‘This happened to my coworker’: Woman orders items to be picked up by Uber Courier. Then he ‘steals’ her order—and sticks her with a fee

When ordering something for delivery, most people expect a quiet, quick service. What they don’t usually anticipate, however, is the delivery driver canceling their order and driving off with their items after they’d already paid for them. But that’s what happened to one New York-based family who used Uber Courier.

Gabs (@gablates), a Long Island Pilates studio owner, told her audience that an Uber delivery driver stole items she and her sister had ordered. In a video that received more than 4,000 views, the content creator said Uber had been unhelpful when it came to actually tracking down the man. Instead, she said, Uber told her family to file a police report.

Wait, what is Uber Courier?

Uber Courier is the platform’s courier service. In essence, it allows its users to hire someone to pick up an item at a designated location and drop it off for a fee. 

For small business owners, it can be especially useful; they can have an Uber courier pick up a shipment that’s being delivered to a specific location, or drive an item to a customer if needed. But it ended up having a negative impact on Gabs and her family.

The stolen goods

Gabs said she and her sister called an Uber Courier to pick up an item for their father’s birthday. Gabs noted that her sister uses the platform frequently and has no issues with it. So they went ahead and booked a driver to help with the delivery.

“ Connected to a driver, he picked up the items, and he was on his way to us,” she said. “The pickup location was … two hours away from where we live, so it was a long drive. Once he accepted the ride, he saw where he was going.  He could have canceled the ride at any point before he picked up our items.”

But the man picked up their delivery and started making his way toward the assigned drop-off address, seemingly without issue.

Some time later, though, Gabs went and checked on the delivery, only to see that after picking up the items, he canceled the ride. He still had their belongings, but he hadn’t made it toward their home.

“ I had to pay $1.75 for his wait time even though he canceled the ride, and he still has our belongings,” she said.

The sisters report the situation to Uber

Gabs and her sister immediately reported the situation to Uber customer support. A representative allegedly told them the situation was out of their hands—they had to file a police report.

“ This man has our items, and I found him on Instagram, messaged him, and he blocked me. So he’s obviously just stealing our things. Obviously, we’re considering filing a police report,” she said.

Gabs told her audience that it was on Uber to make things right.

“ This is Uber’s responsibility,” she said. “They need to either help us file the police report or reimburse us for the value of the items that this man stole from us. Uber will also not release any personal information of this man to us, which, obviously, I said I found his Instagram.  His first and last name is not even on his Instagram. He had his username in his Uber bio.”

The content creator told her audience that Uber would not release the man’s first name or last name to her, which meant that there was nothing she or her sister could realistically do beyond filing a report.

Commenters share their own Uber horror stories

In the comment section, viewers shared their own negative experiences with the driving-based platform and told Gabs to avoid using Uber in the future.

One viewer said, “This happened to my coworker, file a police report with what info you have then find a lawyer who will take your case. You might need to call A LOT of lawyers until you get one that will take the case and file a suit against uber and the person.”

Another commenter shared a beneficial tip after experiencing a similar situation. “File a report against uber with the better business bureau,” they said. “[You] do it online it takes like 10 mins and that’s worked for me in the past when uber customer service wouldn’t help- they ended up reaching out and fixing it for me a couple days after the report.”

On the Better Business Bureau’s website, Uber has a 1.1 out of 5 stars, with app users reporting issues with Uber, Uber Eats, and Uber Courier.

Then another viewer gave Gabs helpful advice for the future. “I learned that you aren’t suppose to send items with a value of more than $100,” they said. “So yeah if it’s valuable I wouldn’t use it. Their help line is [expletive] for customers and drivers.”

@gablates @Uber please do better ? #uber #theft #storytime #uberstories #ubertheft ♬ original sound – gabs | Pilates & Lifestyle

How to manage theft

Many commenters echoed the same words, which was that Uber wouldn’t be of much use in Gabs’ situation. Technically, each of Uber’s delivery drivers is an independent contractor. The company itself is not responsible for what its contractors do when managing deliveries. 

But hope is not lost when it comes to getting reimbursement. Many online publications recommend reporting a theft to Uber, filing a police report, and then subsequently contacting one’s banking institution to file a credit card dispute. Uber itself evaluates support claims on a case-by-case basis, so it’s important to take every legal step to ensure potential reimbursement. 

The Mary Sue reached out to Gabs via TikTok direct message and Uber via email for comment.

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