The holiday season had been tough for Holly Tennant, who was driven approximately 150 miles via ambulance to a Las Vegas hospital after suffering complications from surgery. However, things started to look up when she was released on Christmas day and hailed an Uber to drive her to her home in Lake Havasu. Things did not go as planned, however, as Tennant told NBC 3 that the driver took her only halfway — to a desert gas station — before refusing to continue the trip.
"He said, 'I am not going to take you further. If my phone doesn't work, I am not getting paid.' "
With her husband taking care of her ailing mother and their autistic child, Tennant says he couldn't pick her up himself and booking transportation with the ride-hail company was an easy decision. "Just seemed like the logical thing," she told the channel. "I could lay down and someone else would drive."
And so she was picked up at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center and driven to a Chevron in Palm Gardens, Nevada — 75 miles from her final destination. It was then that the driver told Tennant to either get out or remain in the car while he drove back to Las Vegas. He reportedly booted her from the car, but a lack of cell phone service meant Tennant wasn't hiring another Uber any time soon.
"There was a lady sitting here with a pillow and some blankets and some other items," gas station worker Vance Vogelheim told the channel. "She was waiting for a ride, she was stuck."
A woman just out of the hospital says she was left stranded 75 miles from home after Uber driver left her @News3LV pic.twitter.com/gGPAiMMbJH
— Christy Wilcox (@ChristyNews3LV) December 28, 2016
She may have been stuck and without cell service, but that didn't prevent Uber from charging her $89.24 for the first half of the ride. She waited hours for her husband to come get her, and is upset with how she was treated. Uber, for its part, says it is reviewing the situation.
"We are saddened to have learned the details described about this rider's experience as she attempted to travel home to be with her family for the holidays," the company said in a statement. "Riders who use Uber expect reliable, high-quality service from their drivers. We’re disappointed when an experience does not meet that standard, and we’re working to resolve it.”
Uber did not clarify if by "resolve it" the company spokesperson meant "replace difficult human drivers with self-driving cars."
Related: Self-Driving Ubers Depart San Francisco On The Back Of Self-Driving Trucks
