Gojek driver turns down passengers with dogs, gets into dispute with them over trip cancellation
A Gojek driver got into a heated argument with two passengers with their dogs in tow, after the pair refused to cancel and pay the cancellation fee when they got turned down.
A video of the dispute, filmed by the Gojek driver, was uploaded to Facebook on Mar 6, and has since garnered more than 300 comments and 2,000 shares – while drawing polarising views from netizens.
The conflict arose when the driver reached the pick-up point, saw the two dogs and informed the men that he could not accept the booking because of his allergy to fur.
He also pointed out that there were other transport services catered to passengers with pets.
The two customers had booked a ride from Tanglin to Novena and apparently messaged the driver to inform him they had two dogs with them.
The driver, however, argued that as he was driving, he was unable to read their message.
According to the driver, the two customers initially said they would cancel since he was unable to ferry their pets, but did not do so. They were apparently unwilling to cancel the ride as they would incur a $4 cancellation fee.
In the video, the driver says: "I would pick [up the ride] if you are two people, but you have two dogs. You see how big the dog is?
To which the customer says: "Nothing to do with size, my dear."
The customer adds that he had "done this many times", and says: “I've booked Comfort, I've booked Gojek, and I'm not going to argue with you. So you can choose to do what you want.”
The driver continues to accuse the customer of "hijacking" his car by refusing to cancel the ride, and says the duo should have booked the correct service that allowed pets instead.
He then calls them “cheapskates” for not choosing to pay more and book ride-hailing services, such as GrabPet, that can ferry pets.
The driver said in his Facebook post that he was stuck at the location for around 20 minutes, as he tried to call Gojek's customer service to cancel the ride.
He said in the post: "Please don’t take advantage of drivers when petrol is sky high and fares are so low; we only want to put food on my table for our families."
A number of netizens took the side of the driver:
On the other hand, some admonished the driver for filming the customers.
According to Gojek's Help Centre, the ride-hailing service currently does not have a separate option for riders with pets.
It advises pet owners to let the driver know about their pets via the app's chat function, and said it will match riders with other drivers if the first driver cancels.
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