RIDEGURU
I am in Washington, DC and I regularly take rideshare to work. Normally I take pool or line and prefer Lyft to Uber as Lyft tends to be cheaper. But Uber has been giving me 50% off my rides, making it almost the same cost or less for an Uber X than a Lyft line so I have been taking that instead. Out of the past 10 rides, 5 of them charged me a price higher than the price I agreed to when I booked the Uber. The first two times Uber agreed I was correct and gave me my original fare. I started taking pictures of the quoted price because it has been happening so much. I never deviate the route, I don't change anything, it is the same exact commute each day with a 5 or 10 minute variance. However the last 3 times that Uber did this they refused to credit me the difference. They noted that yes I was charged a higher fare then I was quoted but that it was within the estimate for the miles traveled and distance. I have read Uber's policies left and right and everything I see says that the upfront price is guaranteed, I see nothing about charging more unless I change something or the driver takes another route. Now realistically if there was massive traffic or delays I could see them charging more, although I think they should be clear they do that, but it appears that they just charge more for no reason. I run both apps every am, and take the one that costs less. So the past few times I chose Uber but after they gave me the estimated fare it was actually more than Lyft. This seems very shady and I cannot get a clear answer from Uber on this. To be clear it's at least .50 more each time.
Uber charging me more than upfront price with no changes on my part?
Posted 4 years, 8 months ago
Posted In
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Posted By
Lisa Ann (LisaAnn)
2
Ride Apprentice
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Comments
My advice is to screenshot everything Uber sends you immediately and save them. Before I accuse Uber for being shady let me say this. It could be a few possibilities. There is talk that fares are going up. Depending on time of day and demand fares can fluctuate from one day to the next. Since it is only .50 it could also be some added tax that was tacked on. It is usually listed as "other". I dont know your drivers rates there but its possible the trips with the .50 increase took a few min more than the other days. As far as I know and its somewhere in TOS you are given the upfront price. If driver happens to take longer route or there is traffic they can raise the price. I suggest you screenshot everything that Uber sends you. Save it delete nothing. Check your trips each day against the other trips see how many miles come up and how many minutes it takes driver to get you there. See if there is a difference. If driver is more than (usually 10/12 min) away from your p…
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My advice is to screenshot everything Uber sends you immediately and save them. Before I accuse Uber for being shady let me say this. It could be a few possibilities. There is talk that fares are going up. Depending on time of day and demand fares can fluctuate from one day to the next. Since it is only .50 it could also be some added tax that was tacked on. It is usually listed as "other". I dont know your drivers rates there but its possible the trips with the .50 increase took a few min more than the other days. As far as I know and its somewhere in TOS you are given the upfront price. If driver happens to take longer route or there is traffic they can raise the price. I suggest you screenshot everything that Uber sends you. Save it delete nothing. Check your trips each day against the other trips see how many miles come up and how many minutes it takes driver to get you there. See if there is a difference. If driver is more than (usually 10/12 min) away from your pick up location he gets paid a long pick up fee. Take a look at your receipts compare each day. Look for "other" & "long pick up fee". See if either of them show up.
If what I posted dont help you and you still cant figure it out reply to my comment "need help" . I will then post my email for you and you are welcome to send me screenshot of 2 trips with the difference and I would be happy to take a look and see if I can give you better answer. You can edit any private info out of screenshots if you prefer I dont see it (addresses, name, etc...
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Same thing happened to me. $79 shown, $255 after the end of my journey. I never agreed to that. I filed a dispute with my bank but they took Uber's side.
I'm using Lyft instead from now on.
Thanks @drivingfordollars. I read the policy on the discount and I cannot find anywhere where it says that I can be charged more. But if that were the case then when I asked Uber why would they not just say that? It would seem to me that would be easily answered. No I did not make the driver wait. I don’t recall ever making the driver wait, that’s a pet peeve of mine, especially with pools (but this was an Uber X). Yes it is only .50 cents, but in DC many people like myself use rideshare to commute to work. So .50 x 2 x5 is more than just .50. My commute on public transit is only about $1.00 or $2.00 less than it would be with an Uber Pool or a Lyft line. I don’t take issue with the amount charged, meaning I am not saying the price is too much, I take issue with the fact that they are not being upfront about it. Because we have so many commute options in this city (via, Uber po…
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Thanks @drivingfordollars. I read the policy on the discount and I cannot find anywhere where it says that I can be charged more. But if that were the case then when I asked Uber why would they not just say that? It would seem to me that would be easily answered. No I did not make the driver wait. I don’t recall ever making the driver wait, that’s a pet peeve of mine, especially with pools (but this was an Uber X). Yes it is only .50 cents, but in DC many people like myself use rideshare to commute to work. So .50 x 2 x5 is more than just .50. My commute on public transit is only about $1.00 or $2.00 less than it would be with an Uber Pool or a Lyft line. I don’t take issue with the amount charged, meaning I am not saying the price is too much, I take issue with the fact that they are not being upfront about it. Because we have so many commute options in this city (via, Uber pool, Uber X, Lyft, Lyft Line, train, bus, scooter, moped, walking, driving, taxi) most people run all of their options daily and make the most economical choice. I suspect Uber knows that as they have been getting beat out by Lyft on a regular basis (price and service wise) for the past 6 months or so. So what it looks like to me is that they are giving me a discount to bring me to them, and telling me one price so I choose them over somethng else, then charging me more than one of the other options. It’s a bait and switch.
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Yes, welcome to the long-running scam known as "Uber."
But you mention you are getting a deep discount — there is probably a "special" policy associated with that discount, and that probably overrides the standard policy.
But you are aying it's only 50 cents??
DO YOU MAKE THE DRIVER WAIT?? If the driver gets there and you are not in the car and the ride started within two minutes, you will be charged extra for wait time.
Thanks so much for your very thorough answer. I have now started taking a screen shot of everything including all of the fares. I will do the comparisons you suggest. I don’t dispute that my fare for the same trip varies by day, it does and I don’t have a problem with that. What I take issue with is that Uber is not honoring their upfront price guarantee and yes that’s what the TOS says unless I change the destination or the driver alters the route. But if the driver does alter the route not at my request they say they will credit you. I have never made any such request and I have never changed the destination. If they are going back to estimated fares then they need to just say that. I don’t have an issue with it so long as it’s made clear. Dc does charge a digital dispatch fee but that’s charged everytime so that can’t be it. I will update if I get more info. Meanwhile I have all of my friends and family watching their fares!