees customers charged 100 times the advertised fare

Uber users were overcharged by 100 times the advertised fare. Source: Getty

Uber passengers around the world got a nasty surprise late last week, after a glitch saw them charged 100 times more than the advertised fares.

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“Hey @uber, you charged my wife [US]$9,672 [AU$13,732] for a ride that was listed as [US] $96.72, and there’s no way to get in touch with you,” one Twitter user posted to the social media site.

Hey @uber, you charged my wife $9672 for a ride that was listed as $96.72, and there’s no way to get in touch with you.

— Aaron Himelman (@AHimelman) July 17, 2019

In a statement to customers, Uber let affected users in Paris, Washington and San Diego know that the issue had been fixed.

“We understand that this has been frustrating,” Uber said.

“There was a known issue that caused your authorization hold to be very high. Our team has already fixed this issue. Thank you so much for your patience.”

But “frustrating” is a bit of an understatement, with The Washington Post reporting that UberEats was also affected after a US$19.05 meal turned into a far more expensive, US$1,905 meal.

Uber users took to Twitter to express their frustration at the lack of help from Uber.

“Trying to find a number to call @Uber to dispute a charge of $1,027.”

Trying to find a number to call @Uber to dispute a charge of $1027. Apparently there is a “blue icon” in the app to contact 24/7 support but here I can’t see the icon nor can I a find a number to call @uber. Please look into this matter ASAP! #uber pic.twitter.com/sDSNiFiwx3

— Parth Khadilkar (@ParthKhadilkar1) July 17, 2019

I’ve been overcharged by Uber, what can I do?

In your Uber app, you can choose the trip where you believe you were overcharged, and report “a different issue with a fare”.

From there, you can input your pickup address, destination, details and a screenshot of the charge, and wait to hear back from Uber.

Unfortunately Uber doesn’t make it easy to contact them via phone and there’s no number to call them on, which means the app is your best bet.

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