Uber to pay Rs. 20,000 to Passenger for missed flight

A District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Maharashtra has held Uber responsible for rendering defective service to a passenger, an advocate by profession, who filed a consumer complaint and ordered Uber to pay Rs. 20,000 to the passenger. In her Complaint, the aggrieved passenger complained that she reached the airport late due to the negligence and careless behaviour of the Uber driver, as a result of which she missed her flight and could not attend a crucial business meeting in Chennai. The passenger alleged in her complaint that the driver arrived at the pick up spot 14 minutes after the booking was confirmed and thereafter he took a wrong turn in order to refill the CNG tank in his car. She also claimed that the fare turned out to be higher than the one shown to her on the app when she had booked the cab. After lodging a complaint with Uber regarding the delay and fare difference, Uber refunded her the excess amount of ₹139 after realising it was it’s driver’s mistake. However, dissatisfied with this amount, the passenger filed a complaint with the District Commission, Thane. In its reply, Uber claimed that it only scheduled transportation services as an aggregator and was not responsible for any default committed by the drivers and that the drivers were independent third party contractors and not Uber employees, which meant that Uber could not be held liable. Negating Uber’s arguments, the Commission concluded that the mobile app was managed by Uber and all transactions and services were managed by the app as well as the passenger availed services by using the app and paid consideration to the app for using transportation services and not to the driver.

Tags: Uber | Uber Cab | Fine | Compensation | Consumer | Consumer Forum | Consumer Complaint