I was left hundreds of pounds out of pocket after my taxi didn't bother showing up and the driver ignored me... is there anything I can do? SALLY HAMILTON reveals dark side of Uber - and the warning you can't ignore

I went to Rome at the end of May with my 12-year-old daughter. On departure day we were due to fly home with WizzAir at lunchtime, but the flight time changed to 7am. I pre-booked an Uber the night before for 4.45am.

When I woke up at 4.15am, there was a message from Uber to say the driver was running 38 minutes late. I had left enough time so didn’t worry. By 5.15am it was still showing a 38-minute delay so, after I couldn’t contact the driver, I cancelled it.

We were not able to get to the airport in time and missed our flight. I had to fork out £475 for new tickets – this is so unfair.

S.M., London.

Sally Hamilton replies: ‘Airport rides are better with Uber,’ according to its advertising. The intention is to promote peace of mind for travellers who want to plan ahead for their journey to the airport, rather than risk hailing a cab.

This was just the ticket for your early morning flight. When you saw the warning the driver was running late, this didn’t worry you unduly – though I do wonder what could have held him up at that time of day other than perhaps oversleeping. Whatever the reason, you were left in the lurch.

When you called Uber the following day to complain, the customer service agent listened, put you on hold and finally came back and said as a goodwill gesture they would offer you £5. What an insult. You complained further and the offer was raised to £20. You asked for my help in getting Uber to hand out fairer compensation.

I was happy to assist as I felt you had been badly let down. There is something deeply unpleasant about waiting for a taxi that doesn’t arrive on time, and I felt Uber could have done more to make up for the distress as well as the losses its driver caused you.

I thought it was cowardly that the driver didn’t simply admit he wouldn’t get there in time at the start. Was this because he would get a bad rating for cancelling you rather than the other way around?

Uber wouldn’t comment when I asked about this.

You told me you wanted to give him the rating he deserved, but when you tried the next day, you found this was not possible because you had been forced to cancel the booking. His rating, which had appeared good when you booked him, was left intact.

On renewed investigation, Uber admitted there had been a problem with your booking, but it instead blamed you for not cancelling the trip much sooner and rebooking with another driver.

You did try this when it was clear the driver was not going to appear, but in a small Italian village in the early hours, no others were available. And what period of waiting is considered acceptable before cancelling?

Uber agreed the service you received fell below par but said it was not liable for you missing your flight. A spokesperson said: ‘We regret that the service experienced on this occasion was not up to our usual high standards. We always aim to provide a ride as soon as possible but, in the rare event that there is a delay with a specific driver, we encourage passengers to try re-booking the trip. We have offered a goodwill gesture to the passenger on this occasion.’

The offer was raised from £20 to £50. I thought this disappointing, but my repeated requests for higher compensation got the silent treatment – rather like your calls to your no-show driver.

I suggested you check your travel insurance to see if it might step in to meet the extra bills.

Unfortunately, you found your policy only covers problems with public transport and not taxis. Some providers may offer cover for issues with taxis but typically only when there is a traffic incident on a major road or a vehicle breakdown. I’m afraid you have been left severely out of pocket and I imagine will avoid Uber for pre-booked airport rides in future.

My daughter has been told she owes £21,596 to her energy supplier Octopus. She has paid her bills for the last six years via direct debit but once a smart meter was installed, things went badly wrong. I have spent hours on the phone trying to sort out the mess to no avail.

Anon.

Sally Hamilton replies: When the statement from Octopus landed in your daughter’s inbox in early August, it nearly sent her over the edge. I’m not surprised. Your daughter, who is a single mum, suffers with anxiety and has been off work for a year-and-a-half because of it, with only Universal Credit to live off.

Given the way she has been feeling, she couldn’t face trying to sort matters with Octopus on her own so you stepped in.

It all began late last year when your daughter opened the electric meter cupboard to see the display flashing zero. On her request Octopus inspected, took photos and logged it as broken.

She heard nothing more until March when someone visited to read the meter, took photos and also logged it as broken.

At that point she was advised to install a smart meter, which happened on July 10. While doing so, the fitter accidentally snapped off the casing, which you reported. Your daughter received a statement on July 9 that she was in credit by £174, which seemed acceptable.

But then the smart meter went awry. Your daughter received another statement showing she owed £6,892. A month later, the balance ballooned to £21,596. Your constant pleas to Octopus to correct this obvious error fell on deaf ears – until I intervened.

On my request that it smarten up its act, Octopus took just a couple of days to arrange for an engineer to fix the broken meter – and the casing – and confirm your daughter’s account was actually in credit by £174.

It said she could have this refunded to her if she wished or left as a credit. Octopus didn’t spell out exactly what went wrong but said a ‘small technical error caused a large bill’ – you can say that again!

It has paid your daughter a goodwill gesture of £500.