DAVENPORT, Fla. — A Davenport woman has now accepted the fact that she may never get her mother’s ashes back after leaving them in an Uber.
Dina Miller was on her way back home after her mother’s funeral. Like many travelers, Miller used an Uber to get home from MCO, but being tired she left a bag in the vehicle that included electronics and more importantly — her late mother’s ashes.
“I had to process that, that I’m not going to get them back,” Dina Miller said her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s went on for years. Dina says she lost her mother mentally, years ago but was in New York when her mother physically passed away in May.
Since then, Miller says she has missed 10 days of work and lost sleep trying to get the ashes back.
She realized she left a Louis Vuitton satchel in the backseat, and tried to call the Uber driver using the app. Because of the way Uber is set up, Dina could not directly call the driver, instead is directed to a masked phone number to leave a message for the driver.
“Please get back to me, as soon as possible there is something very very important in the back seat,” Dina said she was desperate for the driver to get back to her.
After hours without a response, Dina tried to get ahold of an Uber representative, but couldn’t get anyone on the phone. In fact, she says she struggled to even report the issue in the app.
“There is no way to reach Uber, god forbid there was a gun in my bag,” she said.
It was only after she posted a Facebook video that went viral, that Dina says she eventually was able to get someone on the phone to talk with her. Since then, Uber has been cooperating and trying to come to a conclusion with Dina.
Uber sent ABC Action News this statement:
“We are saddened by the loss of something so deeply personal to one of our riders. We continue to be in touch with Ms. Miller regarding this issue and will continue to assist in the search for this item.”
Uber also says that they have been in contact with Dina since the beginning, through messaging. Uber says the driver doesn’t know where Dina’s belongings are.
Now Dina wants to turn a sad situation into a positive one, advocating for communication changes within Uber. She’d like to see an easier process for getting in touch with a ‘real person’ and for drivers to be held accountable for not getting back to riders or the company during emergencies.
Miller posted this video on Facebook, trying to raise awareness about the issue:
