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A woman in London claims she was offered $31 in compensation after an Uber driver allegedly offered her intimate services. Reports are she exchanged several emails with the giant ridesharing service, telling them she felt very uncomfortable as the man would use increasingly inappropriate language, even offering her a sexual favour. In exchange for the alleged sexual harassment the company eventually gave her extra credit on her Uber account.
The unidentified woman shared her emails with Newsweek, to whom she described the March encounter. According to their reports, she contacted Uber more then once, telling them she only wanted to point out that the company should never support such behaviour.
In the response she received from a marketing manager, the company claimed there was already an investigation ongoing and that “the necessary actions will be taken to avoid a similar incident in the future.” They also thanked her for bringing the issue to their attention.
“Towards the end of the journey he was asking if I liked b*** jobs, saying that he was very good at going down on girls or giving ‘sucky sucky’ to girls and did I want him to do it to me. He even suggested that he could pull over into a side street and do it now if I wanted, which was the scariest part of drive,” her email read.
Uber then answered they are shocked to find out what happened and that “while things like this should definitely not happen in the first place, in the unlikely event that they do occur we have the full details of the driver, trip and rider on our systems so that we can immediately investigate any concerns raised.”
They once again said they are sorry, Newsweek reports, and then offered her a £20 ($31) credit. However, Uber did imply that giving credit to passengers in these circumstances is rather a refund and not a compensation, also adding that this attracts the immediate suspension of the driver in question.
Even though they were asked, no further details were offered on whether similar incidents have happened before and if they did, what were the consequences. It would also seem there is no official policy regarding these type of situations as “fortunately incidences of this nature are so rare. ”
They accuse Uber of misleading customers about the quality of background checks the ridesharing giant performs on its drivers. The complaint also alleges that Uber illegally provides service at airports without authorization and defrauds customers by charging unnecessary fees.
Meanwhile, Uber was also banned in both Spain and Thailand, where it is considered as an unlawful and unfair competitor to the traditional taxi services. The ride sharing app is facing some serious problems in Germany and Netherlands as well, where Uber drivers now have to be licensed taxi drivers. Toronto is also trying to get rid of the service, as the city claims it’s “jeopardizing public safety” by running afoul of Canadian laws.
In the response she received from a marketing manager, the company claimed there was already an investigation ongoing and that “the necessary actions will be taken to avoid a similar incident in the future.” They also thanked her for bringing the issue to their attention.
The driver offered his sexual services
Since she was not satisfied with their elusive answer, the Uber customer send another email in which she’d describe the entire trip in detail.“Towards the end of the journey he was asking if I liked b*** jobs, saying that he was very good at going down on girls or giving ‘sucky sucky’ to girls and did I want him to do it to me. He even suggested that he could pull over into a side street and do it now if I wanted, which was the scariest part of drive,” her email read.
Uber then answered they are shocked to find out what happened and that “while things like this should definitely not happen in the first place, in the unlikely event that they do occur we have the full details of the driver, trip and rider on our systems so that we can immediately investigate any concerns raised.”
They once again said they are sorry, Newsweek reports, and then offered her a £20 ($31) credit. However, Uber did imply that giving credit to passengers in these circumstances is rather a refund and not a compensation, also adding that this attracts the immediate suspension of the driver in question.
Even though they were asked, no further details were offered on whether similar incidents have happened before and if they did, what were the consequences. It would also seem there is no official policy regarding these type of situations as “fortunately incidences of this nature are so rare. ”
Uber’s meteoric success is slowly going down
Even though the five-year old company has experienced quite a meteoric evolution worldwide, it would seem the good times could only last so long. Isolated incidents involving Uber have happened before, but nothing was outside the normal until recently. According to Fortune, two California district attorneys filed a civil lawsuit against the San Francisco-based company on Wednesday, December 10.They accuse Uber of misleading customers about the quality of background checks the ridesharing giant performs on its drivers. The complaint also alleges that Uber illegally provides service at airports without authorization and defrauds customers by charging unnecessary fees.
Indian rape scandal
Meanwhile, there are bigger problems affecting the company’s public image, as Indian judges decided today to send the Uber rape suspect to custody for two weeks. The man is accused of raping a young passenger in New Delhi, an attack that led the government to request a nationwide ban on the popular U.S. app.Meanwhile, Uber was also banned in both Spain and Thailand, where it is considered as an unlawful and unfair competitor to the traditional taxi services. The ride sharing app is facing some serious problems in Germany and Netherlands as well, where Uber drivers now have to be licensed taxi drivers. Toronto is also trying to get rid of the service, as the city claims it’s “jeopardizing public safety” by running afoul of Canadian laws.
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