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[royox]

Hi folks.
Last week I was having the most lovely travel on Lyon with my GF for Valentine's and the last day we decided to move from the turistic area to the central train station using a very common Uber-like app that is very used in france called Kapten.

My GF used the app, added a 5€ discount code we had and had a 14 minutes ride for 2.45€. All normal till here. Where the shit begins is when after 2 hours my GF gets a Kapten notification saying that our ride keeps going and it's +90€. We could even see where the fucker driver was at that moment (out of the city).

Here is where our conversation with Kapten service begins. They ask via email for our ride and the point of beginning and end of our ride. Pointless information because hours later they replied that they called the driver and he made up a whole story saying that "we arrived late to the train station so we asked him to drive us to the airport...BUT on our way to the airport we had a second thought and asked him to go back to train station" so they wanted further information about our location.

We sent our GPS position at those hours that demonstrate that we were in a "zoo" park (Park de la TeTe) while that motherfucker was out of the city but it was pointless, they contacted us again saying that after talking with the driver they can't refund us.


So at this point...what can we do? Bank is not letting us cancel the payment and we feel defenseless against those motherfuckers. I thought about social stuff like Twitter but I'm very green in that world and can't even see my own Tweets on Kapten twitter page.

Send some help fellow gaffers :___ advice will also be amazing.

ps: No, we didn't pay via PayPal. Kapten doesn't allow it (and now WE KNOW WHY).

 

[Elektro Demon]

They're all a bunch of crooks. Kapten, banks, big corporations. Bunch of thieves.
Pay what you need and never use their service again.

 

[EviLore]

Hi folks.
Last week I was having the most lovely travel on Lyon with my GF for Valentine's and the last day we decided to move from the turistic area to the central train station using a very common Uber-like app that is very used in france called Kapten.

My GF used the app, added a 5€ discount code we had and had a 14 minutes ride for 2.45€. All normal till here. Where the shit begins is when after 2 hours my GF gets a Kapten notification saying that our ride keeps going and it's +90€. We could even see where the fucker driver was at that moment (out of the city).

Here is where our conversation with Kapten service begins. They ask via email for our ride and the point of beginning and end of our ride. Pointless information because hours later they replied that they called the driver and he made up a whole story saying that "we arrived late to the train station so we asked him to drive us to the airport...BUT on our way to the airport we had a second thought and asked him to go back to train station" so they wanted further information about our location.

We sent our GPS position at those hours that demonstrate that we were in a "zoo" park (Park de la TeTe) while that motherfucker was out of the city but it was pointless, they contacted us again saying that after talking with the driver they can't refund us.


So at this point...what can we do? Bank is not letting us cancel the payment and we feel defenseless against those motherfuckers. I thought about social stuff like Twitter but I'm very green in that world and can't even see my own Tweets on Kapten twitter page.

Send some help fellow gaffers :___ advice will also be amazing.

ps: No, we didn't pay via PayPal. Kapten doesn't allow it (and now WE KNOW WHY).

Use a credit card with good travel protections in the future if possible. American Express or Chase would side with you and cancel the charges right away.

 

[Mistake]

Evilore is right, always use a credit card, even with paypal. If they decide to mess with you, you're not out of pocket

 

[mekes]

Start email contact, tell them you don't want to be contacted on the phone as you want everything in writing. Let them know the situation from start to finish in good detail. Tell them that their responses to the situation will be very important in how you choose to proceed. If the response is no good you tell them you want the situation escalated to a person of higher authority who can better help you. If that person with higher authority is no good then go apeshit in your response.

Tell them you won't be fucked over, you have been cheated, their service is a con, they have no ethics as a company providing a service and their next response will determine how you will proceed. You can mention making their lives hell with phone calls, emails and social media and you will absolutely be going straight to a financial ombudsmen service (this last part is important and often something that will worry any legit Company.) Unfortunately it normally takes worrying a company about your own actions before they will fix an unfair situation, sad but true.

Usually, usually, this route is enough to secure what you need. I signed up for car insurance a few months back that ended up charging me double after I entered payment details. I called to complain and they literally said i could cancel and lose £100, or go back in time and take a screenshot of a screen that no longer existed as proof. I went to email with the company, did what I posted above and got a 75% discount, saving 25% on the terms I was originally happy with.

And generally, as much as it sucks. All of the advice re - credit cards is 100% legit. The protection on those compared to debit cards/bank cards is on another level altogether.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Not quite enough information to be 100% accurate here but again will give it a shot.

I can see the case where the bank won't let you dispute the charge yet. Typically for services like Uber and the like, they'll send off an authorization, essentially making sure the card is open and active, but the actual purchase will "post" some time later. For domestic purchases (again don't know if you're French or traveling abroad) that timeline is usually a shade quicker than international but both could be impacted by weekends, holidays, etc..

Since the charge from Kapten is still likely on their books as an authorization, there's nothing for them to dispute at the moment as authorizations could and sometimes are canceled. Good examples of this are hotels, car rentals and some restaurants. They'll often times add in an authorization for tips or incidentals but only end with posting the actual charge.

I know you said it was last week-- still possible that the transaction is still pending. What I would do is pull up your bank's app or online banking and look for it in your transaction history. Typically you'll see a separation between transactions that are pending and those that have hard posted. If the charge has in fact posted, you're going to want to go back to the bank armed with literally all the information you possibly can have. Where you were picked up, where you were dropped off, who you spoke to, when you spoke to them, all of it. In terms of disputes, there's essentially no such thing as too much information. That should get you much further than your last contact with them. If they push back after you've verified that the transaction hard posted, please let me know what they said and I can dial into more specifics from there.

Going forward, I agree with all the advice above in regards to using credit specifically for the travel protections. The general dispute process is the same but since we're not talking about your checking account balance, the impact is quite as....immediate(?) as it is in this case. Add in the fact that many issuers will offer perks like no foreign transaction fees and now you're just flat out ahead on cost.

All that being said, I would not consider this a lost cause whatsoever. Just document, document, document.

 

[royox]

tell them you want the situation escalated to a person of higher authority who can better help you.

Asking for that instantly solved the situation and they announced the refund is coming. Motherfuckers.

Thanks for your help and advice GAF, you always the bests

 

[Gargus]

They're all a bunch of crooks. Kapten, banks, big corporations. Bunch of thieves.
Pay what you need and never use their service again.

Still going on about that huh?

 

[poppabk]

You should be able to make a fraudulent charge claim with your bank. I've had to do this before when our car payment came out twice due to the finance website fucking up.

 

[AlteredForms]

Take the €90 L and have this be an important lesson.

 

[infinitys_7th]

You should be able to make a fraudulent charge claim with your bank. I've had to do this before when our car payment came out twice due to the finance website fucking up.

Banks are much more anal about fraud claims than credit card companies because their margin is so much smaller.

Whenever possible, it is better to have that credit card firewall between identity thieves and scam artists than give them direct access to or knowledge of your accounts.

 

[keraj37]

That sounds terrible OP, I imagine how frustrated you had to feel.

 

[Big-G]

They're all a bunch of crooks. Kapten, banks, big corporations. Bunch of thieves.
Pay what you need and never use their service again.