Madam/Sir,
1. I am a regular user o[censored]ber Cabs. For the last few days, I have been making frequent visits to Command Hospital, Pune for some treatment making entries in the Pune Cantonment area. Generally, the toll tax collection at the toll gate of cantonment area is manual & not like that of the highway toll plaza with automatic tax deduction tag system. Whenever any taxi, whether it is Uber, Ola or any private taxi enters the cantonment area, the driver stops the vehicle at the toll gate, the toll man comes with a readymade receipt of Rs.63/, collects Toll Tax amounting Rs.63/- from the driver & hands over the receipt to the driver and then the vehicle moves. This is SOP followed at the toll gate for all taxies. Pune Cantonment area is a defence establishment where Automatic Tax deduction system is not installed. Toll Tax is collected by manual method. For defence personnel the entry is free to cantonment area and no tax is levied. So, I am being a defence person, when my taxi enters the cantonment area, the driver does not pay any toll tax. By seeing my Identity Card, the vehicle is allowed to make entry into the area. The same procedure was followed on 18 & 210November 2022, when Uber Taxi entered cantonment area without paying Toll Tax. But your automatic system generated the bill including Rs.63/- toll tax as per the GPS route and I have paid the fare. This has happened twice earlier, and I paid Rs.63x2= Rs.126/- as toll tax which was not deposited by Uber drivers in the Toll Tax gate. I represented the matter through Uber App, and they made the refund in the following manner to my Uber Cash account: -
(a) 20 November 2022: Rs.63/-
For the trip made on 18.11.2022by the driver Mr. Santosh in which Rs. 63/- toll tax was not paid by the driver, but it was collected by Uber as per the default generated bill
(b) 21 November 2022: Rs.50/-
For the trip made on 20.11.2022 by the driver Mr. Keshav in which Rs. 63/- toll tax was not paid by the driver, but it was collected by Uber as per the default generated bill. But a refund was made for Rs. 50/- only. Why Rs.13/- was deducted is not known to me so far.
2. Similar incident happened on 22.11.2022 when I made entry in the Cantonment area. The driver Mr. Ganesh was also not charged with any toll tax and the vehicle was allowed to make entry basing on my Identity Card. But, by default, the bill was generated with the Toll Tax amounting Rs.63/-. I have paid the fare and informed this matter through Uber App to make a refund. But Mr. Treublaan7 replied to the followings in his email dated 24.11.2022 at 1515 hrs:
"As mentioned earlier, INR 63.00 has already been refunded in the form o[censored]ber credits. Therefore, we will not be able to make any further adjustments to the trip fare."
3. Earlier refund was made for the trips made on 18 November & 20 November 2022. That has nothing to do with the trip made on 22. 11.2022. The current refund was requested for the trip held on 22 November 2022. The date, timings, destination, and the driver names are all available in your records. It is not a duplicate claim and there should not have any no confusion in this issue. Then why there is a denial to refund the claim. I shall be making several trips in future through Cantonment areas. If your driver does not pay the toll tax based on the entry on my identity card, and the toll tax has been reflected in the bill due to your automatic system, then you should refund the extra money collected by you. There should have any doubt in these dealings. I replied in the Uber App explaining the above in details. When Toll gate is not charging tax from me, then Uber should not also collect the same from me. But again Mr. Treublaan7 replied to the following in his email dated 24.11.2022 at 09.45 am.
"As explained earlier, you’ve been refunded for a similar issue previously, and we cannot make any adjustments for this trip. However, we’ve already made a note of your feedback on the driver-partner’s profile".
I fail to understand how your officials are quoting, ” You have been refunded for a similar issue previously and we cannot make any adjustment for this trip.” Previous adjustment was for the trips made on 18 & 20 November 2022 and present claim is for the trip made on 22 November 2022. So, the previous adjustment should have relation/no link with the present claim. Is it that, because you have adjusted previously, so you will not adjust the extra money for the present trip and also not for all my future trips! Once the toll gate has not charged any toll tax from your driver and once your driver has not paid the toll tax because of my service, why should Uber collect the toll tax from me and penalise me? Further, this toll tax which Uber has collected from me goes to which fund? Had the driver paid the Tax, the money could have gone to fund of Pune Cantonment Board. But now, where the money goes? I, therefore, requested to make refund the extra money that has been collected in the pretext of toll tax.
4. Mr. Treublaan7 again replied to the followings in his email dated 25 November 2022 at 02.10 A.M.
“Fares usually shown at the beginning of the trip are inclusive of toll charges based on the suggested GPS route. Any changes to this, may lead to unexpected toll charges for which your driver will provide you a receipt before asking you to pay in cash.”
If you do not see your driver paying for the toll, it is either because they have a monthly pass or paid for the toll online. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, we would not be able to make any adjustments here.
5. On 25 November 2022, at 1555 hrs another email came to with the following messages: -
“Most drivers have prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection that allow the automatic payment deduction. With this tag, the drivers do not have to stop their vehicles at toll plazas to pay the toll. Hence, even though you do not see the driver paying for the toll, the charge is included in the receipt.”
“While we appreciate you reaching out for the toll that was charged on this trip, as explained by my colleagues the toll charge is valid and cannot be adjusted, since this is to compensate the driver-partners.”
6. On 26 November2022, at 1.26 PM another email came to me with the following message: -
“As mentioned earlier, most drivers have prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection that allow the automatic payment deduction. With this tag, the drivers do not have to stop their vehicles at toll plazas to pay the toll. Hence, even though you do not see the driver paying for the toll, the charge is included in the receipt “
This is the repetition of the message sent on 25 November 2022 mentioned in Para No. 5 above
I have already explained in Para No.1 above that the toll tax method at Pune Cantonment is manual and not automatic tag system as that of Highway Plaza system. I have repeatedly informed that the driver Mr. Ganesh has not paid the toll tax and he may be contacted to ascertain the truth. But your authorities are bent upon insisting that the toll tax has been paid by the driver and is genuine. They have all assumption, perception & probabilities that the driver has paid the toll tax. If that is the case, then the driver must have obtained the receipt of the payment. For the refund of Rs.63/ lots of emails have been sent to me. A single message or call to the driver Mr. Ganesh could have made the position clear. But your officials are not willing to give a call /message to Mr. Ganesh to know the fact
7. It indicates that in future when I avail Uber Taxi, your driver will not pay any toll tax as the vehicle would be allowed to make entry to cantonment area based on my Identity card, your system will include the toll tax amount of Rs.63 in the bill by default which you will collect from me, and you will not refund/ adjust this extra money collected by you. This money will go to the Uber fund. Is it fair? When you are not paying the toll tax to Pune Cantonment Board but you will collect it from the customer in the pretext of toll tax and deposit it in your bank. Is that the intention of Mr. Treublaan7?
8. If the toll tax is paid to Pune Cantonment board by Uber driver with appropriate receipt, then I am ready to pay for it and I shall never claim for any refund. But if the driver is not making any payment at the toll gate because of my free entry, then the money should be refunded to me for all the trips which I am going to perform in future.
9. I therefore request you to kindly study the aforesaid problems, refund me the extra money collected as toll tax from me on 22.11.2022 and make some provisions for such future settlements as I shall be visiting Command Hospital and using your cabs frequently through the cantonment area.
10. I have mentioned the names of the drivers. You may verify the facts from them to evaluate the truth. They cannot lie in this matter as they have not paid any money and don't have any toll tax receipts.
11. Suggestion for making Refund. As I have mentioned above, I shall be availing Uber cabs which will be making entry to Pune Cantonment area and the drivers will not be charged with Toll Tax. But your system will generate automatic bill with the toll Tax amount of Rs.63/-. Your system may not change the procedure for the sake any one individua. So, let your system generate the bill in its own way. Once the bill is generated and appears in my mobile, I shall make the payment. Because, unless I clear the previous bill, I can’t avail the next trip. So, I shall make the payment and clear the outstanding bill.
12. After clearing the previous bill, I shall inform Uber through Uber App, “Your driver Mr. ….. has not made any toll tax payment but this been reflected in the bill and for that I have already made payment. Since it is an extra payment to you, kindly refund the money to me”. After receiving this message your officials should transfer the extra amount to my Uber Credit account for further adjustments in my subsequent trips. However, you may verify these facts from your driver. Due to any reason, if your driver makes the Toll Tax payment, then I shall not make any request for refund
With kind regards,
Maheswar Tripathy
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