Two weeks ago my debit card got skimmed. I watch my cards like a hawk , do not let them out of my sight, and this one was not one I used often. This skimmer must have been very , very sneaky.
The skimmer then proceeded to go joy riding on Uber and Bolt(Taxify) . Not long trips however. The modus operandi here was to test the card with one trip , wait a day and see if anyone noticed.
If not , the person then took intermittent , short trips on the card in order to fly under the radar. The hope I suppose was to fund nice cushy taxi trips everywhere at my expense , and keep riding it for as long as possible.
This trippy tactic worked. For the first 4 times. I saw a Bolt charge first and didn’t recognize it. I wasn’t aware that they had changed their name (they were Taxify before) and the charge was immediately reversed. I thought it may be some glitch (this has happened before) in someones billing system , and since it had been seemingly rectified I didn’t do anything about it.
Of course , I use Uber , and didn’t pay any attention to that charge. I had done an uber trip some days before and assumed this was simply a delayed charge. My brain read the charge as R34.99 and not R334.99 , as this aligned roughly with the last amount I spent legitimately with them. Its amazing what your brain leads you to believe to make sense of your world.
However , when I checked my SMSs next and found more Bolt charges , I knew something was up. I investigated , realized someone was gallivanting round on my businesses dime and stopped the card. Both Uber and Taxify were equally helpful in stopping the problem account and banning the appropriate person. (Who was , according to the only first name that Uber was willing to give me , someone called Wandile).
Probably not his real name. But there you go.
How these companies responded however to the problem of fraudulent charges was the real kicker. I’ll let you decide who you’d rather do business with :
Bolts Response
Unfortunately, we are not able to refund the amounts because the trips were taken and the service was rendered accordingly.
Kindly note that the problematic concern here was that someone was using your card without your permission to pay for these trips. As such, we cannot be held liable to refund these amounts because the responsibility to keep your card away from being used by strangers lies with you.
Ubers Response
We have blocked the account from requesting any more trips.We’ve also made sure that all the unauthorized charges have been fully refunded. These refunds should be reflected in your bank account in approximately 3 – 5 business days.
Now I fully accept that the responsibility for these fraudulent charges does not lie with these two companies. And I accept that the real liability really lies with either me or the bank. I’m not sure of the legalities. I don’t expect to be refunded from either , and was prepared to write off the amount as a learning experience.
But this is not the issue here. What one company is plainly saying is “We are quite happy to benefit from the proceeds of crime , and we are quite happy to make our users feel that this was their fault”
The other says “We are not going to have anything to do with criminal transactions. We know this is going to cost us money right now , but in the long run we will make it back by increased loyalty to our brand and customer goodwill.”