Grab driver accidentally drives off with woman's company equipment, requests S$20 to return items

The driver has acknowledged his negligence and returned the S$20 fee to the passenger, Grab said.

Ilyda Chua | December 23, 2022, 05:05 PM

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A woman was left confounded after a Grab driver accidentally drove off with thousands of dollars' worth of company equipment — only to be informed that she had to pay him a "reward" for him to return the items.

The money has since been returned.

Thought she had alighted

According to a Mothership reader, 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.

Upon arriving at the location, she alighted to wave the car through the gate.

However, the driver believed that she was alighting for good.

He then drove off with her company equipment and personal belongings — amounting to thousands of dollars — still in the boot of the car.

Su's colleague subsequently tried to run after the vehicle but was unable to catch up to the driver.

Told to pay a 'reward'

Fearful of losing the expensive company equipment, Su then sought help on Grab's customer service live chat.

However, the agent responded in a "rude and sarcastic" manner, and even implied that it was Su's fault for leaving the belongings in the car.

Image courtesy of Mothership reader.

The agent eventually provided the driver's contact details, but asked Su to provide a S$10 "reward" to the driver.

Image courtesy of Mothership reader.

Driver asked for S$20

After contacting the driver, he requested a S$20 fee from Su instead.

Although she tried to avoid agreeing to his request, he repeated his terms and asked her to agree to the fee.

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

Photo courtesy of Mothership reader

She subsequently filed a police report.

Grab's response

In response to Mothership's queries, a Grab spokesperson said that it has since reached out to the driver, who acknowledged his negligence and returned the S$20 fee to Su.

The agent who attended to Su's case was also given a prior warning and is no longer working for Grab.

"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 spokesperson said.

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

Top image via Mothership reader and Grab/FB