A woman is going viral on TikTok after she alleged that Uber overcharged her for a recent ride. As a result, she encouraged viewers always to double-check their receipts.
Demi (@_demi.demi) said she recently took an Uber ride that she thought cost $24. When she returned home and reviewed her receipt, though, she said she realized she was charged nearly double the amount.
“PSA: Uber is SCAMMING y’all,” Demi wrote in the text overlay of her clip. As of Saturday, her video encouraging people to be wary of the ride-sharing app had amassed more than 264,700 views.
What happened to the woman’s Uber?
Demi said she ordered an Uber for $24. Her receipt summary, however, noted that she paid $46.97 for her ride home.
“That’s not what showed up on my ride screen when I requested my ride,” she said. “That’s not what I paid for originally.”
When she noticed the receipt discrepancy, Demi said she contacted Uber via the app’s help deck and requested her money back. As of press time, she hadn’t confirmed whether she received a refund yet.
Demi alleged that Uber is “banking on the fact” that people won’t be observant enough to check that what they requested and what they paid are the same. As a result, she encouraged users to “always check their receipts” after calling a ride.
“If you want to charge me $46 for a ride, that’s fine,” she said. But that price, Demi added, needs to be made clear upfront.
“It’s giving class action lawsuit,” Demi said in her clip.
In a follow-up video, Demi encouraged viewers to share their horror stories about being overcharged by Uber.
“More than 400 people commented on my video basically agreeing” that Uber scams its customers, she said. As a result of the feedback she got, Demi said she started a Google form for aggrieved customers to share their experiences with Uber or similar apps.
Uber customers say they’ve been scammed by the app
This past September, another Uber driver said she experienced something similar. Essentially, she said the app advertised a $12 ride, but, like Demi, she was charged nearly double.
In her case, though, the affected driver said she was charged more due to “expenses associated with California’s commercial auto insurance requirements.” It’s not clear from Demi’s clip whether she was hit with that same surcharge.
Still, as a result of her experience, the customer from last year encouraged viewers to use Lyft instead of Uber.
Reasons you might be charged more for ride-share
In her video, Demi suggested that she was charged extra because her driver took a longer route.
According to some Redditors, this is not uncommon.
In the r/Uber subreddit, another passenger alleged that their driver purposefully took back roads that added an unnecessary 20 minutes to their ride. It wasn’t clear from the thread whether the passenger got charged extra, but they said they gave their driver a one-star rating.
A second, more dated post from the r/Uber subreddit, meanwhile, said drivers who take longer routes don’t get paid extra.
“No smart driver does this. Any extra time and miles [are] pennies compared to just getting another ride,” one Redditor said. “And in upfront fare markets, this can actually backfire as most fare recalculations never favor the driver.”
You might also get charged more for an Uber if you’re hit with a surcharge. But this typically only happens if your driver is using toll roads or if you’re traveling during a busy time. It doesn’t seem like this is what affected Demi, however. These charges are automatically included in the price of a trip.
Viewers share Uber horror stories
In the comments section of Demi’s video, several other users said they’ve similarly been charged more for Uber than the app initially advertised.
@_demi.demi @Uber please get your fraudulent pricing together. how are you simultaneously scamming your customers and underpaying your drivers??? #scammers #foryoupage ♬ original sound – demi 🧚🏽
“I’ll never forget ordering an Uber for $25 & it tried to run my card for $99… haven’t used it since,” one woman shared.
“I went to Toronto and this happened to me 4 times,” another said. “I showed the original booking price and everything and they banned my account.”
“Happened to me,” a third viewer wrote. “Agreed to pay $35, check my statements a week later, and it was $60. I called my bank… got my money back and deleted Uber. They still email me telling me to pay my bill.”
Others shared tips for how they avoid getting scammed.
“I only use my cash app card for ride-sharing,” one user wrote.
“Uber [has] been doing this for years!!!” one said. That’s why I don’t have it connected to my bank account, just Apple Pay & it’s always the exact amount or $3 more.”
“I put 24 on my Apple Pay and run along about my day,” a third user quipped.
Some users said that other ride-share apps, such as Lyft, aren’t any safer.
“Lyft does this too,” one user claimed.
“Lyft doing the same thing,” another echoed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Demi via TikTok comment and to Uber through email.
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