Uber passenger Jaime Hessel sent $16k bill for 7-mile 'car ride from hell'

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Jaime Hessel claimed her driver cut across lanes and drove in a bus lane
The terrified passenger ended up getting out early as she felt 'unsafe'
Then found she'd been charged thousands for the 35-minute 7-mile trip
Uber says the bill was a clerical error and claims Hessel was never actually charged the eye-popping sum

By Hannah Parry For Mailonline

Published: 05:24 EST, 22 April 2015 | Updated: 10:19 EST, 22 April 2015

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An Uber customer was hit with a huge $16,000 bill for her 7-mile nightmare journey across New York.

Jaime Hessel said her driver had been on his phone, cut across lanes, and even driven down a bus lane during the 35 minute 'trip from hell' from her East Williamsburg apartment to Midtown East.

So she was stunned to receive a message from the cab-hailing app telling her she owed them thousands of dollars for the trip across boroughs, reported the Gothamist.

The infuriating story was first posted on Reddit.

Scroll down for video

Horrified: Jaimie Hessel says Uber billed her $16,000 for a 35-minute 'car ride from hell' - and says she's never going to trust the cab-hailing service again

The journey began on March 28 when Ms Hessel decided to call an UberX car to get to a fundraising pub crawl for cancer due to start at 1pm.

But alarms bells were triggered as soon as she got in the car to find the driver appeared distracted.

After sitting in the vehicle for around five minutes before setting off, he soon began to ignore the GPS, taking a longer and more complicated route, according to Ms Hessel.

To the passenger's terror, instead of paying his full attention to the road, the driver was also taking phone calls and checking his voicemail during the trip.

Ms Hessel claims that the car dangerously cut across lanes of traffic on several occasions and was even driven down a bus lane until she demanded to be let out early.

'I had him drop me off a block away from the bar because I didn't want to be in the car anymore. I felt very unsafe,' she told the Gothamist.

Uber passenger explains horror of being charged $16,000

Shock: Ms Hessel was horrified when Uber billed her for $16,000 - with a $4,000 refund. Her total statement was $12,251.49

Uber says the eye-popping figure was a clerical error and that the customer was never actually charged the outrageous sum

But the nightmare trip was far from over.

After receiving her initial bill of $56.40, the passenger immediate e-mailed Uber Support to complain she had been overcharged and that the driver had unnecessarily extended the ride.

Within a few days, the Uber resp had written back to inform Ms Hessel the company agreed the journey was 'inefficient' and she would get a refund of $15.

But the following morning, she received a bizarre email which stated she owed Uber more than $16,000 - with a refund of $4,000. Her total, in the end, came to $12,251.49.

'It freaked me out,' she told DNA Info. 'I have bad eye sight and I thought maybe I wasn't reading it correctly.'

The panicked Ms Hessel quickly got in touch with the company again to inform them of their error and said she felt lucky that her credit card had expired between the journey and the bill so the transport app would have been unable to charge her.

Uber has since wiped the bill and offered to pay her the original $15 refund but Ms Hessel said she now feels she can't trust them with her new card details.

They say it was a clerical error and that she was never actually charged the $16,000.

She added it was unlikely she would ever use the app again.

'I don't know if I'll use it again,' she told DNAInfo. 'Maybe I'll do it if it'll be somebody else's credit card.'

The company has since pledged to refund the entire cost of her ride.

A spokesman said: 'We apologize to this rider for any inconvenience and we have provided them with a full refund.'