Uber Charges Customers $16,000 For a 7-Mile Trip

On March 28th, Jaime Hessel took an UberX ride from her East Williamsburg apartment to Midtown East, covering 6.79 miles in 35 minutes and 29 seconds, but Uber sent her a $12,251.49 bill.

Hessel acknowledged that surge pricing was in effect.

On phone, Hessel told the Gothamist that her driver seemed distracted from the get-go. "The guy picked me up, and he just sat there for a little bit. Maybe for five minutes or so," she said.

Initially, Hessel received a receipt of $56.40 for the ride, to which she immediately contested, claiming that the driver had unnecessarily extended the ride. She sent an e-mail to Uber Support, and Uber responded a few days later, on April 3rd. "They were really quick about it, and I was impressed," she admitted. "They said, 'We reviewed it, and you're right. He definitely took extra time that was unnecessary, we're going to credit your account $15," Gothamist noted.

However, Hessel did not receive her refund and instead got two new emails.

"I received two e-mails yesterday. One about the status of my credit saying it should be there, it's been processed. And then a second e-mail saying they are trying to charge me $16,000, but then $4,000 had already been taken care of, so I owed them $12,000. I couldn't even tell you what this was about, because I checked my credit cards and there was no charge. I e-mailed them numerous times and they kept giving me the runaround. I was furious. I mean, you can't give me an explanation?" she said.