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I've had something similar happen to me. I caught an uber across town and 5 minutes after being dropped off I saw the trip hadn't ended (I was trying to order a

I've had something similar happen to me. I caught an uber across town and 5 minutes after being dropped off I saw the trip hadn't ended (I was trying to order another Uber). I cancelled the trip so it ended, and contacted Uber support. They refused to refund me anything since the additional charge incurred while the driver was cruising around on my tab was "within the estimated trip cost" So basically they said I would have been charged the same amount regardless since the cost displayed before taking a trip is an estimate, and it only increases if it goes above the estimate. This means they're over charging for long trips since you pay the estimated price even if the trip cost is lower than the estimate. I'm not sure if Uber works the same everywhere, this was in South Africa.

chaz6 8y ago
Surely they can see from the location data provided by yours and their phones, that you have diverged? The system should detect this automatically.
- sly010 8y ago
  I thought the same, but people often order Ubers for each other, or share a ride where the payer party gets out first. A more useful feature would be to make payments subject to a confirmation and don't allow the costumer to request a new ride until payment has been made (or disputed). You already have to leave review and (skip) tip after every ride anyway.
wut42 8y ago
Happened to me in Paris. Same reply from the Uber support, but I’m pretty sure I paid around 30€ more than needed. They kept refusing: I deleted my account.
- netsharc 8y ago
  Sounds like a victory for them. Isn't that the way Airbnb works too if the renters trash your apartment? Airbnb would offer you maybe $50 for $2000 worth of damages/clean up, and keep dicking you around (maybe change it to $100) until you give up and accept.
  - fjsolwmv 8y ago
    30bucks lifetime value for one user plus all their trusted friends is not a sustainable business.
- _wmd 8y ago
  Similar story while in Delhi, refused to issue refunds for obvious fraud. Closed account and opened chargeback for every journey, since they wouldn't even help me figure out which were legitimate. I see no reason to put up with "economies of scale"-quality support bullshit when it comes to personal transportation, they lost a customer. Lifetime value in this case was sharply negative
  - newman8r 8y ago
    I'm curious how those disputes ended up - did you end up getting any of them taken off?
    - _wmd 8y ago
      The onus was on Uber to demonstrate they were legitimate, it is doubtful they even bothered responding to the chargeback. The bank refunded every transaction without question
      - shshhdhs 8y ago
        I’m also curious— What evidence did you have to provide?
        _wmd 8y ago
        If I recall, just a copy of every e-mail from Uber, about 5 minutes cutpasting into an online form It seems people here don't understand how credit cards work :) The main reason to prefer them is because the chargeback process is straightforward and heavily biased in favour of the customer.
        arountheworld 8y ago
        But chargeback is not legally binding, is it? So you just put yourself in a situation where you received a service and didn't pay for it. I am pretty sure Uber could do something about it if they cared.
- viscanti 8y ago
  This doesn't sound right. I've always paid exactly what the app told me the ride would be when I ordered. It looks like Uber covers the delta if the price goes above the quote when you order. https://www.uber.com/ride/how-uber-works/upfront-pricing/ https://www.uber.com/ride/how-uber-works/upfront-pricing/
  - SilasX 8y ago
    The upfront pricing was a relatively recent development -- it's possible the other commenters were talking about a time before that, when there was some variation in what your trip might end up costing.
chii 8y ago
can't you sit in the car, and watch the driver end the trip before getting off?
- rahimnathwani 8y ago
  In China, drivers are always clear to show you that they are marking the trip as complete, before you get out of the car. I wondered why, but I guess it's to reassure riders that they're not cheating.
  - marcosdumay 8y ago
    They do that in Brazil too. I always assumed it was to get rid of the trip soon, so they can take another one.
  - amag 8y ago
    Well, YMMV... A long time ago I took a taxi in Beijing (this was way before Uber was even thought of though). When we stopped at my destination the driver quickly unplugged the meter and then asked me for twice what it said. I knew this because I was traveling on a shoestring and wanted to know how fast the meter went for future reference so I had been looking very carefully at it. Maybe I was just unlucky...
    - rahimnathwani 8y ago
      The particular scam you mention is impossible with an Uber-like platform, as payment is made via the app, and there's no way for the driver to massively increase the fare in the last moments of a ride. "Well, YMMV" No, your mileage cannot vary, because it's tracked in the app.
      - s73v3r_ 8y ago
        Isn't this a story about them doing just that, though?
- sgroppino 8y ago
Jommi 8y ago
Don't you get the cost as an upper and lower bound? Or is it one price upfront?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
jopsen 8y ago
Just give the driver a low rating.. then they'll be off Uber in no time. This seems like exactly the kind of behavior that's should trigger a 2-star review.
- jakobegger 8y ago
  Two Stars: Driver tried to steal my money, but he seemed like a decent guy.
  - ionforce 8y ago
    Why are you even giving them one star?
    - 706f6f70 8y ago
      Because when the rated party also rates the rater, ratings are essentially useless. The question you ask yourself is: is this person so absolutely awful as a passenger/driver that I'm willing to risk being kicked off the platform to get them kicked off?
      - tgsovlerkhgsel 8y ago
        Why? In a situation where repeat encounters are rare, and each party cannot see the other party's rating until they've submitted theirs (or not at all), what's the risk of giving an accurately-bad rating? Also, how is rating 2 stars less likely to trigger retaliation than rating 1 star?
      - wild_preference 8y ago
        You can’t see how the other person rated you before you rate them in Uber. Also this would explain why you’d always rate high, not choose two stars over one which is still a bad rating. Airbnb has this problem though. A loud apartment on the highway will have no mention of it being on the loud highway. Just ratings like “5 stars, great for early risers!” Airbnb has no motive to fix it because their service looks great with rating inflation. If there’s a problem with Uber’s rating system, it’s that it’s a five-star system. I thought I was the perfect Uber passenger (always on time, sat quietly) until I saw my rating. It was 3.5/5. Too arbitrary to be actionable. Is it because I’m a gringo living in Mexico? Should I start small talk more often? Tip them in cash? Is it because I only use it to go to the airport which is a long and traffic-ridden drive which must not be fun for the driver? Or is 3.5 actually a good rating because it’s above 3.0, etc.
hef19898 8y ago
One could wonder if that is systematic and intenional. Like Uber is over-charging the passenger, but within estimates, and, relative to that over charging under-paying the driver, and netting the difference themselves. Just a guess, not that I have any clue if thats even possible or actually the case. Can also be just drivers over charging customers, Taxis sometimes have a similar issue. Or I am just a sceptique person in general.
pfarnsworth 8y ago
You pay a single price for your trip, you don't pay for the time and distance of the ride. When you agree to the trip, you see the price ahead of time and it's fixed. So what the support person is saying that since it didn't affect the price of your trip, you're not getting a refund.
- pas 8y ago
  Isn't what you see is an estimate? So the cost of the fare will be a bit different in the end?
craftyguy 8y ago
>They refused to refund me anything 1) contact your credit card company for a chargeback 2) immediately stop being a customer of a company that has conciously ripped you off

chaz6 8y ago

Surely they can see from the location data provided by yours and their phones, that you have diverged? The system should detect this automatically.

sly010 8y ago
I thought the same, but people often order Ubers for each other, or share a ride where the payer party gets out first. A more useful feature would be to make payments subject to a confirmation and don't allow the costumer to request a new ride until payment has been made (or disputed). You already have to leave review and (skip) tip after every ride anyway.

wut42 8y ago

Happened to me in Paris. Same reply from the Uber support, but I’m pretty sure I paid around 30€ more than needed. They kept refusing: I deleted my account.

netsharc 8y ago
Sounds like a victory for them. Isn't that the way Airbnb works too if the renters trash your apartment? Airbnb would offer you maybe $50 for $2000 worth of damages/clean up, and keep dicking you around (maybe change it to $100) until you give up and accept.
- fjsolwmv 8y ago
  30bucks lifetime value for one user plus all their trusted friends is not a sustainable business.
_wmd 8y ago
Similar story while in Delhi, refused to issue refunds for obvious fraud. Closed account and opened chargeback for every journey, since they wouldn't even help me figure out which were legitimate. I see no reason to put up with "economies of scale"-quality support bullshit when it comes to personal transportation, they lost a customer. Lifetime value in this case was sharply negative
- newman8r 8y ago
  I'm curious how those disputes ended up - did you end up getting any of them taken off?
  - _wmd 8y ago
    The onus was on Uber to demonstrate they were legitimate, it is doubtful they even bothered responding to the chargeback. The bank refunded every transaction without question
    - shshhdhs 8y ago
      I’m also curious— What evidence did you have to provide?
      - _wmd 8y ago
        If I recall, just a copy of every e-mail from Uber, about 5 minutes cutpasting into an online form It seems people here don't understand how credit cards work :) The main reason to prefer them is because the chargeback process is straightforward and heavily biased in favour of the customer.
        arountheworld 8y ago
        But chargeback is not legally binding, is it? So you just put yourself in a situation where you received a service and didn't pay for it. I am pretty sure Uber could do something about it if they cared.
viscanti 8y ago
This doesn't sound right. I've always paid exactly what the app told me the ride would be when I ordered. It looks like Uber covers the delta if the price goes above the quote when you order. https://www.uber.com/ride/how-uber-works/upfront-pricing/ https://www.uber.com/ride/how-uber-works/upfront-pricing/
- SilasX 8y ago
  The upfront pricing was a relatively recent development -- it's possible the other commenters were talking about a time before that, when there was some variation in what your trip might end up costing.

chii 8y ago

can't you sit in the car, and watch the driver end the trip before getting off?

rahimnathwani 8y ago
In China, drivers are always clear to show you that they are marking the trip as complete, before you get out of the car. I wondered why, but I guess it's to reassure riders that they're not cheating.
- marcosdumay 8y ago
  They do that in Brazil too. I always assumed it was to get rid of the trip soon, so they can take another one.
- amag 8y ago
  Well, YMMV... A long time ago I took a taxi in Beijing (this was way before Uber was even thought of though). When we stopped at my destination the driver quickly unplugged the meter and then asked me for twice what it said. I knew this because I was traveling on a shoestring and wanted to know how fast the meter went for future reference so I had been looking very carefully at it. Maybe I was just unlucky...
  - rahimnathwani 8y ago
    The particular scam you mention is impossible with an Uber-like platform, as payment is made via the app, and there's no way for the driver to massively increase the fare in the last moments of a ride. "Well, YMMV" No, your mileage cannot vary, because it's tracked in the app.
    - s73v3r_ 8y ago
      Isn't this a story about them doing just that, though?
sgroppino 8y ago

Jommi 8y ago

Don't you get the cost as an upper and lower bound? Or is it one price upfront?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

jopsen 8y ago

Just give the driver a low rating.. then they'll be off Uber in no time. This seems like exactly the kind of behavior that's should trigger a 2-star review.

jakobegger 8y ago
Two Stars: Driver tried to steal my money, but he seemed like a decent guy.
- ionforce 8y ago
  Why are you even giving them one star?
  - 706f6f70 8y ago
    Because when the rated party also rates the rater, ratings are essentially useless. The question you ask yourself is: is this person so absolutely awful as a passenger/driver that I'm willing to risk being kicked off the platform to get them kicked off?
    - tgsovlerkhgsel 8y ago
      Why? In a situation where repeat encounters are rare, and each party cannot see the other party's rating until they've submitted theirs (or not at all), what's the risk of giving an accurately-bad rating? Also, how is rating 2 stars less likely to trigger retaliation than rating 1 star?
    - wild_preference 8y ago
      You can’t see how the other person rated you before you rate them in Uber. Also this would explain why you’d always rate high, not choose two stars over one which is still a bad rating. Airbnb has this problem though. A loud apartment on the highway will have no mention of it being on the loud highway. Just ratings like “5 stars, great for early risers!” Airbnb has no motive to fix it because their service looks great with rating inflation. If there’s a problem with Uber’s rating system, it’s that it’s a five-star system. I thought I was the perfect Uber passenger (always on time, sat quietly) until I saw my rating. It was 3.5/5. Too arbitrary to be actionable. Is it because I’m a gringo living in Mexico? Should I start small talk more often? Tip them in cash? Is it because I only use it to go to the airport which is a long and traffic-ridden drive which must not be fun for the driver? Or is 3.5 actually a good rating because it’s above 3.0, etc.

hef19898 8y ago

One could wonder if that is systematic and intenional. Like Uber is over-charging the passenger, but within estimates, and, relative to that over charging under-paying the driver, and netting the difference themselves. Just a guess, not that I have any clue if thats even possible or actually the case. Can also be just drivers over charging customers, Taxis sometimes have a similar issue. Or I am just a sceptique person in general.

pfarnsworth 8y ago

You pay a single price for your trip, you don't pay for the time and distance of the ride. When you agree to the trip, you see the price ahead of time and it's fixed. So what the support person is saying that since it didn't affect the price of your trip, you're not getting a refund.

pas 8y ago
Isn't what you see is an estimate? So the cost of the fare will be a bit different in the end?

craftyguy 8y ago

>They refused to refund me anything 1) contact your credit card company for a chargeback 2) immediately stop being a customer of a company that has conciously ripped you off