DENVER (KDVR) — Last Sunday FOX31 brought you the story of Melisa Licon, a visually impaired woman who has repeatedly been denied rides by drivers for the rideshare app Uber.
She talked to FOX31 again on Thursday because yet again she was denied a ride and it was caught all on camera. Unlike the previous rides that drivers denied Licon, this time the driver called Uber support.
Licon questions whether this was actual support since she and her service dog had to get another ride anyway.
“I thought by her calling Uber support, I was going to get answers, I was going to get validation,” Licon said.
“She has a dog, I don’t, I cannot do dogs for now, because I have allergies,” the driver said, in Licon’s recording.
Licon bet that a call to Uber support by the driver would result in a ride.
“She’s a service dog,” Licon told the driver in a recording.
“She said it’s a service dog,” the driver told a support operator.
Like previous experiences, Licon didn’t get a ride and the driver maintained her position.
“Yeah, I cannot do that because I have allergies, you know,” the driver said in a recording.
Uber responds after woman with service dog denied ride
FOX31 reached out to Uber again to find out if drivers are informed of their obligations to people with disabilities.
A spokesperson from Uber said they are, but Licon has her doubts about this process.
“How do you know they’re reading it?” Licon said. “How do you know they don’t just skim over it or skip that part and sign at the bottom to get started?”
This latest incident, Licon said, caused her to be 30 minutes late for work.
“Can you let them know that it’s a service dog?” Licon asked the driver.
“Even if it’s a service dog, I cannot do that, it’s not in my account,” the driver replied.
“Ok, well just so know you, that’s against Uber’s guidelines, and I’m going to be reporting this,” Licon said.
Her experiences ordering a ride through Uber, she said, have become less of a convenience than she hoped.
“There’s anxiety, honestly, that builds up when you order an Uber and you don’t know that you’re going to have a confrontation with that driver,” Licon said. “You don’t know if you’re actually going to get where you’re going to go.”
For their part, Uber offered this statement: “There is no excuse for Melissa’s experience, and we share in her frustration. Our policy clearly states that drivers cannot deny someone a trip because of their service animal. Anyone who uses the Uber platform to drive agrees to abide by the policy. We have a special team looking into this case and will take appropriate action.”