Cheating and Complaining

When cheated or felt cheated I usually brushed it aside and took no hurt feelings. But recently I realized that by doing so I am giving an unnecessary message to the cheater that their cheating is OK, at least with me. Though I did not mind being cheated as I trust in the God of righteousness, I have a new realization that for the sake of the ones who have cheated me, I should let them know that what they did was not right and that they should not do it any further. In that way, I can render help to them, at least morally.

Recently, I experienced a series of being cheated in a few cases. The first two were related to food pricing in my recent trip to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the purchasing of souvenirs in Port Blair at double the price of the original price. In both cases, I decided not to complain or get a refund. I should be more careful before I place an order and made a payment. In these cases, since I already placed the order and made the payments, I decided not to complain.

But as I came back to New Delhi, an Uber driver cheated me by showing me a taxi fare of Rs. 1121 from his mobile at almost double the rate of the actual Uber ride price. Since he did not close the ride, I never received the fare, instead, he showed me his own calculation on his mobile, I guess it was not an Uber App. It was almost midnight and I had to pay him anyway. Finally, I had no option but to pay by cash as he said his PhonePe did not work. Right after the payment, I received a mail from Uber that my ride was only Rs. 681. Then, I realized I was cheated. As usual, I thought to just leave it, but I strongly felt that this time I should complain to the Uber via App, which I did. And also gave just a 1-star rating to the driver with a note on him charging a higher fare. Then, I received a message stating that my fare was only Rs. 331 and that part of my payment failed. What a fraud! I decided not to let things go this time. Not for my sake, but for others' sake, so I pursued the matter.

The other case was an order made online for a bag of rice from JioMart which was never delivered. I kept waiting and waiting, instead, I received a message that the order will be delayed and then a message on shipment, but was never delivered without any status update. Finally, I wrote to the Support Team. But the reply I received was very strange; the order was returned and to be refunded yet never refunded. So I had to write an email again requesting for my order to be delivered or else the money refunded, though I did not cancel the order at all. I even visited the JioStore to verify, only to find out that my order was not even in their record. Perhaps, the order was placed with another store. Therefore, I ordered from another store, a bag of rice, and this too was never delivered. After the repeated call, finally, the delivery was made, but with a price higher than I was promised. Later, I discovered that the rice I order and the rice bag did not match. So I texted the seller and got clarification.

In all these cases of cheating and complaining, I learn one important lesson. I can either ignore it as I did many times, but in some cases, I must pursue the matter for the sake of teaching a lesson to the cheater. In this way, I can at least render some help.

That said, I am least bothered as I am under the sovereign hand of the living and righteous God who knows all things and does all things best for me.