AN Uber driver impersonated as a customer care executive over phone to deter a woman passenger from filing a complaint against him for allegedly harassing and stalking her during a ride from Delhi to Gurgaon on Wednesday.
But the woman was quick to suspect that the person at the other end of the phone was not an Uber executive. She confirmed her suspicion by asking her friend to dial the number she had received the call from.
She then took to Facebook to describe her ordeal and draw Uber’s attention to the alleged harassment and the driver’s attempt at impersonation.
Reacting to the allegations, an Uber spokesperson said the driver has been barred from accessing the Uber app and the matter is being investigated. They have also confirmed that the first call received by the woman was not from Uber.
“It seems the driver tried calling her and posing as an executive. We have suggested police assistance and support in the matter, as the rider may deem fit,” said the spokesperson. The woman, however, had not approached the police at the time of filing this report.
The woman works with a private firm in Gurgaon and lives in south Delhi’s Mehrauli. A regular Uber customer, she had booked a cab for office on Wednesday morning.
Soon after she boarded the cab, the driver Sandeep allegedly began showering her with “undue attention” by asking her about her place of work. When she chose not to respond, he allegedly began asking more personal questions.
To avoid answering him, the woman called a friend and got into a telephonic conversation, only to find he allegedly raising the radio volume.
When she asked him to behave like professional, Sandeep allegedly began driving rashly and threatened to ram the Maruti Ritz car. When she threatened to complain against him, he allegedly forced her to get off the cab in the middle of the road.
He then allegedly followed her on the road in his car for two to three minutes. It was only when the woman began noting down the car number did he drive away, she wrote in her Facebook post.
She hired an Ola cab to reach office even as she simultaneously took up the matter with Uber by posting on their app. She expected the Uber executives to call back, but it was allegedly the same driver who called her from a different number.
Before she could narrate her ordeal, the caller told her that Uber had received a complaint against her from Sandeep. When she threatened police action, the driver disconnected the call saying that he had heard her enough and that the same driver would not be allotted to her again.
Media reports