Grab driver drives off with passenger's belongings, demands $20 'fee' to return them

After her Grab driver accidentally drove off with thousands of dollars' worth of company equipment, a woman was told that she had to pay him a fee to get her items returned. 

To make matters worse, the Grab agent attending to her case responded rather rudely via the customer service live chat, implying that it was the woman’s fault for leaving her belongings in the car. 

According to Mothership, the incident took place on Dec 14.

The passenger, Rica Su, had booked a Grab ride to a fish farm to collect samples as part of her work.

When she arrived at the location, she alighted to wave the car through the gate. But the driver thought she was alighting for good and drove off with her equipment and personal belongings – worth thousands of dollars – still in the boot of the car.

Su's colleague ran after the vehicle but was unable to catch up.

When Su sought assistance on Grab's customer service live chat, she was made to wait as the agent checked on her case. When she pressed for an update, she was told off by the agent for not being patient.

The agent also remarked rhetorically: “First of all, whose fault was it that the belongings were left in the car?”

Su was eventually given the driver's contact details, and told to pay a $10 fee to the driver. 

After contacting the driver, however, he requested a $20 fee instead.

She eventually agreed as she did not want to risk losing the company equipment and her belongings.

When all was said and done, Su filed a police report over the matter.

In response to queries, a Grab spokesman said it reached out to the driver, who acknowledged his negligence and returned the $20 fee to Su.

Grab also said the agent who attended to Su's case, who had been issued a warning once before, is now no longer working for the company.

"The agent had breached Grab's code of conduct and standard operating procedure and had also received a prior warning, and is no longer with us," the spokesman said.

"We apologise for the frustrating customer support experience our passenger had."