Most everyone can relate to leaving personal items in a taxi/ride share/or other “public” setting – and the stress that can accompany trying to locate it as well as get it back.

Things are even worse when you know where it is, but the person in possession is less than anxious to give it back.

This story from Reddit has a lot of twists and turns, but ends with the victim coming out on top.

When an Uber driver refuses to return your stuff

First of all, I understand leaving something behind in an Uber is a pain in the rear for the driver.

Uber has recently added a $15 fee for a driver returning an item which I completely support, and in the past, I’ve given a driver a $20 tip for returning my item.

Apparently this won’t be the first time the author has left something behind, but it is the first time he’s had an issue getting it back.

Now to my story.

Late Friday night I left both my phone and wallet in an Uber on my way home from a party.

I thought they might have been left at the party, so I waited until Saturday morning to check before reaching out to the Uber driver.

When he goes to check his phone’s location, he finds a mysterious development.

My phone is off so no luck with find my iPhone, which is strange because I went out with a full charge.

My friend is unable to find it at his place to I reach out to the driver.

I try him a few times throughout the day and I either get his voicemail or he answers and immediately hangs up. I understand they work weird hours so no alarms yet.

In don’t know about you, but my alarm would be going off if the driver reacted like this one does.

Finally, I get through and he confirms he has the phone, but says he can’t meet today.

When I ask when he can meet, he starts to pretend he can’t hear me and just says “hello? Hello?” before hanging up.

I try him the rest of Saturday and Sunday, getting the same voicemail/hang up runaround.

This is definitely getting sketchy. And you know corporate isn’t going to be helpful, but he tries anyway.

I reach out to Uber, who reaches out to him directly asking about my items.

Monday morning Uber tells me he doesn’t have them, and despite me telling them that he confirmed that he did on Saturday, they were about as helpful as you’d expect.

I get ahold of the driver Monday afternoon after repeated attempts, which is only the second time I’ve ever spoken to him at this point.

His story is now that he doesn’t have them, and when I say I’m going to get the cops involved he hesitates for a second but then doubles down and says he can prove he doesn’t have them (?).

So he has the stuff. Then he doesn’t. I am sure nothing shady is going on here.

I file the police report and then as a last ditch effort, decide to take the number I got from his answering machine (Uber connects you via phone rather than giving you their number) and text him, offering $200 for my items returned, no questions asked.

Well guys, as luck would have it, he found my phone and wallet!

My offer must have made them magically appear out of thin air!

Amazing how that works! But things won’t be easy, even with the promise of cash on the table.

I grab $200 from the bank and we arrange a meeting time, which he repeatedly moves.

I’m having to do this all without a phone, so shout out to my lovely wife for coordinating this all.

He’s apparently very excited during this call, and is asking how his “reward” will be paid.

I wait in the rain for an hour for this guy, in a sea of downtown Chicago Ubers.

Finally I spot his car, confirm it’s him, and jump into the front seat. I pull out the money and ask to see my stuff, which he pulls out of his center console and places near me.

This is when the author gives the driver a taste of his own medicine.

I start counting out the money on my lap, and once I reach $200 I pick it up, take my wallet and phone and say “here you go!” without actually handing it to him.

I book it out the car and don’t look back. I go the opposite way he’s facing so that he can’t follow me, and make my way to a pedestrian only courtyard.

And when he gets his stuff back, the author confirms the driver was absolutely being shady.

Surprise surprise, my phone is turned off with plenty of battery left, which means he turned it off so I couldn’t find it.

I feel for Uber drivers who have to deal with customers leaving stuff behind, but I would have happily have worked with him to make it as convenient as possible to return my things.

Refusing to coordinate and then lying about having things that you find is theft, and it felt great to pull a fast one on this a******.

Sounds like the author won this one! Let’s see what Reddit thinks about this petty revenge.

Praise for the author, but also a warning, from the top comment.

Another commenter wonders what would have happened if the author had taunted him a little more.

Many folks shared examples of when they’ve simply done the right thing, like this commenter.

Another says the rewards are nice, but doing the right thing is a reward in itself.

And others pointed out those that had done right by them in similar situations.

Sounds like ultimately the driver wasn’t the one steering this transaction!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.