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My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

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Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#151

Post by skinnymuch »

BoorishBears wrote: post #3
skinnymuch wrote: post #2

Wow what a crazy story. The twist half way through after the first court case was cool. Trying not to spoil anything for someone who hasn't read or finished reading the article. But first it sucks how much time was spent by everyone in the story especially the victim. It also sucks that if you have to go to court again because something comes up that shows the defense, Uber, in this case, did something clearly wrong…

... my bi-monthly reminder not to say anything tounge-in-cheek on HN, lest people trip overthemselves to remind you how you said something tounge-in-cheek and downvote you

Damn sorry that you were kidding around. I'm the OP and I thought you were being completely serious. I immediately felt bad for you and hoped you wouldn't get downvoted into gray.

I agree it is hard to be tongue in cheek on HN. I have to remind myself of that too.

At least your happiness isn't dependent on your karma ;).

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#152

Post by StreamBright »

chronic7ul wrote: post #28
water42 wrote: post #24

before uber, I don't think I've ever rooted for a company to fail

Travis is walking away as a multi-million dollar man. This is whether you root for Uber or not.

I do not care about Travis that much as I care about the next victims of this rip-off machine what uber became in the recent years.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#153

Post by FireBeyond »

hsod wrote: post #112
EnFinlay wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The narrative around that is crystal clear. He filed a police report, and when the police went to Uber they gave incorrect information. They cooperated exactly like an accomplice giving a false alibi, actually.

Is it? "It was later asserted that they reached out to the police detective to clear this up. They found the information and tried to contact the detective with all the information." "If you are curious as to when this happened, it was April 9th. Uber did everything in their power to make the investigation successful and cooperate with the detective, on April 9th, 2017, four months after the incident. They also only…

Because it meant that the narrative at the first trial was that he was making it up. "Awfully fishy how you have all this evidence of the existence of something and then it was immediately stolen", "and we don't even have a record of a trip or driver matching that".

Which lead to them only being found 50% liable the first time.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#154

Post by foobarbazetc »

startupdiscuss wrote: post #35
foobarbazetc wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, or you could get your $4000 back...

I'm just saying what a waste of time just because of this one strange random event. I am not saying it was (or was not) worth it.

Sure, but you can't always optimize your life for 100% operational productivity/efficiency.

Sometimes it really is the principle of the thing. Also it's good to have this data point out there for people to see how Uber operates behind the scenes.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#155

Post by PhasmaFelis »

valuearb wrote: post #45
burkaman wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think the Microsoft store is selling chargers that will set your laptop on fire?

I can believe they aren't up to Apple's standards for their laptops.

I don't have a USB-C Mac, but but Apple's $80 MagSafe chargers aren't actually very good. They don't have basic strain relief sleeves on the cables, so they get kinked at the ends and fray/melt/stop working after a year or two of regular use.

This has been a problem for more than 10 years and Apple's never done anything about it. I can only imagine it's because they think the strain relief is ugly, which is one of those random bits of belligerent incompetence that's really frustrating as a Mac fan.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#156

Post by StreamBright »

hsod wrote: post #25

Interesting story, but I think it was a bit unfair to Uber. I'm glad this guy was made whole, but I'm not sure Uber's reluctance to paying you 4000 dollars because a driver stole your backpack qualifies as corruption. From what I can tell, the worst thing Uber did was not be sufficiently cooperative with the police investigation. This part of the narrative is extremely muddled and unclear, so it's hard to take a stro…

uber could have gotten much worse if they were charged with obstruction of justice. Their employee accused the victim of trying to play a scam on them (why do you have a picture of yourself etc.). How do you classify this behaviour?

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#157

Post by BinaryIdiot »

notheguyouthink wrote: post #88
gravypod wrote: post #76

"I just didn’t buy that a company could just get away with that business model. Hire anyone with a car, facilitate everything, and have no responsibility for what happens in the cars." If I got food sick from something I ordered off GrubHub could I sue them?

I'm curious how far this line goes, too. If I go to Subway and a worker stabs me, does Subway owe me millions? I'm really confused how Uber is responsible here.. it just seems, odd, to me. Now, if Uber as a company promoted (in one way or another) reckless speeding for the sake of fast drop-offs, and I get hit by an Uber driver, yes I think Uber is at fault (and the driver) . However, why does it sound like Uber is r…

> I'm curious how far this line goes, too. If I go to Subway and a worker stabs me, does Subway owe me millions? I'm really confused how Uber is responsible here.. it just seems, odd, to me.

They could be. It depends on the process involved in hiring said worker. If there are little to no checks you could argue Subway was at fault (at least partially) for not properly vetting people being brought in.

Another item is you may have missed the part where Uber obstructed justice by initially lying to the police and not correcting it until it was the primary reason they were going back to court.

It's a nuanced and contextual issue, not a "how far the line goes".

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#158

Post by vkou »

sivex wrote: post #143

Not a single comment on here about using insurance. I know that a backpack with a laptop can be stolen out of someone else's car and cut-rate renters insurance will cover it. I don't really think Uber was the correct person to foot this bill, I think this is the same as someone grabbing your purse from you when walking down the street. You either have decent insurance or you're SOL

If Comcast sent a contractor over to your house, to hook up cable, and the tech stole your TV, is Comcast liable for this?

If you check into a hotel, and the bellboy steals your luggage, is the hotel liable for it?

If you hired a roofing company to fix your roof, they subcontracted it to another firm, which came and set your house on fire, are the roofers also not liable? Especially after they spend a few months trying to prevent you and the police from getting in touch with the subcontractors?

This smells of criminal conspiracy.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#159

Post by rm445 »

notheguyouthink wrote: post #88
gravypod wrote: post #76

"I just didn’t buy that a company could just get away with that business model. Hire anyone with a car, facilitate everything, and have no responsibility for what happens in the cars." If I got food sick from something I ordered off GrubHub could I sue them?

I'm curious how far this line goes, too. If I go to Subway and a worker stabs me, does Subway owe me millions? I'm really confused how Uber is responsible here.. it just seems, odd, to me. Now, if Uber as a company promoted (in one way or another) reckless speeding for the sake of fast drop-offs, and I get hit by an Uber driver, yes I think Uber is at fault (and the driver) . However, why does it sound like Uber is r…

I agree on the oddness. In my mind, the story about a highly-tracked webapp-facilitated worker committing a crime goes something like:

Crime committed -> worker details go to police -> criminal conviction | current mechanisms for direct financial restitution from criminals to crime victims.

Or maybe in the case of no criminal conviction,

Crime committed -> (messing about with police) | John Doe lawsuit against Uber -> Driver details released -> Lawsuit against driver.

Don't get me wrong, Uber just sounds like a lunatic asylum, and their conduct in this case no worse than I'd expect. But it just seems so weird that the chain of events leads to a claim against Uber. I would honestly have expected them to have thrown the driver under a bus while staying rock solid behind their terms and conditions.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#160

Post by dbcurtis »

ivraatiems wrote: post #127
balls187 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would retaining an attorney work in small claims?

IIRC it's the same as doing it anywhere else. You retain someone to represent you and they do so. In some states, you must appear on your own - but not in MA, I don't think, and you can still have an attorney advising you even if they can't appear with you.

Certainly in California you must represent yourself. But you can consult an attorney. They will point out the counter-arguments that you need to be prepared for, which is a very valuable service.
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