RIDEGURU
I heard from my nephew that Uber drives are sometimes so desperate to make money that they would randomly charge cleaning fees for no reason whatsoever. Is this true? What can I do to stop it or make sure it doesn't happen.
What is the "cleaning fees" and "vomit" SCAM by Uber drivers? Should I be concerned? How do I avoid them?
Posted 5 years, 11 months ago
Posted In
Rideshare Scams
Discuss known or suspected scams in the rideshare industry. Share your experience here.
Posted By
KWalkins
88
Ride Apprentice
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The Guru Take
Cleaning Fee is disputed often. Some are blatant scams. Some are in gray areas.
The "cleaning fee scam" is when an Uber driver fabricates or exaggerates damages to their vehicle in order to collect a large cleaning fee.
Drivers can collect anywhere from $20 to $150 an incident by reporting damages to Uber. (or more, if a professional help is needed and there is a receipt.) The driver needs to submit a photo evidence directly to Uber. The cleaning fees are charged back to the offending customer.
Fabrication: In some scams, the Uber driver simply makes up an incident by reporting food spills or bodily fluids soiling the car. Since a photo is required, the driver would create an artificial mess and snap a pic. Some are known to simply submit a photo they find on the Internet. (Some drivers have shared with us that fake barfs and water bottles are used to make up a mess.)
Exaggeration: In some cases, the passengers do make some mess. Some drivers take advantage of this by artificially making the mess bigger or simply exaggerating it on the claims form to Uber. There are four levels of cleaning fees, and if they can bump it up, they can earn more money. (related: How much are cleaning fees? - 4 Levels)
Why does this work?
This scam often works for multiple reasons. One common reason is that the passenger may not notice they were charged the fee. Uber is extremely simple to use, where a credit card is automatically charged and the receipt is sent to the Inbox. Many people do not bother checking those receipts or the amount charged. If you do not notice? The driver just got away.
The passenger may also not remember the incident clearly, and it can become the driver's word against passenger's word. If you fell asleep or were intoxicated, you may not remember well and you may have a difficult time arguing and making your case to Uber. This can also happen when there are multiple passengers where the person who was charged cannot remember if a friend had made a mess.
When a driver exaggerates the damage, it is difficult to catch for the passenger. For example, if you spilled your drink, it may have been a simple clean up at $20. However, the driver can claim a larger damage, say on the upholstery, where a professional cleaning was performed at $80.
How to avoid and what to do when you suspect a scam.
As a passenger, you want to be diligent by reviewing every Uber receipt to make sure a fake cleaning fee was not assessed. If you indeed created a mess, you want to check whether the charge is fitting of the damage caused. Take a look at the different cleaning fees assessed: How much are cleaning fees? - 4 Levels.
If you do suspect a fraud/scam, you want to contact Uber immediately and make your case. In some cases, Uber will send you the photo of the incident that the driver uploaded. Is it really the mess you made?
Related Threads:
- How is Uber fighting back against Cleaning Fees Scams?
ippei
1202
Uber Driver, CEO of TaxiFareFinder and Unleashed, LLC
Comments
This exact thing happened to me in Orlando. I had to go through Paypal to get the charge of $80.00 refunded back to me. I stopped using Uber and I will never use it again! They employ thieves.
😐 LOL They employ thieves ??? Uber is the king of thief especially from the customers .
BigFrank, if riders only knew how bad Uber and Lyft screw them. Not to mention all the BS reports riders use to screw drivers out if their fare.
Yes, same here but in Boston. Such a frustrating ordeal considering Uber is impossible to work with. I still get so angry when I think back. such BS
You a rider? How are you using PayPal to pay Uber? I didn't even know that was possible.
Paypal takes and processes any credit/debit card. Also Paypal issues a debit Mastercard for account holders. If my Paypal Mastercard is the registered method of payment with Uber there you go. Paying with Paypal.
Ah, got it. More and more like a bank these days.
Specialty stores also sell "fake vomit" as a prank gadget. It is made of flexible painted rubber, even with digested food particles to make it look real, and you place it anywhere you want...on the floor, on a seat, etc.
There must be limited variations of fake vomits. It’s funny to think Uber receiving pics of the same exact vomit pool from drivers all around the country.
Then at Uber HQ, they’d have like a list of black listed vomit pics.
That’s where scammers will be smart and take the pics from different angles, different lighting conditions, upside down, etc. LOL
What.... this is taking it to the next level. Don't you think Uber would evnetually catch on that the vomit always looks the same in every picture... lol
LOL. That's why you take the pic from different angles. 360 degrees. Plus how high you hold your camera.
Who knew fake vomit industry would all of a sudden get a boost from our new high tech ground transportation.
How des one use a waterbottle to fake a vomit. Are you saying someone will toss a water bottle and call it a mess? That's preposterous.
I believe what they mean is that they squirt water on to the seat and claim it juice, pee, or whatever. They snap a pic, and it naturally dries and cleans itself up. genius.
Evilly genius.
This just happened to me in Los Angeles. I saw the $40 charge on my AMEX today. The photos Uber sent me are not even the car I was in. Uber support does nothing to assist. I’ve filed a cc dispute and I’m done with Uber. Unfortunate.
That's a scam indeed. You have to keep disputing that. Uber has mechanisms in place to verify the authenticity of the photos, say checking the timestamp, checking the car type, etc.
While clever drives can fake out Uber, eventually this will catch up to them as long as all the riders dispute and challenge their claims.
Good luck...
I had made a little mess but the driver took a picture of my vomit out on the street and posted a blurry photo of it and claimed it was in the car. The little mess I made was only on the side door where I opened the door to vomit. My friends were in the car and none of us had throw up on our clothes but Uber charged me level 4 and they believed the driver even though the picture wasn’t even inside the car.
OMFG. That’s hilarious. Such a desperate move. The driver basically took the opportunity to run out of the car, grab a photo of your puke OUTSIDE just so your story with customer support will be slightly weaker.
I can imagine the odd call with Uber:
You: the driver is trying to scam me saying I puked in his car.
Uber Support: are you saying this photo isn’t of your vomit?
You: No, it actually is my puke but...”
Uber: “are you saying you did puke during the ride?”
You: “yes, I mean no, I was not in the car when it happened. ...so it technically doesn’t count as during a ride.”
Uber: “how would your driver have a pic of your vomit then?”
You: “never mind.”
You could video record the trip, where legal. The problem is that drivers have experienced fare cuts to the point that a small number will resort to tactics such as false cleaning charges.
Rider puked in my car and then tried to dispute the charge. I was called every name in the book and the passenger even stated they would take me to court. After I sent the dashcam video of her losing her dinner (and shots) all over my back seat I didn't hear another peep...strange.
There are definitely shady people out there so if you are the victim of a driver scamming you then you should absolutely pursue it and fight to make it right. The shadiness exists both ways though so dont be caught looking like an idiot either.
Yet again, the price of the webcam pays back in ten folds. I thank my lucky 360 degree camera every day. Way more valuable than the insurance itself LOL.
Gosh, take you to court? For puke? For $250? It's all talk.
Ooooh, this is the "Phantom Mess" scam.
I didn't know this was a thing.
I am so upset to learn that my cc got charged $140.00 cleaning fee for a vomit that did not happened. This charged appeared a day later after taking the ride. I contacted UBER to dispute this charge and they forward me some fabricated pictures. The email was signed by some AK person or robot probably, email message looks automated generic of NO RESPONSE NEEDED. I requested additional pictures or proof of the location and I got nothing else. This is BS and unacceptable. I took the UBER from Hollywood to Miami on Sunday afternoon. I siearch online and I was in shock to learn this is happening frequently. When is UBER going to take responsibility for this scam. I guess it comes easy to do when the cc is open to charge. I am going back to a cab. I'm willing to pay a little extra, but at least I am not going to be charge a fake cleaning fee.
It happened to me and I threatened to sue Uber gave me my money 2 days later..
I explained that the two places that were involved in my ride had cameras at both places and I’ll prove I never vomited on his car.
Like a dog with poor hearing, you have to yell at it multiple times for it to respond.
Never happened to me and I take Ubers almsot daily, I think it is pretty rare something like this would happen.
It is rare and usually it comes from some kind of beef between the driver and rider. If someone was drunk and treated the driver badly the driver feels motivated/justified in "squeezing the lemon" and claim vomit or peeing in seat damages. I think it is retaliatory in most cases. You do have a few conniving drivers out to beat the system though.
Car rental in Europe has become a familiar thing that helps everyday people get from point A to point B in an extremely short period of time. Many companies that provide car rental services have many options for cars for every taste. If, for example, you dream of driving a first-class Mercedes or BMW, you will be able to do this with your driver’s license and credit card. Wrap yourself in comfort and safety, a car rental rdu airport any day of the week.
I am sure if you were a polite passenger and left a 15% tip the likely hood of getting screwed is zero.
You guys all realize if human drivers and riders are screwing each other on this, this my get 100x worse with autonomous robot cars, right? In fact, I think auto makers are worried about this as there is no way a robot car can clean the car between rides.
Then of course, what would they do when there are scams where people claim the car is dirty while it isn't?
There is such thing as webcams that can check the interior of the car between rides. Perhaps a human operator can rate it after each ride. If there are any issues, you call the car back to a cleaning location. Easy enough to implement.
Then you give the rider a chance to point it out if the car is dirty. Just dispatch them a new car.
That sucks that the drivers are starving and turning to these scams. I also feel very bad for Uber that they have to deal with these. It's so difficult to solve these and to weed out the true requests vs. false ones.