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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 22, 2019, 9:24 am
  #46  
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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 "
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 10:54 am
  #47  
 
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@swag, I agree it’s gwtting worse. Had a driver last night forced to take surface streets due to highway closure. The price that appeared in my Uber app after the trip (when it asks me to give a star rating for the driver) showed the upfront quote.

But a few minutes later in my email I got a receipt for a much higher price.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 11:00 am
  #48  
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I had an issue in DC last weekend where the driver ignored (thought he knew better) the directions the app gave him, resulting in about 40% more distance being driven.

Sure enough, I was charged a lot more than quoted. But I was able to resolve it in the app.

However, for everyone like me who watches this closely, I have to wonder how many people they're screwing with post-purchase price increases.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 1:50 pm
  #49  
 
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I've never had this happen with lyft.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 7:00 pm
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by WillBarrett_68
I've never had this happen with lyft.
It happened to me with Lyft frequently. They finally caught on to them refunding me ~$10 a day and fixed it so that the up front price would creep up a few cents over time (I commuted on this route) instead. I’m sure they were pretty unhappy when they never recouped it because my employer moved me to a different location soon after

Lyft has gotten really bad lately though. They can’t maintain a minimum level of acceptable service and their drivers suck more than Uber’s at this point. They probably have me labeled as a habitual complainer now because I have issues every other ride or so. I’m often getting drivers that will accept rides and then not move or accept rides and then drive away. Lyft no longer rematches me when this happens, forcing me to cancel, and whenever I cancel, the new fare is always higher than the previous one. When I complain, I now get canned responses. I complained to their senior customer service officer and got absolutely no response. Lyft also lies to me about how long it would take to get a ride, and I’m sick of them wasting my time.

I’m currently commuting with Uber right now because they keep throwing discounts my way, but when that runs out, and Lyft screws me again, I’m going to request an Uber instead.
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Old Mar 23, 2019, 7:23 am
  #51  
 
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Wow, I have had completely the opposite experience, literally never had a bad driver with Lyft (and my travel patterns take me to different locations, I'm not just in the same two cities over and over again).

TBH, I haven't had many bad uber drivers either, but the ones that are bad seem to exclusively be on the uber side. I think it's because most newbs start off with uber and only later branch out to use lyft as well.
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Old Mar 24, 2019, 12:04 am
  #52  
 
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It probably varies by region. In my area, there are bad Uber drivers for sure, but there are so many of them on the road that my chances of getting a good driver are decent. That, and drivers are so desperate for rides that they are not incentivized to screw around. Meanwhile if I open Lyft, it will say 4 minutes for a ride and show a bunch of car icons on the map. But, when I hit request, the timer will go up to 7 minutes and be matched with "the closest driver is completing a trip nearby." The 7 minute estimate would never be accurate because it would take 7 minutes if the driver threw the other passenger out of the car while still moving. In reality, it takes the driver a minute or two to stop, drop off the previous passenger, and then look at their app to see where the next pickup is. So, that 7 minutes really turns into 10, when I could have gotten a ride from Uber in 4 minutes instead. Either Lyft has a supply problem, or business is so great for them that they don't have to care about losing mine.
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