Man Gets $39,317 Bill For Booking 15 Minute Uber Ride

A man reportedly got a bill of $39,317 from Uber after he booked a 15-minute ride in Manchester, England.

Oliver Kaplan, 22, a chef by profession, reportedly booked an Uber ride to Witchwood after finishing his shift at the Buxton Inn in Manchester, England. Kaplan was planning to meet his friends at a pub in Witchwood, located just four miles away from Buxton Inn, New York Post reported.

“I ordered an Uber like I do most nights on the way home from work and everything seemed normal,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan claimed that the price quoted on the app was between $11 and $12 for the ride. However, the following morning, when Kaplan woke up hungover at his home, he received a message from Uber charging him over £35,000 ($39,317) for the Uber ride.

As soon as he received the shocking message, Kaplan quickly contacted Uber’s customer service department through the app to find out about the charge. When Kaplan contacted customer service, engineers at the company determined that the drop-off location that Kaplan had entered for the ride was somehow changed from Witchwood in Manchester to Witchwood, a park in Victoria, Australia, UK Daily News reported.

Uber was unable to remove the funds as Kaplan didn’t have the $39,317 in his bank account.

“If I had that sort of money, I would have had to chase them for a refund,” he explained. “It could have landed me in all sorts of financial trouble. Thankfully they [Uber] were really good about it, and made it right straight away — but it was a stressful half an hour, to say the least,” Kaplan added.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a drunk university student who was trying to get home woke up in an Uber 250 miles away from his destination with a $1,700 bill, Fox News reported.

The engineering major student, James, got in the car in Newcastle, U.K., and accidentally typed a Norwich address into the app. After getting in the car, James slept through most of the five-hour trip and couldn’t believe what happened upon his arrival.

“When I woke up, I literally thought it was a dream. Surely I hadn’t done this,” he said.

The bill ended up being 1,307.64 pounds ($1700). However, when the driver figured out about the mixup, he decided not to charge him for the trip. James then got on a train back home. However, James got fined for not having a train ticket and missed his classes at Newcastle University the next day.