A woman in New York City claims she was the victim of a bold lie by an Uber driver, saying he used fake vomit to charge her $200 in cleaning fees.
Similar incidents have been reported in other cities, including Los Angeles and Tampa.
Art director Meredith Mandel, who frequently uses Uber, says she used the service early in the morning of Feb. 21 from Fort Greene to Williamsburg.
She said she and her boyfriend and her friend were “basically sober” when they rode home.
It’s not the first time Uber drivers have come under scrutiny for allegedly using fake vomit to collect fees.
Manhattan rider “Billy” said via Reddit last year that he also found a $200 cleaning fee after arriving home from his girlfriend’s house. After back-searching the pictures the driver submitted of the vomit, he linked them to a 2014 post on a ride sharing website. Billy ultimately got his money back. Mandel also said she’s gotten her money back.
But in both cases, it’s unclear if the drivers have been punished in any way.
After a driver in Tampa was found to have used fake vomit to try to extract fees, he was fired, reported WFLA.
“I get home in the morning and I received an email saying, ‘Your fare has been adjusted and to account for the mess that you all made, we took out $100.’ It was laughable. I thought it was like eggs,” Tampa attorney Alex Serrano said.
After a lengthy back-and-forth, the company refused to refund Serrano and another passenger but eventually did so when the local broadcaster got involved.
Multiple incidents have also been reported in Los Angeles. Uber eventually refunded a passenger who said she was hit with a bill that was apparently for cleaning up rain that had gotten into the car when the passenger got in and out during a storm.
“I think that it could have easily been solved with just a simple towel-wipe, and I’m sure that that’s what he did and then pocketed $100,” Amy Johnson told CBS. After posting about it on Twitter, Uber contacted her and refunded the money.
On the other side, though, a New York driver told Gothamist that vomit is a real problem, especially late at night.
“When I see somebody too drunk, I ask them, ‘Are you sure you’re okay to ride? You’re not going to vomit in the car?’” the driver explained. “Ten, fifteen minutes later, they puke all over the car.”
