The following is a guest post from reader Mike Demopoulos. He reached out to me about what happened to him on a recent LYFT ride and I just had to share it here on the blog. It truly is a lesson for us all in the ride share is everywhere era we live in. Take a look:
My wife and I are huge Disney fans. We were able to get reservations for the new Star Wars Galaxies Edge Land at Disneyland for Father’s Day. We flew on Delta SkyMiles, naturally, from Minneapolis to the Los Angeles International Airport for 4 days. As a Marriott Ambassador, we used points to get a Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort.
The weekend was fun and the planet of Batuu is amazing. If you get a chance make sure to go and stop by Oga’s Cantina.
I chose Lyft once SPG stopped giving points for using Uber and after all Lyft gives me bonus Delta points for the ride (#ProTip start with FreeBird for even more savings). Sunday night we had scheduled a Lyft back to LAX. After we pulled out of the hotel onto the main road, the Lyft car trunk fell open and three of our bags fell out! One of them was a $500 National Geographic Eagle Creek Yonder Rolling Trunk and the other was a Victorinox VX SPORT WHEELED CADET BACKPACK. The last bag was just a cheap backpack.
The driver stopped in the middle of the road and we jumped out to try and get our bags back (maybe not the smartest move, but in the moment it is what you do). They were across two lanes of traffic and the Eagle Creek was almost run over by a truck. By some miracle, the two backpacks with my laptops did not get run over. And the other Victorinox bag (thankfully) remained in the car.
We got back in the Lyft car and continued onward. The driver was upset and made a comment about how the car should have told him if the trunk was not completely closed. I made sure all the electronics were ok. I also tweeted @AskLyft when we were back in the Lyft car. As you can imagine, it was a very tense situation. Maybe we should have gotten a new ride with a new driver, but we were already running late for our flight back to MSP at this point.
Sent to Lyft on Twitter
@AskLyft I am on a current ride, and car hatchback flew open while driving and our luggage went on the road and may have been run over. I can’t take a damage assessment until we get to the airport/home.— Mike Demo (@mpmike) June 17, 2019
The Eagle Creek bag sustained the most damage with broken plastic, large scuffs, and multiple small cuts as you can see. That bag is simply not usable anymore. Thankfully, we only had clothes in that bag (and not our Tiki mugs from Oga’s) so nothing inside was damaged. The Victorinox Backpack just had some minor abrasions and is still usable despite the bounce down the road. The last backpack is not of any great value and nothing inside was damaged either.
When we were dropped off I called the Lyft Safety and Help line and they opened a ticket. Lyft on Twitter told me a special team would get back to me. I emailed them photos and invoices of the 2 bags that were damaged. After 3 business days they emailed me that they will NOT be helping at all:
“Follow-Up from Lyft Safety
Hi Mike,
I hope this email finds you doing well and enjoying your day so far. Thank you for reaching out to let us know about your safety concerns with your recent Lyft driver Gary.
I can definitely understand your frustration, however, per our Terms of Service, “Lyft is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any User of the Lyft Platform or Services. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Users. We do not procure insurance for, nor are we responsible for, personal belongings left in the car by Drivers or Riders. By using the Lyft Platform and participating in the Services, you agree to accept such risks and agree that Lyft is not responsible for the acts or omissions of Users on the Lyft Platform or participating in the Services.”
We are unable to provide a damage fee for your damaged luggage. However, I have refunded this ride. Please note it may take 3-5 business days for this refund to reflect in your account.
We take reports of this kind very seriously, and we continuously strive to improve the quality of the Lyft platform. Your feedback is an integral part of making this possible.
The Trust & Safety team has taken the appropriate and necessary actions with this particular driver.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I am here to assist in any way that I can. Feel free to check out our Help Center here!
Have a GREAT rest of the day!
All the best,
[Lyft agents – name removed]”
Just great!
I find it ironic that Lyft has no problem charging riders with cleaning fees but can’t help when either the driver made an error not correctly closing his hatchback or his vehicle was faulty. I got $45 back but am out a $500 bag. I guess my 436 rides on Lyft so far at over $10,000 don’t matter much to them?
I guess what this has taught me more than anything is that Star Wars Galaxies Edge is so amazing this experience did not dampen our trip. Next time I just will not take a Lyft car to get there. Oh wait, this week Disney Parks announced Lyft as their official rideshare Partner. – Mike
Sigh! Oh my, Mike. Man I feel for you and what a crazy Lyft ride. It stinks they will not do anything to make this right when their driver was clearly at fault.
What do you think, readers? Did you know Lyft would not help in crazy situations like this? – René
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I have travel insurance in this case the bag would be covered for 500 dollars this insurance costs 15 dollars a year
Sometimes, lady luck is just mean and you have to deal with it,.
Can’t he go after the Lyft driver for the damages? Yes a pain but that is who is ultimately responsible.
@Spgguy According to my attorney no. As my contract was with Lyft not the driver.
@Shay Which travel insurance do you have?
Have you asked LYFT to provide full contact details for the driver? I agree that the contracts are only between you and LYFT and the driver and LYFT, but that does not relieve the driver of all responsibilities and obligations to you. If you caused substantial damage to the driver’s car, wouldn’t you expect that the driver would have a claim against you?
If LYFT refuses to provide contact details for the driver, it seems to me that you should still have some type of claim against LYFT based on LYFT’s refusal.
The scary part is that, ostensibly, Uber and Lyft are set up as ride sharing websites, not transportation providers, They claim that they facilitate rides between those needing a ride and those that happen to be driving that direction.
I use ridesharing services in NYC because our city demands that ride sharing only be done in Taxi and Limo licensed cars. It might cost more but is safer.
The driver is a sub contractor to Lyft, no? As such, I find it doubtful that Lyft does not require a minimal liability provision to protect their own interests.
Was the ride paid for by cc? I link all of my Lyft and Uber rides to an Amex, that may also provide some form of extended purchase protection though it’d be a long shot.
This is a great story to circulate among travel pages and blogs, Tripadvisor and local publications in your hometown.
A $500 bag and $0.10 in good will could have saved them a small pile going forward.
I LOVE Eagle Creek bags and have taken advantage of their generous warranty multiple times, including a complete replacement with a new bag when mine got torn open by a baggage claim conveyor belt.
I see that the Yonder Rolling Trunk is covered under Eagle Creek’s No Matter What Warranty:
NO MATTER WHAT™ WARRANTY
Our No Matter What™ Warranty covers the Lifetime Warranty promise plus the added insurance of repair or replacement due to product failure during the product lifetime, regardless of the cause. During this period, we will repair or replace it at our discretion. Contents of your bag are excluded, as are lost or stolen parts (such as zip-off daypack, backpack straps, Cargo Net, etc.)
The warranty is for “repair or replacement due to product failure”. How was this a product failure? Abandon Lyft everyone! Their service has in my experience always been worse than Uber, who despite their bad points are much more customer responsive. I abandoned Lyft a long time ago when I got fed up very often waiting longer than they said for my ride. Worst part was they never cared..
I never use Uber X or Lyft anymore. I only use Uber Black. YEs, it is more expensive but at least you get decent drivers with real cars and not an old grandpa driving a Prius.
For me, Uber X drivers and cars have always been great. Several drivers have told me that the highest rated drivers are assigned to the highest rated passengers. Assuming this is true, it would be interesting to know the correlation between people that have had bad experiences and their Uber rating. My rating is 4.91, and as I mentioned above, I have had great drivers and cars.
@harry, you missed the most important part of the No Matter What warranty: “regardless of the cause.” My personal experience is that Eagle Creek lives up to the promise.