SINGAPORE: A Singaporean took to an online forum to vent about a Grab driver who deliberately took a detour during his ride and bumped his fare up by $2.
“When we were entering Pasir Ris, the driver missed the first highway exit as indicated by the grab app. Fine, it happens, maybe he’s just not familiar with the area. Grab suggests a second exit. Driver blows past the second exit as well, drives all the way to Tampines, then back into Pasir Ris,” he wrote on r/askSingapore.
He added, “While it wasn’t much money, it was far enough off course that it triggered the grab security, which checked in on me to make sure that I was ok, and wasn’t being kidnapped.”
Throughout the ordeal, he noted that the driver was surprisingly nonchalant, offering neither an apology for missing both exits nor any compensation for the detour. Frustrated by his lack of remorse, he decided to report him to customer service.
He revealed, “CS Replied that he has been given a strike for this, but honestly it doesn’t do much given that he doesn’t work for grab to begin with.”
Reflecting on the situation, he asked others in the online forum if he was too harsh for going after someone’s rice bowl over what essentially amounted to the cost of “half a plate of chicken rice.”
The passenger added, “If I was a younger girl or a tourist instead of a middle aged unker, I would have been terrified at the notification that the driver was going off course. Perhaps instead of (just?) going to grab, which is just a side source of additional bookings for him, I should have gone to his taxi company instead to really hurt him.
“What would y’all have done? Would you have let him off completely because it’s his livelihood? Do what I did? Or would you have instilled the fear of god in him by sending the police after him?”
“If he really cares about his job and ratings then he wouldn’t have done that.”
In the comments section, many agreed that he made the right call in reporting the driver. One user pointed out, “You are not going after an honest man’s ricebowl. You are delivering justice against a scammer.”
Another commented, “Just report. He had 2 chances and blew both of it and did not apologise. If he really cares about his job and ratings then he wouldn’t have done that.”
Several users mentioned that beyond reporting to customer service, they would have also recorded the driver’s plate number and other identifying information to file complaints with both the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the taxi company.
One user remarked, “I will go after him relentlessly because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
As in until I’m satisfied I can’t go any further but my aim will be to get his license revoked, and unless TP or whoever tell me cannot really cannot, only then I will stop but I will post about him every where. “
Others joined in to share their own experiences of being scammed by drivers as well.
One user recounted, “Happen to me before. The driver is more ridiculous. Drive me into a car park, took many wrong exit. Basically take me for a ride. He even lie to me about payment method. It was flagged down cab. I paid him in full and he know himself what he had done. So he offer to pass me back a few dollar.”
Read also: Woman disappointed with Grab driver who cancelled her ride after seeing her ‘Singapore Special’ dog
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