What's your Uber experience?

[odysseus]

The way I see it is that Uber will have access to all the data. If they make more or less on a fixed fare. With all their data I'm sure that their losses will be minimized and eliminated quickly and as a result we, the passengers will pay more.

The other thing is that whereas there is a big notice at present when surges apply (which turns some off booking), it seems it is mostly not indicated if surging is on.

You just see Price: "$34.70" or whatever amount and have to make a call whether you book or not, without any other cues (if unfamiliar with the route), or whether the price is affected by surge, or just heavy traffic.

As most people don't have a base against which to measure whether the price is unreasonable, or higher than traffic alone, they're more likely to go ahead with booking as long as it's not ridiculously high.

 

[dajop]

The other thing is that whereas there is a big notice at present when surges apply (which turns some off booking), it seems it is mostly not indicated if surging is on.

You just see Price: "$34.70" or whatever amount and have to make a call whether you book or not, without any other cues (if unfamiliar with the route), or whether the price is affected by surge, or just heavy traffic.

This is what you see here in Singapore at the moment when surge pricing is in effect. Less conspicuous than surge pricing, but still showing that it is a higher price.



I suspect they are trading on finding acceptable price level, I find it more transparent than surge pricing. A fare that was $20-28 with 1.8x surge pricing could mean $36-50 ... now at least you know what it is. I guess easier to decide when to take it or not.

 

[Scarlett]

And in other news, rumours are now official that Uber will be disappearing from SE Asia, having been bought out by the far more successful Grab.

Those who wish to use rideshare in SE Asia, will need to download Grab App, as Uber will no longer be operational from 8 April.

Can only see this going one way though ... fares will rise.

It’ll be great if Grab Food becomes more widespread. Apart from the usual Indonesian warung/ restaurant answer of habis (one of my selected food options from the menu isn’t available) on about 80% of orders: it’s great here in Indonesia. And costs about $2...

Might be a ‘little’ more expensive in Australia seeing as there’s not 100 people with scooters every km2 just waiting around for a Grab booking.

 

[Justinf]

My regular Uber trip from Marshall station to Barwon Heads was $25 last year. Now for the two trips I have done this footy season, it has been $31.
Not sure if there has been a surcharge or whether the price has just gone up.

 

[Daver6]

Took a trip last night with a so called fixed fare of $13.86. Got charged $15.47. No traffic (Perth, 10pm on a school night) and the drive took the appropriate route. I've sent a query to Uber, but this is not acceptable.

 

[Forg]

Uber’d home last night for a claimed fixed fare of $17.xy and it cost $17.xy.

Got to the bus stop, saw I’d missed the last half-hourly bus by 3 minutes, figured buggrit I’ll Uber.
While I was prodding at my handset with my index-finger, three taxis went past, making me wonder if maybe I should’ve flagged one down ... it’s only about $35 from there.

With the Uber ordered, I started wandering towards the seat in the bus-stop to settle-in for however long the wait was ... which turned out to be about 30 seconds. The guy had only been Uber’ing for 2 days, was just doing it on his way home from work, and lives only a few streets over from mine.

 

[darktiger]

When traveling I always research cab rates and compare them to uber rates. So in case it's surging, I know at what point it would be better of financially to just take a cab.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Fixed pricing has certainly taken the gloss off Uber.

Most annoying for me is the routes the app uses to calculate is not always the best or fastest route.

So far my 5 Uber trips using fixed pricing have been the same or higher than quoted - not one has been under and hence a refund.

 

[Forg]

So these "fixed prices" that are over the fixed price; are they glitches, or are they expected under the terms & conditions?

 

[Daver6]

So these "fixed prices" that are over the fixed price; are they glitches, or are they expected under the terms & conditions?

In my case they refunded the difference. I've pressed them repeatedly for an explanation of why it happened and just get the same dribble that it might go up if I change destination or there is a significant increase in travel time due to traffic. In my scenario neither happened and I've just gone in circles with still no valid explanation.

I therefore conclude, they are deliberately being underhanded and attempting to rip-off customers.

 

[Forg]

^ I dunno ... I reckon if incompetence & disorganisation is an option to describe the cause of any Thing, when humans are involved, then you're way safer assuming that than actual planned & intended & organised underhandedness.

 

[dajop]

and just get the same dribble that it might go up if I change destination or there is a significant increase in travel time due to traffic. In my scenario neither happened and I've just gone in circles with still no valid explanation..

Translation of the response you received:
- Don't know
- Don't care
- @# off

(or another translation: I'm getting paid very little by a company who doesn't give a damn about your trifling problem, go away leave me alone, meantime here is the scripted response I am supposed to share with you, and here's you refund so just go away).

I am not sure if Uber customer service is the worst I've experienced, but certainly up there. I am still not sure if you reach a human or not, it usually feels like you are dealing with a machine.

 

[odysseus]

Fixed pricing has certainly taken the gloss off Uber.

Most annoying for me is the routes the app uses to calculate is not always the best or fastest route.

So far my 5 Uber trips using fixed pricing have been the same or higher than quoted - not one has been under and hence a refund.

So it isn't even "fixed pricing" then is it?

I can understand if you change destination, sure. But having caveats about the cost means that it's not even what it is meant to be - "fixed!" I think it would be good to report these to the ACCC as well. If they get enough reports, they will investigate.

 

[dajop]

I can understand if you change destination, sure. But having caveats about the cost means that it's not even what it is meant to be - "fixed!" I think it would be good to report these to the ACCC as well. If they get enough reports, they will investigate.

The Uber philosophy seems to be, do what you can get away with, not what is right. In the absence of being "forced" to do the right thing (either by strong competition, from the likes of Lyft and Grab, or by regulators), they get away with lots of things. I certainly have never had a "fixed" fare on Uber Singapore (or anywhere else in Asia, including Vietnam, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) being anything other than what I agreed to upfront - except when tolls have been added, which is fair.

 

[Forg]

^ To be fair, when it comes to money, SE Asian culture is about getting away with what you can possibly get away with, though ... Uber is just matching local expectation.
Now I think about it, that’s American business-culture too, innit? And Uber being American ...

 

[Bolthead]

And as a driver I would like to know what the driver is getting... as stated fixed pricing should be fixed pricing however I have many examples where the app tells me the job is 10 minutes away when in fact it is closer to 15 minutes. (without traffic) As most people know you can set up you GPS to do the shortest route, the fastest route, bypass tunnels, bypass ferry's and bypass tolls. I would like to know what does Uber have setup in their algorithm.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I would like to know what does Uber have setup in their algorithm.

...and on that, whether it changes and are there restrictions on drivers changing the route?

I've noticed that the Uber app, from CNS to H-CNS shows a route straight down Lake St to the cruise terminal (which can be a bit chaotic when ships are berthed) and then doubling back to Hilton, which just seems bizarre. That route also goes through a reduced speed pedestrian zone. Some drivers will try to follow that route yet most know that the Esp past the hospital offers a better green light ratio compared to Lake St light at the hospital (which always seems to be red), it bypasses the pedestrian zone and finally it's then an easy two turns at Spence St to Hilton without going down to the cruise terminal.

Only once have I had a driver attempt to take me via the Hwy rather than Lake St, which then means stopping every couple of hundred metres for the myriad of traffic lights, but I didn't get to see if the app was directing him that way, however I do think he was just trying that on, taxi style.

 

[Daver6]

...and on that, whether it changes and are there restrictions on drivers changing the route?

I've noticed that the Uber app, from CNS to H-CNS shows a route straight down Lake St to the cruise terminal (which can be a bit chaotic when ships are berthed) and then doubling back to Hilton, which just seems bizarre. That route also goes through a reduced speed pedestrian zone. Some drivers will try to follow that route yet most know that the Esp past the hospital offers a better green light ratio compared to Lake St light at the hospital (which always seems to be red), it bypasses the pedestrian zone and finally it's then an easy two turns at Spence St to Hilton without going down to the cruise terminal.

Only once have I had a driver attempt to take me via the Hwy rather than Lake St, which then means stopping every couple of hundred metres for the myriad of traffic lights, but I didn't get to see if the app was directing him that way, however I do think he was just trying that on, taxi style.

I'm pretty sure the Uber app doesn't do the mapping and routing themselves. I'd be relatively confident they use a third party API, most likely Google maps for this.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I've had a number of drivers say they prefer Google Maps and have that open on their phone, so I'm thinking It's not Google.

 

[Quickstatus]

Uber app uses a Google Map API but drivers often just use the native google map