An Uber Eats driver in Mascot, Australia, has been trying to get a one-star review taken off her record after she failed to deliver a package to its intended recipient. To be fair, police suspect that the package contained methylamphetamine, commonly known as meth or ice.
The driver, Jess, reported that on the evening of April 22, she accepted a job with Uber Connect, a parcel delivery service that operates through the app. She picked up a package from a man at a restaurant who quickly handed it to her and walked away, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
The parcel that the man had handed her was a plastic bag, held closed by a black zip tie. Jess immediately became suspicious and messaged the package’s recipient. She asked if they could tell her what was in the package, and they said toothpaste.
“I went, ‘who pays $16 for toothpaste [to be delivered], this is totally dodgy’,” she said.
Instead of driving to the recipient, she headed to the Mascot Police Station. While on her way, Jess received phone calls from the person who gave her the package, yelling and berating her for not delivering it to its intended recipient. However, she continued on to the police station.
Upon inspecting the package, the police found that the toothpaste tube was actually filled with what they believe to be two grams of methylamphetamine, which they confiscated.
While waiting for the police investigation, Jess contacted Uber about the incident. She reported that she had to fill out an online form several times and was even scolded by a customer support officer for not delivering the package to its intended recipient.
Jess claims that for weeks, the company neglected to remove the package sender from the app, failed to reimburse her for the lost delivery fee, and left the one-star review she received for the exchange unaddressed.
However, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Uber got in touch with Jess five hours after they reached out to the company for a comment. Uber informed Jess that “appropriate internal actions have been taken” and apologized for the delay in addressing the situation.
Uber also said that it would remove Jess’s one-star review and refund her the full fare amount. It added that the person sending the drugs through Uber Connect will permanently lose access to the app.
Jess acknowledges that the one-star review and the money from this delivery weren’t devastating losses for her, but says that she pursued this problem for the sake of everyone on the app.
“Uber is not creating a safe work environment,” she said. “They’re protecting people who are paying over their drivers.”