Many Singaporeans who take taxis or private-hire vehicles have made the mistake of leaving our belongings behind in them.
Depending on their luck, the lost items would be returned by the driver or gone forever.
One passenger whose belongings were with her Grab driver managed to contact him to get them back — but he allegedly requested S$20..
He has acknowledged his negligence and offered a refund, Grab said.
According to a Facebook post by road safety group Beh Chia Lor, the incident took place on 14 Dec.
The woman, named only as Ms Su, had S$1,000 worth of equipment in the boot of the Grab vehicle.
However, when she alighted the driver allegedly accidentally drove away with the items still in the boot.
She apparently didn’t have time to retrieve them from the car.
Ms Su needed her equipment for work and had to cancel a job because she didn’t have them.
So she called Grab’s Help Centre, but apparently had a frustrating experience with the live chat.
According to screenshots of her conversation shared by Beh Chia Lor, the customer service officer seemed to imply that it was her fault for leaving her belongings in the car.
Source: Beh Chia Lor – Singapore Road on Facebook
This is before she could explain that the driver had driven off before she could reach the boot.
They then appeared to accuse her of not waiting patiently.
After sending her the driver’s contact, they recommended that she give him a S$10 reward.
Source: Beh Chia Lor – Singapore Road on Facebook
When Ms Su contacted the driver, she had another shock.
He was willing to return the items but asked for a fee of S$20.
According to screenshots of the conversation shared by Beh Chia Lor, he specifically asked her to agree to the fee.
Source: Beh Chia Lor – Singapore Road on Facebook
Desperate to have her items back, she promised to PayNow him later.
Later, she made a police report over the incident, and Grab contacted her.
In response to queries from MS News, a Grab spokesperson apologised for “the frustrating customer support experience” Ms Su had.
The agent she interacted with had breached the Grab code of conduct and standard operating procedure, Grab said.
They had also received a prior warning and thus “is no longer with us”, the spokesperson added.
Source: Grab
As for the driver, he has “acknowledged his negligence”.
Hence, he also requested to refund the amount of S$20 to Ms Su in full, the Grab statement said, adding,
We are committed to upholding high standards of service on our platform so that all our users can have an enjoyable experience.
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Featured image adapted from Beh Chia Lor – Singapore Road on Facebook and GRAB CAR registration on Facebook, for illustration purposes only.
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