The incident took place in 2018 when the Mumbai-based lawyer missed her flight.
A consumer court in Mumbai has ordered Uber India to pay Rs 20,000 fine to a woman who missed her flight due to the delay caused by the cab service, a report in Times of India said. While half of this amount is for causing the passenger mental stress, the other Rs 10,000 is for the litigation cost the complainant incurred. The woman, advocate Kavita Sharma from Dombivli, has been fighting the case since 2018. She booked a flight to Chennai in June that year but couldn't reach airport on time.
According to Times of India report, Ms Sharma said in her complaint that the flight was scheduled to depart at 5.50pm on June 12, 2018 and she booked a cab for the airport, 36km away from her home, at 3.29pm. But that driver arrived at her location after 14 minutes, that too, after repeated calls.
She further said in the complaint that the driver delayed starting the trip because he was on a phone call. While heading to the airport, he took a wrong turn and took the cab to a CNG station, thereby causing a further delay of 15-20 minutes, the outlet further said.
By the time Ms Sharma reached the airport, it was already 5.23pm and she missed her flight. Also, Uber billed her Rs 703 for the trip while the estimated fare at the time of booking was Rs 563, the advocate said in her complaint.
Ms Sharma then had to buy ticket to next available ticket. And Uber initiated a refund of just Rs 139 - the difference in the estimate and actual fare, said the Times of India report.
The Mumbai advocate first sent a legal notice to the firm but there was no response. So, she approached the Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
Uber claimed that it is just an aggregator and a facilitator for connecting consumers with drivers, the consumer commission found that the company was in charge of the app's management and all the transactions and services being used there.
It then ordered Uber India to pay Ms Sharma an amount of Rs 20,000.