Woman says she was charged tip for Lyft ride in Chicago despite never authorizing one

CBS News

a day ago

Woman says she was charged tip she never authorized for Chicago Lyft ride
Woman says she was charged tip she never authorized for Chicago Lyft ride
Woman says she was charged tip she never authorized for Chicago Lyft ride
A frustrated customer recently reached out to CBS News Chicago, saying she had some unauthorized charges after taking a rideshare.
She said she was not getting answers until CBS News Chicago stepped in to help.
The rideshare customer made it very clear that her frustration is not over the amount of money that was charged, but rather that she was charged at all without her permission.
Jill, who asked that her last name not be used, said she took a Lyft early Sunday morning from O'Hare International Airport back to the city.
"Right out the gate we are just flying around, swerving, speeding all the way down the Kennedy and to my home," she said. "I was kind of scared."
Jill said Lyft ride was a white-knuckle thrill ride in all the wrong ways.
"A couple hours later, I noticed there was a tip that was attached to the receipt — which made no sense to me, because I made sure to specifically not tip the guy," said Jill.
On top of the fare, Jill was charged $5.56 for a tip that she said was never authorized.
"It was for a very small amount, but that wasn't the point," Jill said. "It was an unauthorized charge to my account."
Jill has been a Lyft customer for a decade. The company considers her a five-star rider and a top tipper.
But she said there was no way the driver she had on Sunday morning was getting anything extra.
"It would be like going to a restaurant, having your waiter dump everything on you, be rude and all that — and you still tip him," said Jill. "Nobody would do that."
Lyft repeatedly denied issuing Jill a refund for the tip, citing company policy.
"No one offered to investigate it. They just kept saying, 'Policy, policy, policy — sorry, no refund,'" said Jill. "This is not an isolated incident from what I've, you know, reviewed online."
Online, some riders with both Lyft and Uber said they too have been charged for tips they never approved. In response to Jill's tip dispute, a spokesperson for Lyft claimed Jill had previously sent the default tip percentage as 18%
"During a Lyft ride and in the Lyft app's settings menu, there is an opt-in feature to enable a tip percentage as default," Lyft said. "Lyft does not preselect tips unless the rider explicitly consents to default tipping"
"That's not a way to treat a customer," Jill said.
Jill disputes Lyft's claim, and said she does not opt in to default tipping.
After CBS News Chicago reached out, Jill was notified late Wednesday afternoon that she would be refunded not just for the top, but for the entire ride. Jill also asked Lyft to cancel her account.
A Lyft representative told Jill in part by email:
"At this time, we have issued a full refund of the ride, including the tip. I have also sent an updated receipt to your email address.
"Additionally, I can confirm your account is currently in the process of being deleted. Please note that this process may take up to 45 days, per our Privacy Policy. Learn more at: lft.to/privacy.
"I have escalated the tipping issue to the appropriate teams for further review. While I can't confirm if this is some sort of glitch in our system, we appreciate you for bringing it to our attention nonetheless. Our Safety team has taken the appropriate action against the driver. I personally will ensure your interactions with previous agents are reviewed and corrective action taken place."