Posted on 08/30/22
| News Source: WMAR2NEWS
Several Maryland rideshare customers say they were wrongly accused of damaging their driver’s back seat then charged a cleaning fee. Their short Lyft rides went from under $20 to nearly $100.
Angie Barnett, president and CEO of the BBB of Greater Maryland, is seeing an increase in these reports in the area.
“BBB is reporting on a vomit scam, actually the ‘Lyft vomit scam,’" said Barnett. “Rideshare drivers, some of them, deceptively are charging cleaning fees to their riders and saying there’s bodily fluids on the seats.”
A 93-year-old woman believes she recently fell victim to this scam.
“The charge was very reasonable, around $16 for a 10–15-minute ride, but then under that they had an $80 charge for damages, and this shocked me. I couldn’t have imagined what I could’ve done to the car to cause damages,” she said.
She asked that she not be identified because she’s worried about the driver’s response. The woman disputed the charge with Lyft and the company sent back photos supposedly taken by the driver.
“What looked like the backseat of a car with what looked like some liquids spread over the seat. I didn’t have any drink, or anything, no liquid. I would’ve known about it,” she added. “I thought maybe it’s because I’m a senior citizen, but I understand, and I’ve heard now it’s happened to a lot of people that aren’t.”
It also happened to Sophia Alston’s minor daughter.
“They had charged her $17 for the ride and then an additional $80 for damages,” said Alston.