Andrew Peters was refunded $600 by Uber after the rideshare company initially charged him while he was stuck in Virginia on I-95 during a snowstorm. Peters and the Uber driver were stranded on the interstate for nine hours.
Hundreds of others drivers were also stranded in the freezing weather along 40 miles of I-95 with Andrew Peters and the Uber driver. According to the police, several tractor-trailers jackknifed during the snowstorm, which caused the delay.
Peters described the nine-hour ordeal while speaking to WTOP News. Peters was on a plane from California and had no idea about the weather hitting Virginia when he left San Francisco.
Apparently, the Uber driver was also unaware of the traffic issue when picking up Peters at the Dulles International Airport to drive him to Richmond.
Peters said it was frightening not knowing how long they would be stranded for in the cold weather.
“It was kind of scary,” Peters said. “We didn’t have any food or water.”
The fare was charged automatically based on the length of time of the Uber ride, and Peters said the app made it difficult to make a complaint.
“There’s like an interface on the app that you can get trip help or provide driver feedback. And when I was pressing those buttons, there was an option for ‘Why did my fare change?’ And, you know, it’s traffic or construction. And if you press the button on there, it says, ‘There’s nothing we can do for that.’ … You kind of have to pay it based on how long your trip was. So that was a little frustrating. And because, you know, it isn’t a person that’s just (the) app saying those types of things, so I wasn’t able to get anybody on the phone.”
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After hearing about Peters’ grueling rideshare experience, Uber reached out to Peters and offered him a refund.
“They were sorry to hear that I had so many problems with the app,” said Peters. “And with the override, and with the highway and that they would love to issue me a full refund.”
Peters still paid a $100 tip to the driver, whom he said was amazing.
