Singapore — A member of the public took to social media to warn others after being charged for a cancelled trip with ride-sharing operator Ryde.
“Need to think twice about using Ryde,” wrote Flora Aurelia Tan on Complaint Singapore’s Facebook page.
She shared booking a ride on Nov 6; however, she was met with a “crazy rude driver” who allegedly yelled at her when she called to inquire about his location.
The driver also cancelled the booking, but Ms Tan was still charged a cancellation fee.
After trying to reach out to the service operator, she noted it was a dead end.
“Looks like I’m being forced to pay S$4.30 without a resolution,” Ms Tan added.
“It’s not so much about the S$4.30 itself, but if this is going to happen frequently in the future, then am I or are we consumers supposed to just shut up and be okay with it?”
Ms Tan attached screenshots of her messages to Ryde with no response from the company.
A netizen by the name of Daniel Andre Irwan commented having experienced a similar incident. “OMG, I just had a dispute with a Ryde driver earlier! I wrote a feedback and rated him one star,” the customer noted.
“It was raining the whole day, and he wanted to drop me off in the rain when there’s a shelter right in front? He was rude, stating that the GPS stops here, so he will stop here (in the middle of the rain, with no shelter).”
“It’s Ryde; come on. With such low fares and certain drivers being banned on other platforms leaving them with only Ryde to survive, many of them will get frustrated with such low fares,” Facebook user Sherman Kim explained.
“Your fare may be higher, but maybe over the day, he’s been getting crap fare. Not that it’s a good excuse to vent it out on you. That’s unfortunate. You met one lousy driver.”
Ryde has since responded to the incident, noting it was a miscommunication between the driver and passenger.
Upon investigating with the driver, the driver said the offline arrangements regarding the meeting point and rainy weather caused discrepancies with communication.
Ryde told Must Share News that they issue warnings to drivers who abuse the “waiting time” button or are rude to passengers.
Ryde has refunded the customer the cancellation fee. /TISG
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