Lyft is a scam!
I got charged $75 for a mess I never made, and I’m honestly still shaking with anger.
This morning I took a 7:30am ride to work. The driver’s name was Prajjwal. The ride was completely normal. Quiet, smooth, nothing out of the ordinary. We didn’t say a word to each other beyond a hello at the start and a thank you at the end. I got out after about 20 minutes, thanked him, and went into work like it was any other day.
Then my boyfriend, who had booked the ride for me, called and asked if something had happened during the trip. I said no, why? It was quiet the whole way. That’s when he told me there was a $75 charge on the account. My stomach dropped.
We called customer care to figure out what it was for, and that’s when it got ridiculous. They said the driver had filed a complaint claiming I damaged his car, that I left “some sort of liquid” all over the seat and door. Liquid. From a ride where I sat still, said nothing, and touched nothing. I didn’t even have anything on me that could spill. My bag only had my ID, my work vest, and some papers. I wasn’t even carrying a water bottle.
We asked them what mess they were even talking about, and they had no real answer. No photo. No proof. Nothing. They had already confirmed the charge without hearing a single word from our side. And when we asked for the driver’s details so we could actually talk to someone about this, they flat out refused.
The whole thing reeks. Our guess is the driver used an old photo, or an AI generated one, to fake damage and pocket the money, and customer care just took his word for it and moved on.
I do not have $75 to lose. I work a minimum wage job, and starting my day getting robbed like this over something I didn’t do feels awful. I’ve done nothing wrong here, and I’m not letting it go.
Does anyone know what I can actually do about this, and has this happened to anyone else before?
I urge everyone to stop using lyft for your own safety.
Edit: I live in Canada, travel by train and bus every day. I was running late, that’s why I had to seek out for a ride.