I tend to use Lyft more than Uber, but will Uber when the price shown is dollars lower. This means I've always noticed the price, and lately, it seems increasingly common that the final charge exceeds the up front price.
Generally, this seems to be triggered when the driver opts for an alternate route to avoid traffic. Sometimes only a block or two out of the way. And to be clear, it's the driver making that decision, not me requesting it. Contacting support gets it resolved, but what a hassle.
When Uber debuted, before up front pricing, you paid for mileage and time (plus whatever the fixed fees & taxes were). If you detoured or hit traffic, it cost more, no different than a taxi. But they also showed you the surge multiplier. When they introduced up front pricing, they hid the surge, a real problem for riders not familiar with the route or area. But the trade off was supposed to be that the price was set, and it wouldn't cost you more if you hit traffic. So this is maddening.
I'm ok with a higher price if the rider requests additional stops or an alternate route or changes the destination, but the driver or rider should have to proactively indicate that via the app, so it doesn't reprice otherwise.
It seems to me this is getting more common, but I'm only Ubering a couple of times a month. Regular riders, is the problem getting worse?
By the way, the bottom of the email receipt shows the original quoted price, as a credit card hold, for example:
"A temporary hold of $10.68 was placed on your payment method "