SINGAPORE: Grab has confirmed that it has suspended the driver who was exposed on social media last weekend for deliberately delaying a customer’s trip in what has been perceived to be a bid to earn a cancellation fee.
Facebook user DJ KC said on Saturday (3 June) that he had booked a Grab Premium ride to take his mother back to her home, but the vehicle whose driver accepted the ride remained in the same position on the map and was not moving.
Having a hunch that the driver was “just wasting time enjoying his dinner and waiting for me to cancel his booking so that I will get the fine instead and he could profit from it,” DJ KC drove to the location where the car was waiting and caught the driver red-handed eating at a coffee shop beside the road where he parked his vehicle.
DJ KC said: “The moment I saw him entering his vehicle I quickly left my driver seat and confronted him while showing him my active grab booking. Oh boy he was stunned and all he could say was, “Sir I don’t know”.”
Asserting that this issue involving errant drivers is more common than some might assume, DJ KC said: “The grab booking system is flawed when it comes to us the consumers and again this wasn’t my first similar experience.”
Grab said in a statement to The Independent Singapore that it has measures in place to safeguard passengers’ interests and prevent such errant behaviour among driver-partners.
Apologising for DJ KC’S experience, Grab revealed that it had suspended the driver who delayed the trip he had booked. A spokesman said:
“We are sorry to learn about this incident. Following a review of this incident and past records, we have reasons to believe that the driver-partner deliberately did not head to the pick-up point and hence we have temporarily suspended the driver. We would like to reiterate that driver-partners have the option of going offline when they need to take a break.”
The company assured that its cancellation policy ensures that passengers will not be charged when the app detects that the driver is not headed towards the pick-up point or does not arrive within the 3 minutes of the estimated time of arrival.
It added that suspected stalling behaviour is reviewed and addressed, asserting that the “vast majority” of drivers do not engage in such practices.
Grab said: “There are sometimes legitimate reasons for late pick-ups, and we encourage driver-partners and passengers to be understanding and check in with each other via a call or GrabChat before cancelling.”
Customer catches Grab driver who delayed trip to earn cancellation fee red-handed