Uber Deducted $71 From a Cincinnati Uber Eats Driver Due to a 'Technical Glitch' & He Would Like More Transparency

On Friday, 31 March 2023, an Uber Eats driver worked in Cincinnati during thunderstorms and earned an average of $12 per delivery from a total of $180. He paid some bills that night from the needed income. Uber Eats then informed him that there was a "technical glitch" that night and that they would deduct about $71 from his account due to their error. He would like more transparency with their payment system.

Uber Eats app

Uber Eats giveth, and Uber Eats taketh away.

Cincinnati Uber Eats Delivery Driver Hit with a 'Glitch Notice'

Local 12 News reported that David Rohdenburg received $180 in earnings (for 15 deliveries) into his account for his deliveries on Friday, 31 March 2023. It averaged $12 per delivery. However, David did not know Uber Eats would later take $71 back from him, reducing his earnings to about $7 per delivery.

He supports a wife and three children and has bills to pay. In fact, he paid some of those bills on Friday night while doing deliveries, as he was earning money from Uber Eats. After all, he counted on the money to be his.

Unfortunately for him, Uber Eats can withdraw money back from his account if they believe they made an error and did just that.

David Receives a 'Notice of Adjustment' from Uber Eats

Uber Eats sent David a notice that read:

"An incorrect payment was made to your account. Due to a technical issue, you received duplicate earnings for certain trips between 03/31-04/02. To correct this erroneous overpayment, we will adjust (-)$71.09 paid or payable to you for the affected trip(s). Your tips are not affected. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused."

Uber Eats statement

After the notice to David, an Uber spokesperson also gave a statement to Local 12 News.

It reads:

"For several hours on March 31st, Uber experienced a technical issue that resulted in couriers being paid double the fare shown for each delivery trip. In all cases, couriers were paid the full amount they were shown before accepting a trip. We apologize for the error and are working to prevent this from happening again." -Uber Spokesperson (Source: Local 12 News)

This would be an inconvenience to most people trying to earn a living as an Uber driver.

David told Local 12 News:

"I don't think they realize how this affects people," Rohdenburg said. "Many people, like my wife and I, have three kids, you know, we have bills, and because we get that money immediately it goes to bills." -David Rohdenburg, Uber Eats driver (Source: Local 12 News)

The biggest issue is that David would like Uber Eats to itemize the earnings offered to a driver for each delivery, so drivers could recognize if they are being paid anything other than the normal rate.

To make matters worse, Uber Eats removed another $13 from David's account and had not given him an explanation for this new account adjustment at the publication date.

Will this continue to happen?

Final Thoughts

Among the food delivery companies, Uber Eats averages $20 an hour, Door Dash averages between $18 to $24 an hour, and Grubhub averages $14 an hour.

Do you think it's okay if a food delivery company pays a driver, and then takes some of that money back?

Please share this article on social media so others can be informed about this story.

Sources

Arsenault, Cassy. "Uber Eats deducts money out of local driver's account, citing technical issue." Local 12 News. 6 April 2023.

Uber Eats official website.