Uber Surge Pricing: Passenger Charged Over $14,000 For 5-Mile Ride

An Uber customer was charged more than $14,000 for a 5-mile ride in Toronto, Canada, in an extreme example of surge pricing. The man, identified as Hisham Salama, wanted to take the ride at a peak time Dec. 8. However, the ride cost him $18,518.50 CAD ($ 14,422 USD) instead of $12-13 ($9-10 USD).

A screenshot of the bill was posted on a private Instagaram account belonging to a user with the handle “votethehish,” TheComeback.com reported. At first, Uber insisted that the bill was legitimate and refused to refund the money. Salama posted an image of the bill on his Twitter page after he received the reply from Uber.

He tagged the handles related to Uber and wrote: “@Uber @Uber_Support what turned out to be an honest mistake is now turning into the biggest blunder of 2017. I’m no longer laughing at wondering when #uber will get their act together. Can anyone help? Obviously, no 20 min fare is $18,500.”

Emily Kennard, who claimed to be a friend of Salama, then shared a picture of the receipt and expressed her shock and anger at the pricing.

“What in the world??? This is insane!” she wrote.

An Uber spokeswoman then confirmed that an exorbitant amount was charged and issued a full refund.

“There was an error here and it has been resolved. We have provided a full refund to this rider and apologized to him for this experience. We have safeguards in place to help prevent something like this from happening, and we are working to understand how this occurred,” she was quoted as saying by Slate Magazine.

Salama then said the fare had been refunded and that Uber had apologized.

This is not the first time Uber was slammed for increased prices or its surcharging strategy — charges applied on the ride during peak usage. Earlier this year, the cost of an Uber ride for a couple, who were on their way to a music festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, turned out to be 8.6 times the normal price. They were charged $898 on a trip that was originally to be $214.

During the terrorist attacks in London in June, Londoners fleeing the scene using Uber were hit with surge pricing. Many angry customers expressed their anger at Uber on social media.

However, according to Uber, surge pricing was automatic and was turned off around the London Bridge as soon as they began hearing reports of the attack.

In a statement following the attacks, Uber said: “As soon as we heard about the incident we immediately suspended dynamic pricing all around the area of the attacks — and shortly afterwards across the whole of central London - just as we did following the attacks in Manchester and Westminster.”