Tricks, no Treat: Uber Rewards to Shut Down on Halloween
Joe Cortez August 17, 2022
The travel technology company providing everything from rides to food delivery announced they would end their loyalty program at midnight on Halloween 2022, with more focus going into the Uber One membership program.
Uber Rewards Stop Accumulating in August, With Short Spending Window
The Uber loyalty program offered regular users rewards for their spending. With four loyalty tiers, benefits ranged from priority support for Gold members, to priority pickups and highly-rated drivers for higher tiers.
However, the company will put an end to both the tier system and points program in the fourth quarter of 2022. Without giving a reason, the company is pointing travelers to their subscription program as an alternative, Uber One.
“Nothing is replacing Uber Rewards,” the company said on a support page in their site. “However, we’ve built out a great membership program called Uber One, so if you’re interested in perks like $0 Delivery Fee on Uber Eats, 5% off eligible rides, and more.”
While points can still be earned through the end of August, other preferred benefits will go away once the program ends. For the top-tier Diamond members, phone support will officially end when everything closes on November 1, 2022.
The good news is that some American Express cardholders will get to retain certain perks when using Uber’s services. American Express Gold Card members will continue to get up to $120 in Uber Cash annually, while American Express Platinum Card members will get up to $200 in Uber Cash annually and automatic Uber VIP access where available.
It was a useless program to begin with. Granted, I live in France and the promos here are pretty lousy.
But with Uber I would reach a tier and get a €1 discount on a future ride. After spending €250. Woo-hoo.
Or some subscription to some bizarre online service that rebills at €19 a month afterwards if you don't cancel within the free period.
The most laughable part of this, as other commentars have mentioned, is the communication. They announce to users they are discontinuing the program in order to offer you one free month of a PAID subscription service... which after 30 days will be billed at €10/10 a month.
Seriously, the marketing director of this firm really needs some help... it's not normal...
To be fair, I have been getting very generous offers lately. Irritatingly better than I could buy for 1000 points ($1000 spend)!
40% off $25 uBer Eats orders x 3 uses.
I've gotten one of these every few weeks for the last two months.
It's a win-win.
I win
uBer wins
(restaurant loses)
🤷
They make it all back in service fees, its just disguised as discounts when they make a lot more back in fees.
Yeah the Uber program now is pretty poor... but them pushing for a paid subscription program is a complete joke. Sorry, I'm not going to pay them $10/mo just to get a minor discount on rides. They're crazy.
Its not like Uber is much of a difference vs taxi now anyway with how much their prices have gone up.
It would have been worth if they didn't start charging service fess which is another delivery fee disguised under another fee type.
Uber's program is the absolute worst anyway so it won't be missed.
At least the French program is pathetic. Spend €50 and get a €1 discount on a future ride within 30 days.
Good riddance.
Now automatically enrolling people in the PAID subscription program is a bit presumptious and in bad faith in my view- especially since a good number of people won't remember to cancel after 30 days ending up with lots of 9.99 charges....
Not that I expect a lot from Uber...
Fairly sure these Amex benefits are only for US cardholders. While UK Plat cardholders get a useless monthly credit with Addison Lee. This only runs in London and you can't get a car anyway after most drivers left.