Not fare! Cab driver brings police to passenger's home at 3 am after spat

Not fare! Cab driver brings police to passenger's home at 3 am after spat

Mukesh Bhatia was expecting a bill of about Rs 4,200, but couldn't believe it when the driver handed him a bill for nearly Rs 8,700. Pic/Suresh Karkera

A 57-year-old Worli resident suffered a sleepless night after he took a Meru Cab on a round trip to Pune. After they drove back to Mumbai late at night, he was shocked when the driver handed him a bill for double the amount that was agreed upon. When he refused to pay the extra charge, the driver then brought the cops to his house at 3 am.

Nearly an hour later, Meru called him to negotiate the cab fare, once again disrupting any chance he had of sleep.

What exactly happened
On the morning of September 7, Mukesh Bhatia (57) booked a Meru cab to go to Pune. The Swift Dzire arrived at around 11.55 am and Bhatia and his wife left for Pune. They reached at 4.30 pm and were at the programme till 9 pm. After having dinner, the couple left at around 10.30 pm and arrived back home by 2 am.

While booking his journey, the operator at Meru's call centre had explained that Bhatia would have to pay R99 for the first 4 km, and then pay R11 per km. The minimum distance would be 250 km, and he would also have to pay for the toll and service tax of 4.8 per cent. Accordingly, Bhatia was expecting a bill of around R4,200 for the round trip.

However, the driver whipped out a bill of s R8,695. Bhatia argued with the driver for a few minutes and then called the call centre. "We had covered 338 km, and I paid the driver accordingly. But the call centre insisted that I pay R6,200. I said that was not the amount that was agreed upon. I paid the driver Rs 4,200 and asked him to come back the next day for the remaining sum after I had a word with the Meru officials," said Bhatia.

The driver left, but returned at 3 am with the police. Bhatia said that his 87-year-old mother was shocked to see the police. However, Bhatia spoke to the cops and they left. No complaint was filed, as it turned out that the driver had falsely claimed that he had not been paid at all. But if Bhatia thought that he could finally get some much-needed rest, he was wrong. At 3.45 am, Meru called him, insisting that he pay up as the journey continued to the next day.

However, Bhatia refused to budge, and claimed that the company had never told him that he would be charged for an extra day even though he had told them the return journey would be made post midnight. He has now sent an official complaint to Meru about the whole incident.

The other side
"The package was for the calendar day, and as the journey went on to the next day, the calculation changed," said the Meru official, adding, "The customer didn't pay the full amount despite the call centre informing him. It was the driver's individual decision to call the police, as he hadn't received the journey fare. In fact, we also gave additional discount and settled the final amount at Rs 5,695."