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A Kenyan, Wanjiru Wainaina, and her sister had a terrible experience in an Uber on Saturday night. The driver of the Uber she was in refused to take her to her destination claiming that he did not know her destination yet he had in his possession a smartphone where he could search for her destination if he wanted to.

Here is Wanjiru’s story.

Uber replied and also refunded Wanjiru her fare in full.

Wanjiru and her sister were safe after their ordeal but her experience will deal an irreparable blow to Uber in Kenya. The company should move in haste to assure and demonstrate to its customers (especially women) that they are safe in Uber cabs.

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6 Responses

  1. MaraMoja transport

    We heard about this unfortunate incident a few days ago on twitter. Uber, which MARAMOJA is competing with, is an excellent service but this experience tells of a sentiment that we understand really well; in Kenya, a taxi isn’t just a anonymous function, it’s a relationship. It’s a business based on mutual trust.

    MARAMOJA (http://maramoja.co.ke) tries to do things differently and puts the user-taxi relationship at the centre of our model. We hope no other Kenyans experience such trauma before that lesson is taken to heart.

    • John K.

      Shame on you Maramoja. Trying to capitalise on someone else’s misfortune. This is embarrassing, how can you sink this low? Do you think uber would post something like this if the situation was reversed? Of course not. Smh!

      • Jason Eisen

        John K. Thanks for weighing in. Admonish us if you will but the reality is we are trying to stop things like this from happening to others not capitalize on anyone’s misfortune. We were born out of exactly these same experiences – it’s why we’re a socially powered concept. Our first reaction was only empathy and identification with Wanjiru’s experience. It’s why we immediately reached out to her directly, which she seemed to appreciate.

        I have no idea if Uber would do the same but given their sordid history, I can’t even speculate on what they’d do. Frankly it doesn’t concern me. We believe deeply in the power of human to human trust to connect people to trusted service providers, and that won’t change regardless of what any other providers do or don’t do.

        I invite you to try us out and let me know how it goes. You can reach me at jason@maramoja.co.ke

        • John K.

          I appreciate that you had the best of intentions, however your first comment including an image “we focus on relationships”, on sad post about someone else’s unfortunate incident just feels dirty.

          • Jason Eisen

            I’m sorry you feel that way, and surely not our marketing team’s intent. At the center of our company are very strong values about community and trust. It’s what makes us who we are. As a start-up we have to sieze on opportunities to differentiate ourselves from our goliath competitors when they fall tremendously short in the areas in which we believe we’re strong. This won’t change.