Woman Socked With $1,500 Bill After Uber Never Closed Out Her Ride The ridesharing company was loath to respond to Jenny Partington's complaints until she involved local media.
By Geoff Weiss
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Unbeknownst to her, Virginia resident Jenny Partington just took the longest Uber ride ever.
After using the service to travel a few miles across town to a friend's house, Partington was stunned to open the app six days later and see an email receipt totaling $1,537.13. Her trip had never been closed out, it turns out, and the meter had tirelessly continued to rack up charges.
Making matters worse is the fact that the amount was immediately debited from Partington's checking account because she pays for rides using Paypal, according to Arlington Now. "I'm closing on a house on Thursday and need that money for my down payment," she told the outlet on Tuesday.
Related: California Prosecutors Say Convicted Criminals Passed Uber's Background Checks
Clear-cut though the error might have been, Uber was loath to correct it until Partington involved local media. She says that she emailed the company eight times to no response, and when she tried to log into her account it had been disabled.
When Arlington Now reached out to Uber, however, Partington received her refund within an hour. Uber told Consumerist that a "technical error" was to blame, and that the company was working to prevent similar charges from happening in the future.
Partington's $1,537 tab easily trounces some of the longest Uber rides on record -- though many of those cases involve passengers drunkenly passed out in the backseat of their cars.
Related: Uber Scores a Win in Connecticut as Court Dismisses Racketeering Lawsuit
