Several Uber clients with negative experiences have experienced their dissatisfaction through social media over the past few weeks. However, the ridesharing company’s public relations department denied the incidents and described them as fabricated. Clients and their families have taken to Facebook to share their experiences with the service, detailing abuses and payment problems while using Uber. They wanted to warn families from using the application.
Ahmed Elsawy, an Uber user, told Daily News Egypt that an Uber scooter driver attacked him immediately after the trip ended because “the driver didn’t understand the concept of visa payment, and tried to steal his bag and cursed him.”
Elsawy said that he was not satisfied at all in the way Uber handled the situation. He was unable to find an immediate emergency number to reach for during the ride, and the online support system was of no help as they didn’t show him what actions they were going to take with the driver or what they were going to do. He mentioned that he had to go through a series of customer service agents, telling his experience over and over. He described this flow of support as frustrating.
Another Uber user, Hanna Hani, wrote on Facebook about her bad experience with the application on 25 September. According to Hani’s Facebook post, titled “Uber is not safe,” the driver arrived in a different car than the one appeared in the app, a matter he described as “mixed up.” During the ride, Hani found out that the driver’s identity is also different than the one in the app.
“I reported on the application a few minutes after the ride seemed threatening and the driver made sexually explicit comments. However, the report was completely disregarded with no further notice from Uber customer service.”
Later the company told Hani that the driver that was meant to show up accused them of smoking during the ride, but she denied.
Other users also post their problems on Uber Egypt’s Facebook page, urging the need to investigate their complaints.
Daily News Egypt tried to contact Uber Egypt General Manager, Ahmad Hammouda, but he preferred that we contact the company’s public relations office, which is managed by Publicist Inc.
The PR office unofficially denied all the incidents reported on social media, describing them as “not true,” wondering “why do we suggest the users are telling the truth?”
The PR agent said that they “cannot speak for Uber, and the only one to speak out for the company is Ahmad Hammouda.”
The agency said they can’t answer for Uber regarding the commitment to client’s safety and said the online support is available every day. They also suggested sending our questions to the Uber management. According to Uber’s official response, the company “invests in safety” through series of in app features, listing them as check your ride, caller privacy, trusted contacts, and the safety center. Uber public relations focused on their online support services, saying it is available all day and contact between clients and the company is open in case of any emergency during the trip, adding that all the drivers run for security and drug checks as well as training before working for Uber.
According to an interview with Nicholas Valentino, Uber’s executive, with Washington Post, the company has zero drivers, describing the company as a software company, assuring the newspaper that “they are not Uber drivers. They’re independent, third-party transportation providers.”
