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I'm so fed up with Uber for charging more than the agreed upon price

I'm so fed up with Uber for charging more than the agreed upon price

Old Mar 21, 2018, 8:48 am
  #31  
 
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I don't really use it stateside I use it intl mostly and for me it tends to show two prices a low and a not to far off higher price and it tends to fall in-between. But if they are showing one price that never deviates I now understand.
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Old Mar 25, 2018, 3:35 am
  #32  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: melbourne.au
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ha, the irony - got an email from Uber earlier today advising Uber are finally introducing upfront pricing effective March 26 (tomorrow) to Melbourne only. About time!

--
Introducing upfront prices
From tomorrow, we’re rolling out upfront prices in Melbourne. This means instead of seeing a price range for your trip, you’ll see the exact price you’ll be charged up front- no surprises, no calculations required.
Need to make a few stops?
No worries! You can add up to three destinations before you request your ride.
If a trip changes significantly, so does the price
The trip price will be adjusted if estimated tolls/surcharges differ from actual, if your journey changes (for instance, you change your pick up or drop off location or make a detour), or if it takes much longer than estimated due to heavy traffic or other factors.
In these cases the price will reflect the actual time, distance and other rates applicable in Melbourne.
--
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Old Mar 25, 2018, 11:32 am
  #33  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
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If you make your drivers wait, they charge a wait time fee on top of the fare
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Old Mar 28, 2018, 10:19 am
  #34  
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Originally Posted by cestmoi123
In NYC, at least, the price it shows when you tap "Confirm UberX" is the price you pay, unless you make some change along the way (i.e. add a stop, change the destination, etc.).
I never had a problem with NYC. Quoted price is what they charged.
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Old Apr 18, 2018, 12:16 pm
  #35  
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
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Canadiancow:
I could be wrong, but this is my understanding of how uber and lyft work. They quote you an estimated price based on the distance and time they estimate it will take to get from your location to the destination. If say traffic conditions are heavier than anticipated (lets say a wreck happened on your way there, or traffic is heavier than usual, or you hit all the red lights etc etc) then when you finish the ride it charges you based on the actual time and distance to get to your destination. So if it took 5 or 10 or 45 minutes longer than the estimate anticipated then you will be charged the difference. As far as I know Uber and Lyft do not guarantee the estimate to be 100% accurate. I don't think this falls under fraud, or any wrong doing on the part of uber unless they are intentionally charging you more for miles/minutes that did not occur during your ride. Your ride is within 1.50 of the estimate (I assume this is CAD). So that would be even less USD. I am not sure what the per minute charge is in your market, but about 1.13 USD seems like it could mean your ride took 5 or 10 minutes more than estimated. Also after 2 minutes of waiting the driver's get so much per minute to wait. So a 2-3 minute wait and a 2-3 minute extra than anticipated trip could easily explain the difference in price. In other words I don't believe uber or lyft guarantee that this is how much the ride will cost under every circumstance, one of the exceptions being is the ride takes longer than estimated.

Last edited by Phoneyjoker; Apr 18, 2018 at 12:25 pm
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Old Apr 18, 2018, 12:28 pm
  #36  
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
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Here is a quote from uber "When you request a ride you agree to be charged the upfront fare when the trip ends. Your far may increase if you travel to a different destination, or make extra stops along the route, or the trip takes much longer than expected." "Much longer than expected is a subjective term." 5 minutes could fall into uber's definition.
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Old Apr 18, 2018, 2:04 pm
  #37  
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I did not make the driver wait. The trip did not take longer than expected (based on Uber's quote). I did not request any stops or anything like that.

I have over 700 rides under my belt. I know how the system works. And this happens a lot.
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Old Apr 18, 2018, 2:37 pm
  #38  
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
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Please explain to me how to see the break down in the original price quote. Uber doesn't break it down for me, it just gives me the numbers. Only can I see it after the fact in the receipt. Since you brought it up I have over 1000 rides under my belt. I know how the system works.
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Old Jun 30, 2018, 3:50 pm
  #39  
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
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Originally Posted by Whowouldanewman
Why not take your business to Lyft? I’ve mostly moved all of my business to them unless Uber is running a deal of some kind.
Lyft is worse. I was at a conference in Boston this week and I got quoted ~$8 for a ride back to the hotel. The Driver decided to use their own map app (google) which took her on the toll freeway, in the other direction before coming back in a circle to my hotel. I was charged $20. Price review in-app (since you can't talk to any humans) gave me a 59 cent refund. I wrote a complaint at the website support and no answer after 4 days.

I'll be escalating with my Travel department next week as apparently Lyft is our 'preferred' vendor.
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Old Jun 30, 2018, 10:20 pm
  #40  
 
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Interesting. I commute with Lyft, and every time that a driver takes the highway instead of a more direct surface road, I get charged more, but every time I request a review (automated) I get refunded the difference.

If you want a faster response, complain about it on social media.
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Old Jul 1, 2018, 12:15 am
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by diburning
Interesting. I commute with Lyft, and every time that a driver takes the highway instead of a more direct surface road, I get charged more, but every time I request a review (automated) I get refunded the difference.

If you want a faster response, complain about it on social media.
I can get from work to home with a surface road or a highway that's 2x the distance (but same time). I have never had Lyft or Uber charge me more than the upfront quote.
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Old Jul 1, 2018, 3:10 pm
  #42  
 
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With my commute, if the driver takes a(n illegal) left when leaving the complex where I work, the GPS will recalculate and tell them to take the state highway, which is further in distance, but sometimes shorter in time. This is the only time where I get charged more than the up-front quote. If they take a right turn like they are supposed to (all exits from that side of the complex are right turn only), then they take a pretty much straight shot surface road to get me home.

I think Lyft doesn't take the highway route into account when calculating the up-front fare because an illegal turn out of the complex is required to get to that on-ramp.
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Old Jul 12, 2018, 9:29 pm
  #43  
 
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This is not 100% on topic, but I've noticed something weird. The price estimate is the same from Las Vegas airport to the strip as it is to downtown. The indicated route to the strip uses the I-215 tunnel, which is very much out of the way (and a favorite for taxi drivers who want to inflate the fare) while the route to downtown takes the more direct Swenson to Tropicana.

But yes, the quoted fare is based on estimated time and distance, but if the actual for the trip varies a lot, the fare is recalculated. In one respect it's almost required, because if the passenger wants to make a stop or divert the route, the driver would have to say no if the fare didn't reflect these.

As a driver, I would always require the passenger to change the destination in the app if it was relevant, to avoid fussing about "not the quoted fare." But I also advised pax to put the final destination in the request and then just tell the driver where to go if they (for example) wanted to drop off other pax. When I stopped driving, Lyft allowed you to specify multiple destinations but Uber didn't.
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Old Jan 3, 2019, 12:27 pm
  #44  
 
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Can the Uber/driver adjust his/her route to maximize income?

I didn't want to start a new thread, so I thought this was the best thread for this question.

I am definitely a 'gotta have a car guy'. I live in MD, close to DC. But I have discovered that using Uber for a ride into DC is very convenient and hassle-free. I've thought, maybe wrongly, that the cost given is an estimate and the actual cost is based on actual time and mileage. Other than one time when the driver wanted to take me from upper NW DC to Bethesda, MD, via the GW Parkway (because the 'app said so'), forcing me to provide my own directions, I haven't given much thought to this.

Being in the San Jose area of Costa Rica for the past 8 days, I've used Uber extensively. A primary reason being that the neighborhood I am located doesn't have taxis driving by on a regular basis. But Uber certainly saves money. My Uber ride to the airport last Saturday was less than 1/2 the cost of the metered taxi I used from the airport, with similar traffic conditions.

My question is - does Uber or can the drivers adjust the route to best maximize income? I have had 4 primary destinations in 17 trips. Not once, other than the last kilometer, has the route been even close to the same. This morning's ride back from downtown San Jose was primary on backroads, while all of the other rides (same pickup/destination) were on primary roads. And, I'd say the majority of the rides, the driver was regularly checking the designated route and appeared to be making changes to it. Of course, my Espanol is limited, so it is difficult to question the driver (and I hate 'backseat' drivers).

A related question, especially in foreign countries, does the destination not always transmit correctly to the driver? In my 17 trips (again 4 destinations), two of the trips took me to, in one case about a 1/4 mile away from the destination, and in another case, probably a mile or so from the destination. And it was not user error as I used the exact same address each time.

Anyone have insight into this?
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Old Jan 3, 2019, 8:58 pm
  #45  
 
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To lamphs: of course a driver can adjust the route, but only to maximize his income. With UBER upfront pricing, you are not affected, only for waiting time. Keep in mind that drivers get paid for time and distance, so UBER will offer the driver the fastest and shortest route combination from a-b, but a driver may take a different route to maximize his earnings. It is called long-hauling. Drivers can get deactivated by doing this too much, or abusing it. Taking too much time, rider complaints and there is a fare review, however, they can also use a longer route, but get the rider on time to its destination.

As for the different routings, happens all the time.
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