Car2go has proven to be a helpful transportation solution for Seattle citizens, but this weekend the service caused headaches for several users.
The company suffered what it called a “partial disruption,” before fixing the problem Saturday night. But at least a few users were affected, with complaints surfacing on Twitter starting Friday evening and into Saturday:
Fail with @car2goSeattle tonight. Can’t take vehicle and can’t call support. Lame.
— Stan Rawrysz ⭐️ (@rawfysh) January 26, 2014
@car2goSeattle wish I knew that before I walked a 1/2 mile to a car that doesn't work. Screwing up date night.
— Jordan Giarratano (@BudoPunk) January 26, 2014
@car2go your connection sucks. Been on hold w/ customer service for 15 min and gave up. pic.twitter.com/0egWdnbDAH
— Jennifer Y Kim (@JenniferYKim) January 26, 2014
Missed a play tonight at @seattlerep because of a faulty @car2goSeattle stuck on "card check done" pic.twitter.com/oFxh1Fy50w
— Cary Lee (@caryme) January 26, 2014
Here’s quick background on how Car2go works: Drivers use the company’s app to locate a car, and once scanning a member card on the windshield, users can drive for an unlimited amount of time. When ready to end the trip, drivers can park in a designated area and must scan the member card again — which is the moment where people seemed to have problems.
One customer told us that her car couldn’t connect to Car2go’s server, while the toll-free support number was unavailable. She was instructed via Twitter — as were others — to lock the car door, keep the keys and contact the company. Car2go still charged her for the trip, but comped her 30 minutes to use in the next two months.
Others had similar issues:
9 out of 10 times @car2goSeattle car won't connect to server and have to call in to end trip. Great idea, but not using until fixed. #uxfail
— Justin Hill (@justin_e_hill) January 25, 2014
https://twitter.com/duanelo/status/427251397453545472
Car2go arrived in Seattle about a year ago, giving people a new way to get around the city in addition to the other new tech-savvy startups doing the same — although in some cases illegally. Seattle was Car2go’s ninth city, and now there are 25 metropolitan areas using the service.
We’ve reached out to Car2go for more details into what caused the outage. We’ll update the story when we hear back.
