Can I get a refund from Lyft?

Have you had a recent problem with Lyft, maybe your driver wasn’t where they were supposed to be or you had to cancel because of a family emergency? Now you want a refund. But can you get a refund from Lyft?

A Policy of No Refunds

According to the Lyft terms of service there are no refunds in general. All of the charges are non-refundable and they have a no-refund policy that is applicable at all times no matter, according to the language “your decision to terminate usage of the Lyft Platform, any disruption to the Lyft Platform or Rideshare Services, or any other reason whatsoever”.

This basically means all sales are final and they will never refund any charge whether that charge was for a ride that you took, or an extra cancellation fee that they charged you.

Cancellations

If you are the passenger and you cancel the ride, as long as no driver has accepted that ride, you won’t be charged an additional fee. But, if the window for cancellation is over, a driver has accepted the ride, and they are on track for reaching your destination at the estimated arrival time, you actually get charged an additional fee for cancellations.

If you don’t show up at the pickup location and the driver tries to contact you, you get charged another fee for a no-show.

There are a lot of situations where you are actually charged a fee and they don’t allow a refund of any kind. However, the company does stipulate that if you think you were wrongly charged a cancellation fee, you can select the ride for which that fee was charged, click the get help tab, and contact customer support to go over the situation.

What if I had an emergency?

According to the company, you can cancel a ride by clicking the cancellation button on the app. However, they know that there are situations where you have to cancel your ride for a reasonable issue such as having an emergency or a loved one having an emergency, the driver or other passengers verbally or physically threatening you, or you tried to contact the driver but they aren’t there.

In these situations the company asks that you contact them via the customer support section, and include details like your name, the time and date of your ride, and the pickup location. 

What happens if they don’t issue a refund I deserve? 

Rest assured this doesn’t mean that you are completely out of options. The blanket term that says the company has a non-refund policy doesn’t mean that you can’t get resolution for an issue you’ve had. 

If they don’t give you a refund that you feel you deserve, you can try consumer arbitration. With our help, you can reach out to Lyft and explore what options do you have for a potential refund. Consumer arbitration is a legal option that you have in your user agreement and it gives you the option of using an independent party to look over the situation and help you with your refund. We can help.