A man found his Uber parked right outside with nobody in it, then got hit with a $6 cancellation fee before he could figure out what happened

Stefan, who goes by @stefsthots online, shared his experience in a TikTok video that got over 563,600 views. He had booked an Uber, and the car showed up at his pickup spot, but the driver was nowhere to be found. Before he could figure out what was going on, Uber charged him a $6 cancellation fee.

In his video, Stefan pointed to a Toyota parked with its hazard lights on. “That’s our Uber,” he said. “Uber wants to charge me a $6 cancellation fee, and our driver isn’t even in the car. I don’t know where he could be.” According to Motor1.com, the on-screen text in his video read: “Uber has audacity.” Stefan also mentioned he really needed to use the bathroom at the time.

His video quickly went viral on TikTok, and the comments section filled up with other people sharing their own experiences. One person simply joked, “Toronto coded,” while another said they “switched to Lyft over this and never looked back.” Someone else advised, “Next time use a taxi? They may be gross and expensive but they’re normally on time. Too much drama with these ride share apps imo.”

Uber’s cancellation fee rules are more complicated than most riders realise

According to Uber, a cancellation fee applies if the ride has already started or if the driver is already on the way to pick you up. The exact rules depend on the type of ride booked. For Economy rides like UberX, you have a two-minute window after the ride is accepted, or the driver must wait seven minutes at your location. Comfort rides extend that wait to 10 minutes.

For Shared Rides, you get charged if you cancel more than two minutes after acceptance, or if the driver waits at least two minutes at your spot. Premium rides like Black or BlackSUV give you five minutes after acceptance, and the driver must wait 15 minutes before cancelling and charging you. Riders can also cancel without a fee if a driver refuses to turn on the AC without extra payment, which Uber considers a valid reason.

If a driver is more than five minutes late and hasn’t made any progress toward you, you can usually get the cancellation fee waived. Fees can also vary based on your location, how busy it is, how far the driver has already travelled, and how long they waited. If you feel you’ve been charged unfairly, you can dispute it through the contact form in the Uber app.

A former Uber driver also shared some reasons why drivers sometimes cancel on passengers. A name with just one letter and no profile photo can seem suspicious to drivers. If a passenger isn’t ready the moment the driver pulls up, some drivers will cancel.

And if you’re standing somewhere different from your requested pickup location, that’s a common reason for cancellation too. There have also been stranger cases, like when an Uber driver sped off with a passenger’s luggage still in the trunk, leaving the rider stranded without their belongings.

Some viewers related to the situation directly, with one commenter writing, “Uber did the same thing to me when my driver got pulled over by the cops,” and another suggesting, “You need to contact them through the app and send them this video.”