A SHENZHEN resident recently complained about Didi Chuxing, China’s largest app-based car-hailing service provider, and one of its drivers who fled after a crash in a parking lot.

    The Shenzhen resident, Zhou, ordered a designated driver through Didi on Sept. 26 last year after having dinner with her friends. Yet the driver scratched her car when parking it. The driver left the scene using the excuse of making a phone call to the insurance company.

    The following day, Zhou called Didi, yet according to Zhou, the manager of the driver’s management center, surnamed Wu, was very rude and didn’t offer compensation for months.

    In January, a man surnamed Zhang, who claimed to be a manager at an insurance management center, agreed to pay 3,000 yuan (US$459) as a deposit for Zhou to repair her car on the condition that Zhou paid 2,000 yuan for the unemployment of the driver and another 2,000 yuan in commission for a clerk of the insurance company. After Zhou paid the fees, Zhang disappeared. The Didi service later told Zhou that Zhang had been involved in similar scams and the company had reported him to the police.

    Didi later arranged the repair of Zhou’s car, but it was postponed several times with different excuses.

    On May 12, a manager surnamed Yuan came to Zhou’s home and arranged to have the car repaired.

    After Zhou signed an agreement, a man surnamed Ma, who claimed to be a manager with Didi, insisted that Zhou’s car be repaired at a car shop owned by his friend, instead of the shop that Zhou intended.

    Surveillance footage shows that Ma followed Zhou for half an hour in a parking lot, threatening revenge and verbally insulting Zhou as she refused to repair her BMW at his friend’s shop. Zhou later called police for help.

    Didi admitted to the incident and said the company had fired the driver.

    Didi said the four “managers” weren’t employees with Didi. They were employees with the Laizhile and Disu companies, which signed contracts with Didi to manage Didi drivers.

    Laizhile wanted to solve the dispute by paying 3,000 yuan for repairs to the car owner.

    Zhang, an employee of Disu, learned about this and pretended to be a manager at Didi’s designated driver division and tried to fraudulently claim compensation from the insurance company. Zhang was fired.

    Lawyers said Didi, instead of Laizhile and Disu, should bear responsibility because it provided the service.

    (Han Ximin)