A consumer court in Maharashtra recently ordered Uber India to pay a female client Rs 20,000 for subpar service.
Kavita Sharma filed a complaint with the Thane Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission on June 12, 2018, after she missed her flight to Chennai from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as a result of the Uber driver’s delay in getting her to the airport.
Kavita, a lawyer, had a meeting in Chennai and a flight from Mumbai was booked at 5.50 p.m. She booked a cab at 3.29 p.m. using the Uber app because she thought the 36 km journey to the airport would take more than an hour.
She said that despite several calls from her end, the cab driver took 14 minutes to arrive to pick her up. ‘After arriving, he picked up the phone and didn’t begin the ride until it was over. A trip to fill up with fuel cost another 15 to 20 minutes.’
Kavita was unable to make the flight because she arrived at the airport just at 5:23 p.m. She had to take an additional flight, which cost money.
The woman complained and requested Rs. 4.77 lakh in damages, which also included legal fees and airline ticket costs.
The panel mandated that the offending party pay the passenger Rs 10,000 in compensation as well as Rs 10,000 in complaint-related costs.
The calls and messages, however, received no response from Uber India.