A young Melbourne woman has warned users of Chinese rideshare platform DiDi to watch out for cleaning fee scams after being cheated out of $150 by an Indian driver.
The passenger named Isabella said on social media earlier this week that she had taken a six-minute DiDi ride home after a Weeknd concert at Marvel Stadium on Monday night, only to wake up and discover she had been charged a $150 “severe mess” cleaning fee, bringing the trip total to $169.36.
She then tried to appeal the charge with the rideshare company but found it impossible to do so, with no option to appeal on the app and calls and emails resulting in being told to use the app, so made a video in the hopes of getting her money back.
“There’s no way I’m letting this guy get $170 for a six-minute drive, it’s just so unfair,” she said, referring to the driver.
“Plus, my friend speaks Hindi and he heard him say we were idiots, on the phone while we were driving”.
@izpop2929 @DiDi ANZ #didi #didiaustralia #uber #scam ♬ original sound – isabella
Isabella also revealed that the money had already been taken out of her account by DiDi, and that she had contacted her bank and was told their enquiries could take up to 30 days.
The video racked up hundreds of comments, with dozens saying the same thing had happened to them, and some sharing their own bad experiences with Indian Didi and Uber drivers.
“I had a similar experience once. I’m from Fiji and have Indian descent (can speak Hindi) but the driver couldn’t tell and he literally spoke on the call about doing this to me,” one wrote.
“When I took a DiDi in Brisbane the driver was watching videos on Facebook while driving,” said another.
“I accidentally left my wallet in a DiDi and the driver decided he’d turn up and blackmail my grandparents for it at 1am,” said a third.
DiDi has a 1.2 star rating on Product Review, with many recent reviews complaining about scams, rudeness, and smelly drivers.
Last month another Melbourne woman warned about an Uber scam where drivers cancel immediately and then try to get passengers to pay in cash, prompting others to complain about now-frequent third-world taxi and rideshare behaviour at Australian airports, where passengers are routinely ripped off, or harassed by illegal touts.
