New York: Uber Driver Refuses To Pick Up Woman In Labor, Charges Her $13

Less than a week after the Inquisitr reported about the case of an Uber driver who returned to one of his passenger’s home to burglarize and rape her, we have yet another horror story from the popular taxi hailing service. A report published by Fortune magazine earlier this week talks about the appalling behavior of an Uber driver who allegedly refused to take in a pregnant woman in labor. The Uber driver allegedly left the woman on the sidewalk. The report also adds that the driver charged the woman’s husband, David Lee, $13 for the “lost time.”

From the report, it is unclear as to when it actually took place in the month of November, 2015. However, it adds that David Lee isn’t particularly happy in the way Uber handled the entire incident. On the day of the incident, Lee had to call an Uber after his wife, a first-time mother, went into labor sooner than expected. What was supposed to be short three-mile trip to the hospital ended up in nightmare for both of them.

After the Uber car arrived, the driver allegedly refused to take in the pregnant woman who showed signs that she could possibly vomit. The Uber driver told David Lee that he would lose nearly $1,000 a day in revenue of Lee’s wife became sick whilst in the vehicle. He also added that no other driver would be willing to pick them up for the same reason.

David pleaded to the driver and told him he would pay for cleaning up the car if anything of that sort happens. The Uber driver however did not budge and refused to take the pregnant woman to the hospital. If all this wasn’t enough, the driver even charged the couple $13 for his “lost time” and simply drove off –leaving the couple stranded by the sidewalk. After the Uber driver drove away, Lee hailed another Uber car which took them safely to the hospital. The couple were blessed with a baby boy hours after the incident.

Two months later, Lee remains unhappy at Uber in the way the company handled the issue.

“I don’t blame Uber for one driver’s poor actions, since bad apples can appear in any organization, but I do think that when a company has a culture of bullying their way past laws and regulations, as Uber seems to do, they begin to think they can act with impunity in anything.”

According to Lee, the only response from Uber to the incident was the refunding of the $13 fee. The company allegedly refuses to acknowledge that the driver has committed anything wrong.

When contacted by Fortune, Uber officials issued a statement.

“Denying service to a passenger in labor is unacceptable: it goes against our code of conduct and the standard of service our riders rely on. We extend our deepest apologies to both riders and have taken action to respond to this complaint. We are glad that the rider’s next driver was professional and courteous.”

According to Lee, Uber has refused to reveal details about the driver so that he could identify him. While the name and picture of the driver appears on the Uber app and the subsequent trip record, when he contacted Uber for further details regarding the driver they refused, citing their driver privacy policy.

Uber also stopped responding to his emails when he countered them on their claim that they could not release the identity of the driver involved. Lee however did manage to get more information about the Uber driver from the emailed receipt that was sent to him after the trip. Another thing that remains unclear is the $13 charge that was issued to the couple. Uber only charges customers after the trip begins. In this case however, it is unclear if the trip had started.

Do you think you would be using Uber again after hearing of these horror stories?

[Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images]