SINGAPORE: A Grab user has exposed a driver for deliberately delaying a trip he had accepted, after catching the driver red-handed at a coffeeshop.
Facebook user DJ KC said yesterday (3 June) that he had booked a Grab Premium ride to take his mother home as he was tired to drive her back to her place. Grab Premium is the private-hire vehicle platform’s luxury car option.
DJ KC said that a Grab Premium driver accepted their request for a car and the mother and son waited. After about seven minutes, however, DJ KC noticed that the vehicle was in the same position on the map and was not moving.
Revealing that this was not the first time something like this had happened to him, DJ KC said that he had 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.”
Grab charges a $4 cancellation fee from users for any rides cancelled five minutes after the ride was booked. The Grab user suspected that the driver who accepted his ride deliberately did so to pocket the $4 without having to make the trip, in the hopes that the customer would cancel the ride because he was taking too long.
Determined to find out what was happening, DJ KC decided to drive to the location where the car was waiting to investigate firsthand. He started recording a video from the time he left his location to the driver’s location, where he caught the driver 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”.”
Revealing that this is not a one-off incident, DJ KC said: “I’m sure there are many times consumers have to cancel booking because of the waiting time “grab driver no show.” The grab booking system is flawed when it comes to us the consumers and again this wasn’t my first similar experience.”
The incident has sparked online conversations about the responsibilities of private-hire vehicle services towards their passengers and the need for stricter enforcement to prevent similar occurrences.
As the post continues to circulate online, it remains to be seen how Grab will respond to the incident and address the concerns raised by DJ KC and other users who have encountered similar issues.