Uber can get extremely expensive

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cr@zydude

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I'm sure that many of you know that Uber ups their price on holidays, but for those who don't:

Cape Town – A Cape Town father has cried foul after Uber charged his son R2 800 for a 35km trip from Clifton to Muizenberg on New Year’s Eve. That’s R80 per kilometre.

A normal Uber ride from Clifton to Muizenberg costs between R247 (R7/km) and R329 (R9.4/km) according to the Uber estimator on the app, making his New Year’s trip cost about a 1 000% higher than a normal ride.

At least he wasn’t charged 50x the normal charge, which is the highest recorded surge charge in the world. That would have cost him R16 450 for the trip.

Uber is an app that connects consumers with drivers quickly, efficiently and safely. It warned its customers extensively through traditional media and social media that its surge pricing policy would be unusually steep on New Year’s Eve due to the high demand.

“My son was not of sober mind when he accepted the price surge and was therefore not blatantly aware of the fact that he was going to have his credit card debited to the tune of R2 800,” Nicky Rebelo wrote on Facebook.
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The full article is onFin24.

Despite the son being drunk, I don't see the father getting that charge reversed.
 
Its called 'Surge Pricing'
And Airlines use the same principle, just not as rapidly as Uber.
Btw - 80% of that R2800 went to the driver.

http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-surge-pricing-on-new-years-eve-2014-12
Stop Complaining About Uber's Surge Pricing

MAYA KOSOFF
DEC. 31, 2014, 10:19 AM 7,419 8
Uber says it expects New Year's Eve to be its biggest night ever. Uber plans to deliver 2 million rides on New Year's Eve this year.

When there's high demand for Uber vehicles on holidays like New Year's Eve, though, there's also bound to be surge pricing, a feature most Uber users aren't crazy about.

Surge pricing happens when there's a high demand for Uber vehicles in a particular area. During times of high demand — on weekend nights, on holidays, or during bad weather — Uber enacts surge pricing, which charges a multiplier on every fare during busy times. Uber says that by raising its prices, it encourages its supply — drivers — to get out on the road to keep up with increased demand.

Uber will never spring surge pricing on you without you consciously acknowledging what you're paying for. When surge pricing is happening, you'll be notified before you can even hail the car. Uber's app puts it in big, bold print so you can't miss it. And when surge pricing rates are more than 2x, customers have to type in the multiplier to make sure they know what to expect.

Of course, this doesn't stop people from complaining about surge pricing.

Sometimes the complaints seem more justified than others: Earlier in December, Uber Sydney temporarily activated surge pricing during a hostage crisis in the city's central business district. The company said it was an attempt to get more drivers into the area to pick up people who didn't have a way home, but others saw it as opportunism, and took to Twitter to complain. Soon after, Uber made all rides home from Sydney's central business district free.

However, people are far less justified in their complaints when surge pricing is introduced to get people home from bar crawls or holidays that encourage people to go out. Of course, that doesn't stop irate customers from screenshotting their Uber bill and posting it on Instagram or Twitter in outrage.

On days after holidays when demand for Uber is high, sticker-shocked customers complain about their Uber bills. For instance, one woman in Baltimore awoke the day after Halloween to discover she had taken a $362, 20-minute Uber ride the night before and didn't have enough money to pay her rent. She posted a screenshot of her bill on Instagram and ended up crowdfunding $512 on GoFund.Me the next day.

In light of complaints from angry customers, Uber is pulling out all the stops this week to let its customers know what to expect on New Year's Eve. On Tuesday, Uber published a blog post telling customers when to expect to pay more for surge pricing.

Uber also sent out an email to customers in New York City (and presumably in other markets, too) called "Read Before You Ride: How to Avoid Expensive Fares on New Year’s." In it, Uber pretty explicitly lays out how you should go about planning your Uber ride so you can avoid high surge prices.

It's nice of Uber to do this, but the company shouldn't have to apologize for surge pricing.

Uber is a relatively new and quickly growing business. It does not have any sort of responsibility to its customers to keep prices low. It is trying to make money, as companies often want to do, and tonight Uber will likely generate more than $100 million in revenue.

Uber is by no means unique in its dynamic pricing strategy, either. Airlines have similar tactics to sell tickets and hotels use dynamic pricing to book rooms, especially during busy holiday seasons. As Matt Yglesias pointed out in Slate earlier this year, what makes Uber different is that the company is at least upfront and transparent about how much you're going to pay when the price spikes.

If you don't want to pay a crazy-high fare tonight, you're in luck because Uber is not the only method of transportation available and nobody is making you use Uber (or Lyft, or any other ride-hailing service). You can walk. You can try to call or hail a cab. You can take a subway or a bus if you live in a city. You can just stay home and have a party with your friends. Or you can wait a few hours, since Uber expects the worst surges to be between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m.
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A 10x "surge" is rather ridiculous though. I'll be sure to be careful using Uber again. The once I did was outside "surge" times and was great.
 
cr@zydude said:
I understand that it happens, I just want to raise awareness. Also, from the latest reports, Uber takes a 25% cut, at least in the US. Also, what is the insurance situation with these cars in SA?
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Pdp and commercial insurance, no worries.
Also, awareness? If you request during surge times you have to type the surge multiplier in yourself to accept it...
 
Ryansr said:
These charges are quite extreme. Why not just use one of your local meter taxis? :confused:
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Because of the app mostly. It's neat, no need to call, see the car approach live on a map, has details of the car and driver, can text the driver.
 
Sinbad said:
Pdp and commercial insurance, no worries.
Also, awareness? If you request during surge times you have to type the surge multiplier in yourself to accept it...
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Sure, you type the multiplier in, when you already need the ride. This way more people know that this can happen.

Glad to hear about the insurance, it was my biggest concern with this whole set up.
 
Mine was only 1.5x at 02.30am and took 5 min for the car to get me
 
Had a 2.0 coming back from the dome after the park and ride for foo fighters...
 
Got this mail from Uber on new years eve


Hi xxxx

With more than two million rides tonight around the world, we expect New Year's Eve to be our busiest night ever! Busy nights require surge pricing to get enough cars on the road and ensure you always have a reliable ride.

THE BEST TIME TO RIDE
On New Year's Eve, everyone is looking for rides at exactly the same times. We expect demand to pick up around 18:00 as people head out for the evening, with an initial peak in demand around 21:00. While surge pricing may be in effect for the whole night, we expect the highest fares between 00:30 and 04:00.

ALWAYS NOTIFIED IN ADVANCE
Don’t forget: you’ll always be notified in advance and asked to confirm any increased rates, and you can always estimate your fare before requesting.
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Uber created enough awareness, plus you have to accept the rate by typing it in, so he knew what he was doing.

sorry officer I was drunk, i didn't know what I was doing is not a legal defence, so its not going to help him here. Can't play CPA as they clearly state it in both their terms and conditions, and when you request the ride.
 
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