Knowing that he was suffering a heart attack, a 52-year-old uncle booked a Gojek ride to go to hospital.
Little did he expect to meet a rigid private-hire driver who refused to send him directly to the A&E.
What’s worse, he ended the trip paying the driver double the fare!
Mr Chew said that he felt chest pain and difficulty breathing at abour 3am last Saturday (2 Sept).
He knew it was the onset of a heart attack as he had experienced one a year ago.
Chew booked a Gojek ride to send him to Ng Teng Fong Hospital from his home in Bukit Panjang.
The problem – Chew had set the destination to Tower A which is about 500m away from Tower B where the A&E department is located.
When he realised this, Chew asked the driver to send him to Tower A.
However, the driver refused and insisted on sending him to the Tower A drop-off point indicated in the booking.
Chew argued with the driver and told him that he was having a heart attack, but the heartless driver wouldn’t budge and even refused extra payment.
Chew had to walk the 500m from Tower A to the A&E, not knowing at that time whether he would even survive the walk.
He was later transferred to the National University Hospital for treatment and given 1 month of medical leave.
Nontheless, when prompted to give the driver a tip on the Gojek app, Chew set the amount as S$18 – the cost of the ride – because he thought he was making payment.
He later discovered that payment had already been made using his PayLah account.
Chew reported the matter to Gojek and the company has apologised for the incident.
Gojek has also refunded Chew the full fare and the tip that he left erroneously.
