ComfortDelGro makes swift rectification after woman with dementia dropped at wrong location

ComfortDelGro has issued an apology for one of its cabs mistakenly dropping off an elderly passenger with dementia, along with her helper, at the wrong location. According to a Facebook post by a Comfort user, she had booked a ride on the CDG Zig app for her mother who suffers from dementia to be dropped at a relative's house.

The daughter of the passenger, who was tracking the ride on the app, soon noticed that the driver took a longer route and dropped off the passengers at the wrong location. After attempting to contact the driver, to no avail, she reached out to the Comfort Call Centre where she was told by the customer service staff that the driver dropped off the passengers at the right location, but later admitted that there had been a mistake. She added that she and her family members then took to look for the missing persons.

According to a statement given to the media ComfortDelGro's group chief branding and communications officer, Tammy Tan said that an investigation was launched following the complaint and when driver had realised his mistake, he then returned to look for them but was unsuccessful.

Tan also said both the driver and customer service operator had been reprimanded since the incident, and ComfortDelGro has reached out to Ho and her family to provide a full refund and check on the family's well-being.  MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to ComfortDelGro for comment. 

The incident comes shortly after ComfortDelGro relaunched its taxi booking app as CDG Zig, with the app appearing on users’ phones as a stylised “Z” icon. CDG Zig is an amalgamation of ComfortDelGro’s taxi booking app and its now decommissioned lifestyle app Zig, which was integrated with the ComfortDelGro platform earlier this year. The company first alerted consumers about the rebranding through its app and a video teaser on social media channels.

The CDG Zig app offers users taxi and ride-hailing booking features and lifestyle options such as restaurant reservations, as well as new services such as electric vehicle (EV) charging. According to a press statement, the app will continue to grow with the addition of more ComfortDelGro services from its range of businesses, from car rental to driving lessons. 

However, the new logo raised several eyebrows given its close resonance to the pro-war symbol of President Putin's invasion of Ukraine. ComfortDelGro later said that it would review the "Z" logo on its recently rebranded mobile app.

More recently, ComfortDelGro and Alipay+ partnered up to enable mobile payments from Malaysia's Touch 'n Go eWallet and South Korea's Kakao Pay as cashless payment options in all its Comfort and CityCab taxis. The joint effort sees to enhance seamless and smart digital travel experience, as Singapore progressively opens up and tourists return to the country as a travel destination. 

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