A man in China hired a ride in a car using a hitch-hiking app for a 1,400-kilometre trip that cost 2,800 yuan (US$390) then disappeared without paying when he reached the destination.
A man surnamed Liu and his father planned a road-trip from Beijing to Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, central China in May.
They decided to share the journey with a third party passenger, or “hitchiker”, they found a person through the hitchhiking service Hellobike.
The service allows people to share rides to offset the costs while helping others.
Liu said his journey started at 6pm on May 22 and finished at 7am the following day.
The total fare was 2,263 yuan (US$315) plus more than 600 yuan in tolls, as shown on the app.
However, Liu forgot to confirm that the other passenger had boarded, allowing the stranger to cancel the order via the app upon arrival.
“I hadn’t used the app much and wasn’t familiar with its operations,” Liu said, adding: “When we arrived at the destination, I discovered the order had been cancelled.”
The passenger promised to transfer his share of the fare in cash after his company’s finance department opened.
Trusting the passenger, with whom he had held a good conversation during their journey, Liu agreed and even bought him breakfast.
“The guy said he worked at a major karaoke company and had been out with clients the night before, so he slept through most of the ride. I bought him bread and water on the highway because I think life is tough,” Liu told Houlang Video.
However, after eating, the passenger excused himself to go to the toilet then disappeared. He then blocked Liu on WeChat, giving him no choice but to report the incident to the police.
“The funniest thing is that he ran away using another ride-hailing platform and did not pay that fare either. That driver also reported him to the police,” Liu said.
With the help of the police Liu was able to contact the man but he denied he owed any money.
According to WeChat records Liu provided, the man gave various stalling excuses.
After the incident went viral online, the passenger responded and said: “I’m willing to apologise. I’ll transfer the 2,200 yuan right away.”
However, as of the afternoon of August 12, Liu had still not received the money.
Hellobike told The Beijing News it had suspended the passenger’s account so he would no longer be able to book rides until the outstanding fare had been paid.
The company said it would help the driver recover the money, and reminded users to avoid conducting transactions outside the platform.
The story sparked heated discussions on mainland social media.
“He took the ride but needed to ‘borrow money’ for the fare? My goodness, what a bizarre excuse,” one person said.
It is not the first time something like this has happened with such services in China.
In July, a woman took a 50-kilometre trip and persuaded the driver to cancel the order on the platform, agreeing instead to pay him 150 yuan (US$21) privately.
However, when they reached her destination, she abruptly demanded 200 yuan from the driver as “hush money”, threatening to report him for engaging in prohibited offline transactions.
