Uber Rewards launches in AU, NZ

[DavidFlynn]

Uber Rewards launches in Australia and New Zealand from this week. Earn points on rides and Uber Eats orders, turn points into perks (inc discounted rides and free upgrades) with Gold, Platinum and Diamond status. Sorry, no direct QF points earning

More at Uber Rewards launches in Australia, New Zealand

 

[Squirrel.Monkey]

Everyone starts on the same level? Doesn't seem right, should take past trips into account.

 

[Berlin]

Meh, pretty unexciting. I'd still chose Ola or Didi if they happened to be cheaper at a particular point in time (and equally many vehicles are around).

 

[DavidFlynn]

Everyone starts on the same level? Doesn't seem right, should take past trips into account.

They will be: Uber tells me that once you enrol in Uber Rewards (it's not automatic) your previous six month spend will then be factored in, so you'll be fast-tracked to a higher tier.

 

[Franky]

They will be: Uber tells me that once you enrol in Uber Rewards (it's not automatic) your previous six month spend will then be factored in, so you'll be fast-tracked to a higher tier.

Slightly OT, but I saw a small i30 Hyundai in Fremantle yesterday with an A4 sized poster in his rear window, with the three main competitors listed in oder Didi, Uber and Ola. Is this common?

 

[Berlin]

Slightly OT, but I saw a small i30 Hyundai in Fremantle yesterday with an A4 sized poster in his rear window, with the three main competitors listed in oder Didi, Uber and Ola. Is this common?

Most of the drivers use at least two of the competitors. The worst are the ones that are online on two systems at the same time- have witnessed this a few times now, especially when Uber suddenly surges: Still having me as an Ola customer while already confirming someone else on Uber. And, worst of the worst, if there's a delay on my Ola ride while an Uber customer is already waiting, then that latter gets suddenly canceled or waits for ages.

So if you ever wondered why your Uber driver takes much longer in the end or suddenly cancels on you, now you know!

 

[odysseus]

More earning, less rewarding.

It's even poorer than the US version, which was poor to start with.

Better to just ride with competitors, and get more discounts, more often.

 

[levelnine]

More earning, less rewarding.

It's even poorer than the US version, which was poor to start with.

Better to just ride with competitors, and get more discounts, more often.

Exactly. Exceptional cases aside, you'd have to be mad to choose Uber over its cheaper competitors. They're exactly the same drivers/cars.

 

[Happy Dude]

Most of the drivers use at least two of the competitors. The worst are the ones that are online on two systems at the same time- have witnessed this a few times now, especially when Uber suddenly surges: Still having me as an Ola customer while already confirming someone else on Uber. And, worst of the worst, if there's a delay on my Ola ride while an Uber customer is already waiting, then that latter gets suddenly canceled or waits for ages.

So if you ever wondered why your Uber driver takes much longer in the end or suddenly cancels on you, now you know!

That's really interesting.

How does the driver know that they're cancelling one for a better outcome on another? I thought on both platforms they did not know the destination until after pick-up and the fare until after drop-off.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

DiDi app clearly shows full details of trip - Uber only if driver Plat or whatever then they can see direction of trip and length but not full details - so the drivers tell me

 

[odysseus]

That's really interesting.

How does the driver know that they're cancelling one for a better outcome on another? I thought on both platforms they did not know the destination until after pick-up and the fare until after drop-off.

Not cancelling for a better outcome, just that cannot make the pickup. As they're separate platforms, the bookings aren't linked. Drivers are keen to get bookings when they can as there can also be a long gap between drinks at times and some bookings are better than others. They pick it up on the other platform as they intend to take it, but when they get delayed on the current booking, they have to cancel as they can't make it.

 

[Happy Dude]

Sorry @odysseus, I can't make sense of (the purpose of doing) this. Wouldn't a driver confirm that they can make a trip by virtue of accepting it? If they're further away it'd just mean a longer wait for the rider, which the rider can cancel if they want. The driver cancelling for something closer would be a PITA for a rider for sure. I interpreted @Berlin's post as drivers were cancelling to get higher fares on Uber.

Anyhoo, I won't be getting too excited about this rewards scheme. This morning's fare on Ola to CBR was half that of Uber. I get Velocity points on Ola too (albeit not many with fares as low as they are).

 

[Berlin]

Yep- they take an Ola even on their lower fares (but I believe cut for driver is higher on Ola and Didi so it might be fine for the driver) to have a passenger. But then if Uber suddenly surges, the whole calculation changes and it becomes more attractive to get an Uber guest.

Some drivers are even using some kind of apps that show the surge prices in different suburbs and then head straight to this area if they can. The old fashioned version of that is some buddy calling (usually in the same language as the driver) and telling them to switch to Uber and go to suburb xyz.

 

[Happy Dude]

I found this on an Uber drivers forum while looking for info about what the driver can see (TL;DR seems as though most drivers can see some level of info about the riders destination):

"Overall Ola makes me happier driver because it pays more when you compare apples to apples without cheating like a lot of drivers on this forum do with fake gps and a whole range of apps that tricks the uber app.

People that don't like cheating and playing on a level field it the better option. I still love uber though it a good still and wouldn't quit Uber. Just feel better when you don't have to resort to using half a dozen illegal apps to get an advantage for a couple of $$.

Can only hope one day all the cheaters get deactivated"

Yikes. Might explain why Uber is so much more than Ola IME. I've not had a cancellation before - probably because CBR is a small market - but hopefully such shenanigans will be noted and drivers prone to cancelling will be booted.

 

[Berlin]

Yikes. Might explain why Uber is so much more than Ola IME. I've not had a cancellation before - probably because CBR is a small market - but hopefully such shenanigans will be noted and drivers prone to cancelling will be booted.

Mate, you're lucky in Canberra. In both Sydney and Auckland, it happens all the time. Actually London comes to mind too where that's a very regular occurrence.

 

[SeaWolf]

One of the more frustrating shenanigans I've seen as well is to accept a ride on both and then collect one of them and just leave the other one hanging. After a while the customer gives up and the driver collects a cancellation fee. I'd suspect if they do this a lot it would stand out but I've had drivers accept a ride and then drive off in the wrong direction, presumably to exploit this.

Back on topic though, Uber Rewards seems very underwhelming to me. I've gone instant Gold (from work travel, personal travel almost always goes to Ola these days) and that status gets me a whole lot of nothing really. Even the 15% off for three days you get every 750 points seems pretty useless to me compared to Ola's rolling 20% discounts and usually already lower base price.

 

[sudoer]

Uber Rewards is shutting down at the end of the month in favour of the paid Uber One subscription. Bit of a shame, I enjoyed the priority airport pickup and price confidence benefit of Platinum, plus the couple of thousand Qantas points I'd collect each year with my usual travel patterns. Seems a bit shortsighted decision, predominantly business users are highly unlikely to sign up for Uber One...

Make sure to redeem any outstanding Uber Rewards points before 1 Nov!

 

[Berlin]

Uber Rewards is shutting down at the end of the month in favour of the paid Uber One subscription. Bit of a shame, I enjoyed the priority airport pickup and price confidence benefit of Platinum, plus the couple of thousand Qantas points I'd collect each year with my usual travel patterns. Seems a bit shortsighted decision, predominantly business users are highly unlikely to sign up for Uber One...

Make sure to redeem any outstanding Uber Rewards points before 1 Nov!

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One more reason to just use Didi or Ola instead. Have been doing this for a while now anyway unless it's cheaper the other way which is very very rare. And the drivers tell me that they get a much better cut than on Uber as well. Win win.

 

[Ade]

. Bit of a shame,

True that ... I have been using Uber quite frequently these days after I started a casual gig at the airport.

Earn QF points to show up to work in an Uber Climbed up to Gold this year.

As with all good things, has to come to an end. I'm not sure if I will subscribe to the Uber One thingy at $9.99/month though ...

Side Note : Not sure if this related, but for the very first time, I'm facing delays in posting of QF points earned for using Uber to AU domestic airports .. I usually get the points the next day. But this time, it's been over 5 days so far and I have received nothing ... Anyone else face this?

 

[Ade]

And the drivers tell me that they get a much better cut than on Uber as well. Win win.

True ... but the number of customer using Uber is very high compared to the number of customers using Ola/DiDi. Took an Uber to work this morning and the driver told me that he usually gets half the number of customers in Ola/DiDi compared to Uber.

So, yes, Uber takes the lion's share and gives less to it's drivers, but they earn something- but on other apps, there is not many customers, so not much to earn ... My 2 cents ..