I was charged almost £600 for Uber ride to take daughter to school – I'm furious | The Sun
A FATHER says he was left fuming after being charged nearly £600 for a last-minute Uber to get his daughter to her primary school graduation.
Daniel Watts, 42, claims he was handed a £590 bill – after agreeing on a price £400 less – for a direct trip from London Euston to Hurley Primary School, in Nuneaton.
He says the emergency Uber, which he had to call when trains were cancelled due to the heatwave, was meant to be £190, which is why he was shocked to see the final balance.
And while Mr Watts says the £400 has now been refunded by Uber, the situation has left a "dark cloud" over what should have been a special day and trip.
Mr Watts is from Nuneaton, but relocated his family to Singapore last December.
But, the family decided make the 16-hour journey back last month for an important event – his young daughter's graduation.
Mr Watts told Coventry Live: "We had to remove my daughter from school.
"At that time we felt it right that we should return to the UK in July for her final year graduation, at the primary school she’d attended since reception."
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But, when they arrived at Euston Station on the afternoon of July 19, all the trains in that direction had been cancelled.
He said: "I was left with a stark choice of either missing the leavers' assembly, which is the main reason we’d come to the UK, or trying to find alternative transportation to Nuneaton.
"You can imagine the tears we had at the station. Fortunately, I managed to find an Uber, and a figure of £190 was quoted for the trip, but I agreed to do it to ensure my daughter didn’t miss her special event.
"This is the amount that Uber initially blocked on my card, and I have all the screenshots to show this is the case."
The trip took three hours, and the family made it to the graduation ceremony.
However, Mr Watts claims he woke the next morning and was horrified to receive the staggering charge.
He said: "The journey was completed without incident, so imagine my shock when Uber billed me £590.68.
"They claim there was a change in the destination or possible change to route or multi-drops. But I can confirm it was booked as Nuneaton and the final destination was Nuneaton.
"There were no stops en route, and I was not advised at any point of any change to the fare.
"I just can’t believe they can get away with such behaviour, and it’s basically ruined our trip back home."
He says the charge had left a "rather large and unexpected hole" in their finances – then Uber agreed to refund the £400 extra.
But, he said the situation had caused the family immense stress and they couldn't fully enjoy their trip because of it.
Mr Watts said: "We have now returned to Singapore, and though the memories of the assembly itself somewhat make up for this, it has left a horrible taste. Were it £40 extra I’d have let it go and put it down to experience, but £400.
"After a lot of back-and-forth with Uber they finally agreed that we were in the right on this and have now refunded us the £400 difference, but the stress caused – as you can imagine – was pretty intense, and in reality, it cast a really dark cloud over the final 5 days of our trip to Europe.
"Up until last week they were insisting the higher amount was correct until, unexpectedly, we had an e-mail on Friday confirming we’d be getting £400 back.
"It was a nice surprise, at the same time I wanted to know why we had to go through this over a two-week period.
"No explanation, no apology, nothing."
The Sun has approached Uber for comment.
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