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When Uber tried to charge Johnathan Woolworth for taking an 83-mile ride from Boston to Storrs, Conn., he knew that something was wack. "I haven't been back to the Boston area since probably 2002," he says.
Turns out that Woolworth was right and Uber was wrong: His account had been hacked and he was being charged for someone else's ride.
The bill for the ride, which occurred on October 14, was $140.92. Determined to get a refund, Woolworth emailed Uber, only to be told that he should contact the driver of the ride instead.
After Woolworth posted on an Uber website and a couple of Instagram accounts, Uber got in touch with him. "Uber actually reached out to me on Facebook and said, 'Oh, we'll refund your money,'" he explains.
According to an article on kgw.com, Uber has faced other security issues. The article notes that stolen Uber passwords are often sold online.
Woolworth says that after realizing his account was hijacked, he had to cancel his debit card. He also concluded that his information had been stolen when he received a push notification to update the information on his Uber account.
While the issue seems to have been resolved, Woolworth, who is the President of Seabee Construction in Portland, says his faith in Uber has been rattled. He says that Uber never offered a proper apology and that in his opinion the company "really doesn't care about their customers unless they're being harmed physically."
As for the subject of whether or not he would ride with Uber after what happened, Woolworth says he's been holding off: "I haven't used Uber since."
Willamette Week