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I’ve been using Uber more often because it is the most convenient way to get a taxi or town car around the world.
I like being able to hail a taxi with a few taps on my phone and then to be able to see where my taxi is and how long it will be until it picks me up.
I really like that at the end of the trip, you rate the driver and poorly rated drivers are removed from the program, which incentivizes a clean, odor-free car and reliable, safe driving.
So far every trip I’ve had, I’ve rated 5 stars (out of 5). Except for one trip. I recently took a trip where the driver scammed me out of $0.90. Uber’s response? A refund of $23 overnight.
- What was the scam?
- How did I complain?
- What was Uber’s response?
- What the heck is this Uber thing?
The Scam
I was heading back from First Friday in Chinatown Honolulu to a friend’s place in Waikiki. I tapped Uber and was picked up by a taxi in about a minute.
The drive was uneventful and when we arrived the meter was $17.45. Common practice, in my experience, is for the driver to key that $17.45 into his Uber app and then the all-in price with fee and tip will display on my app pretty much instantly.
But I have only used Uber a few times, and as I lingered, waiting for the driver to key in the price, he shooed me away: “You’re good. That’s it.” Not that confident that I should stick around until payment was completed, we got out, and he drove away.
About three minutes later, the price arrived on my app, and it was too high.
My phone wouldn’t break down the meter, the fee, and the tip, so I couldn’t tell how much he had overcharged me until I got to my computer. If you sign in to uber.com, you can see the receipts for all your recent trips on your Dashboard in the Your Trip History section.
Click the appropriate trip, and you’ll see all the stats on it including a fare breakdown.
I saw that he had overcharged me $0.90. Looking at the map of our trip on the same screen showed that he had just left the meter running as he drove a few tenths of a mile after dropping us off.
The Complaint
I decided to complain because I wanted the dishonest driver to get into trouble and because I wanted to see Uber’s response. On the same screen, I clicked Request a Fare Review.
I typed a few sentences explaining where he had dropped us off, the meter at that time, and how the map showed that he continued before turning off the meter.
Uber’s Response
A few hours later, I had an email response from Uber. It was three words (“Poor route choice.”) and $23.02 back to my account.
Uber’s response was quicker and better than I was expecting.
Overall Experience with Uber
Now that I’ve tested out both Uber’s taxi service and Black Car service, I can say that both are incredible.
- No more smokey taxis because the drivers know they’re being rated.
- No more “your cab will be there in 15-30 minutes” and having to wait outside until it arrives because the app shows exactly where the car coming to pick you up is.
- No more “my credit card machine is broken” or “I just started; I don’t have change” tricks because the payment is automatic from your stored credit card.
- No more taxi driver scams because Uber will simply refund your ride.
$10 Sign Up Bonus
New Uber users can get $10 in free rides when they sign up through my referral link.
(I get $10 in free rides too. Feel free to post your own referral link in the comments.)
More Info on Uber
Uber is a worldwide transportation app. You can hail a cab or a Black Car.
The cabs are just regular cabs that also do Uber pickups. The cabs use a meter, and you are charged the meter plus a $1 fee plus a 20% tip in Honolulu. (I believe the formula is the same elsewhere, but please correct me in the comments.)
The Black Cars don’t have a meter, but do have a cost based on distance, time, and a flat pick up fee. You can get an estimate of the price before pick up.
The innovative features of Uber are the ability to see the car coming for you on your phone with its estimated time of arrival, the ability to rate your driver (poorly rated drivers are removed), and the ability to pay instantly with a stored credit card.
What has your experience been with Uber?
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You complained over 90 cents, and got a full refund on a $23 fare over what was probably just an innocent mistake? Seems a bit extreme to me.
I’ve edited my comment to make the wording stronger:
There was zero chance this was an innocent mistake. Payment happens at the end of a ride. How would a cabbie forget that and forget to stop his meter and go about the payment process?
Assuming for whatever reason, he made a mistake initially, he still intentionally typed in a higher meter amount half a mile later. When he manually input the meter fare half a mile later, he of course knew that it had been running for a half a mile since he dropped me off.
Also, I think complaining about being overcharged is justified. I didn’t ask for a $23 refund. Uber went above and beyond.
I do not believe the driver was trying to scam you. I have dropped off people before in bad service areas for my phone. It freezes up when I try to drop off. It sounds like your driver had to move to a better area for the app to register his arrival. He did not charge you much more and didn’t have another choice.
I try to be as fair as possible to customers, but on a few occasions, I find myself having to round a corner for my phone to come back online.
Every comment defending the driver misunderstands how Uber Taxi (not uberX or Black Car) works. He manually input the meter amount whether in front of my door or a mile away.
I just Googled Uber Taxi and found nothing. I have never heard of Uber Taxi before. Can you please provide a little bit more background, because right now it sounds like you posted an article about making an Uber driver miserable over something stupid.
https://www.uber.com/cities/honolulu
Select uberTaxi from the options to read more about it.
http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-UberX-and-Uber-Taxi
Im a veteran cab driver of 15 yrs and just to enlighten you on some statements you made about cab drivers. There is a reason why we dont carry much change..its because we get robbed. There is a reason why we dont like to take credit cards and its because we are charged processing fees that we cannot pass onto you as its against the law to do so. I pay over 2300.00 yearly out of my pocket for you to use your credit cards. I think its a real shame that you would cry over .90 cents but glorify getting credited 23.00 all for doing nothing but being anal over .90. Ive always prided myself ongoing excellant customer service so as far as im concerned uber is an unregulated corrupt unethical over charging joke. And honestly if I have a customer who is going to quibble over a .90 cent charge..then I would prefer they choose another mode of transport..maybe a city bus would work better for your pocket.
I was willing to pay the fare plus $1 plus my preset tip percentage. That’s the deal I made, and the deal the taxi driver accepted. He overcharged me like a thief, and you’re defending him.
Taxis in most cities are regulated by captured agencies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture). Uber is regulated by the free market. I know which one I prefer because I know which one is delivering cleaner, less stinky cars, more quickly to my door.
Perhaps you are the thief in this scenario. You knowingly took $23 for a .90 cent mistake. Being the high and mighty bastion of honesty that you are, shouldn’t you have notified uber that they over refunded you? Pretty hypocritical that you report one mistake (that cost you money) but not the one that made you money ( as you can see the route wasnt the issue and clearly an employee mistake that you happily took advantage of
No sir if he is stealing .90 cents from each customer it adds up. The full chargeback was a bit much they should have just charged back the drivers tip.
and the 0.90 cents
you cost someone in their job over 90 cents? when it could have been for any reason! your an a******
Could it be an honest mistake of forgetting to turn off the meter?
Anyway, Uber customer service was awesome
I was in Milan, Italy and used Uber (nice Benz van) to Milano Centrale (train station)
The driver took us to Milan “Central” area instead (Duomo)…and charged us $48 Euro!!! on a big loop around Milan (we even drove by Centrale train station)
I wrote to Uber Milan and next day they re-calculated the route and charged me $20 Euro instead (which came off my $20 credit from using referral) = FREE Uber ride!! (it’d be ~$17 Euro on normal taxi)
I appreciate what they’ve done, going above and beyond for customers!
Glad to hear they got you sorted out too. As far as whether mine was a mistake, payment happens at the end of a ride. How would a cabbie forget that?
I think you should have just let it go. Is 90 cents that important to you to get someone into trouble? I think you came across as very cheap…
You think I should let a guy get away with this scam? That will encourage him to scam others. That’s a terrible outcome in my opinion. Who benefits? Not I, not Uber, not anyone else who’s dealing honestly. Only the scammer.
and to sit there doing the math $0.90 times 10 rides times 52 weeks in the year means he may 20 $200 you’re just an a******
Cheap? No. First the driver gets away with this modest money-making scam. Then he tries bolder things. Best to nip it in the bud. Most people wouldn’t have even noticed the extra charge, and even if they didn’t they wouldn’t have taken time to complain. It’s just like a food server that adds to your tip after you’ve left the restaurant…. unless you carefully compare your credit card receipts to the monthly statement, they can get away with that trick many many times, on many people. It all adds up over the course of the year for them.
90 cents or 90 dollars … the same as far as I am concerned – it all adds up. The driver should have followed procedure when he dropped you off. You probably have ‘local’ written all over you, while the next passenger could have ‘tourist’ written all over them and there could be an even larger ‘mistake’. Nip it in the bud now.
90 cents Scott? Be real! I agree with ucipass.
If you want to ride in his taxi, I’m sorry I complained. I would never want to ride in a known cheater’s taxi again, so I’m glad I complained.
I think ucipass, Joe B, and James have sort of missed the point of the whole situation. This is really not about being cheap. There are so many stories I could tell you that would change your mind. But in summary I would just advise you to be less naive in life.
I agree complaining was the right thing to do. If he scams everyone out of a dollar he could be potentially scamming for thousands of dollars a year. I’ve been scammed by cabbies too many times. Way to go.
It could have been an honest mistake you know.. I think you should have tested the UBER response for complaints on something more serious than $0.90.. somehow it doesn’t seem right to get someone in trouble over 90 cents.. just my 2 cents..
In my mind, there’s a less than 1% chance this was a mistake.
Payment happens at the end of a ride. How would a cabbie forget that and forget to stop his meter and go about the payment process?
Assuming for whatever reason, he made a mistake initially, he still intentionally typed in a higher meter amount into his Uber app half a mile later. When he manually input the meter fare half a mile later, he of course knew that it had been running for a half a mile since he dropped me off.
you got someone fired over 90 cents, and then wrote about it, oy vey
HOPEFULLY I got him removed from Uber. He had a 4.1 rating before my ride, and I gave him a 1. I hear they get removed for below a 4.
If you want to ride in his taxi, I’m sorry I complained. I would never want to ride in a known cheater’s taxi again, so I’m glad I complained.
I didn’t get him fired from his main job of driving his taxi for his taxi company.
Umm. Dude. They don’t “key” amounts in to their uber app. They don’t have control over that. The only thing they can do is start and stop the meter. He may have accidentally forgot to end it right away but he clearly did within 1 mile of leaving you since it’s $1.10 per mile. However, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN CHARGED FOR TOLLS INCURRED OR NUMEROUS OTHER THINGS that the driver had no control over and shouldn’t have to pay. You complained over 90 cents, gave him a bad review and want him fired and you didn’t even try to LOOK UP THE MAP OF THE TRIP THAT SHOWS THE ROUTE CHARGED. He could’ve been trying to steal 90 cents but the fact that it is below the 1 mile mark means it was probably an accident. You should be ashamed of yourself.
You are incorrect. Uber Taxi divers do key in the meter. You might not be familiar with Uber Taxi because it isn’t in all markets. (uberX, Uber Black Car, and other types do not key in the meter.)
Ramsey – what’s the minimum level of theft which should warrant someone getting fired? Both as a one-off an annualized (i.e. 90c x 10 rides day x 250 working days = $2250).
And with this logic, should shop-lifting laws also be amended to only apply above this minimum? For example, it’s cool to steal gum and candy but not magazines because they are over the mark.
Just curious.
Youso I Drive a car whose rate is based on connectivity to the Internet and like one of the person had mentioned sometimes if there’s no connection you have to drive to an area where there is before to leave and let you finish good job. that happens to me all the time. so I think you might have given the guy the benefit of the doubt before complaining for 90 cents and making like you’re a ma.ter and protecting the public
And when you get back to the internet, you lie about what the fare on your taximeter was? The driver input the fare by hand into his app. That’s how UberTaxi works.
Good for you for complaining. Too many times people get scammed and since it seems like a small nominal amount, they do nothing. The driver won’t get in trouble if its his first offense, but if he’s repeatedly doing it, he will (and rightfully so). If he continues to do this to everyone, he will most likely push it more and more and see what he can get away with. For those of you who don’t think $.90 is a lot, consider this: Its roughly a 4% increase. What would your employer say if you secretly (via scamming) inflated your pay by that much?
Really?? You complain about 90 cents and probably get the guy in trouble for it. No part of you knows if this is an honest mistake or not. You’re a real asshole.
How could it possibly be an honest mistake? The way Uber works is that he tells the app what’s on the meter. When he keyed that in half a mile after dropping me off (and how could a cabbie forget to key that in AT dropoff since that’s when cabbie’s always collect payment), how could he have “honestly” typed in what’s on the meter instead of realized that the meter had been running an extra half mile and deducted accordingly?
Furthermore, I don’t think he’s in trouble unless he has had other complaints, which he probably has given his 4.1 rating.
I a have been reading all your comments and honestly it probably was a mistake. on the other hand you sound like a total dick and why this guy should lose his job when there was a possibility that it was a mistake is beyond me. I hope you make a mistake one day on something so minor and someone does to you what you did to him. I refuse to believe that this guy is thinking if he does this a thousand times he will get rich. simply speaking you’re an idiot
Frank – please provide your bank account information and that of your ten closest friends and family. Each day I will make the “honest mistake” of taking 90 cents out of each account. If anyone complain about it, I will then call them an asshole.
It’s really awful that the poor driver got in trouble. Without him on the road, who is going to take advantage of tourists and the elderly?
To all the people saying “why did you complain over .90” What if this driver is intentionally driving another quarter mile or half mile after every fare and assuming that people won’t complain about or even notice such a small amount? 20 riders a day at an extra .90 is an extra $18 a day, assuming a 5 day work week he has now scammed his passengers out of $360 a month. Scams and theft are wrong and should be stopped regardless of the amount. Having used Uber myself several times, there is no way that it was a mistake, the driver always stops the meter, processes payment, and it shows up in your app before you exit the vehicle. If nothing else, he didn’t follow that protocol. I say Kudos to Scott for catching what could have easily been missed.
Thanks for the support. It honestly boggles my mind that not everyone sees it this way.
90c???. And you don’t want anyone else to be “scammed by a dishonest driver”. Give us a break.
I find this the height of irony. This worry about honesty and not being scammed comes from a guy who has surely done more than his share taking advantage of clearly erroneous mistake fares, corporate codes etc etc that reach hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. But of course, you’ll rationalize that your scamming is ok…
Give your head a shake. If you were truly worried about the 90c and acting “honestly”, insist on returning the rest of the fare – that driver is out $23 – probably his profit for a day’s driving.
– His $0.90 scam: a SCAM
– Buying a mistake fare: purchasing a publicly offered deal is not a scam
– Corporate codes: I’ve never used them (my lodging strategy is couchsurfing, hostels, Priceline, and points)
– My receiving $23 from Uber: not a scam, they freely gave it to me after I reviewed my ride
Paul – totally, why should the driver face any consequences for trying to scam a customer. Not only should he not be fired, but he definitely should not face a lost of $22 for having done that. Also, theft or shoplifting should be punished with only having to given back what you have taken, fare-hoppers should just have to pay the fare they skipped out on and those who commit insurance or tax fraud should simply be asked to pay it back without interest.
I would insist on returning the money (the driver’s fair share) and probably not blog about it. Even if what you say is true and he was going to rip you off for 90 cent, you should not take his $23. The cab driver is not a fat cat banker. How would you feel if you scammed $90 from one of the bank and the bank in return took $2300 out of your bank account?
Read up on optimal punishment –> http://www.ww.uni-magdeburg.de/bizecon/material/becker.1968.pdf
Unless he has a 100% chance of being caught each time, the optimal punishment is not simply to take back the ill-gotten gains.
If I scammed a bank or other institution out of $90, and all I got was a $2,300 fine, I would feel pretty damn lucky. Also, keep in mind that gratuity is optional and shouldn’t be afforded to someone who is scamming another, so the correct analogy would be $1745.
Seriously, let’s apply your logic further on incentives. If you get onto a bus with a $2.50 fare without paying, you will get at least a $100 fine (40x). If it was only a $2.50 penalty for skipping out on a $2.50 fare, why would anyone unless bound by their own moral code, bother paying.
Mark,
I don’t think I am the only one who thinks that someone scamming for 90 cents just does not make sense. I know there are stupid criminals but for crying out loud this whole story just reeks. Read the whole story and apply common sense.
Even in the worst case scenario, my moral compass is just telling me that I would not want to go after a desperate person who is willing to risk his “career” for repeatedly scamming his customers for 90 cents. But that’s assuming “Scamming” and “Repeating”.
Yes it is indeed your 90 cents!!! However posting(bragging) about how you made a questionable 90 cents loss to a big profit on a poor guy somehow rubs me the wrong way!!!
By the way I really like the Milevalue blog!!!!
The amount of the scam is really bothering people. It was not an honest mistake and this has happened to me before.
Thanks for your post. The fact that it was .90 is irrelevant. Cheating someone is cheating someone. I think you’re totally right in what you did. Getting the $23 is just an unasked for bonus. Great to know their customer service is so excellent.
Even if the guy did do it on purpose, the blog post makes it seem like you are gloating about the whole thing. So congrats you got him fired, no need to gloat about it and make it seem like you did the rest of us a favor.
Thank you for the post. Beyond my take on the issue, your article is informative on the process of using Über. I don’t fully understand the critical comments. Either this hack is a scammer (most likely) or he made an honest mistake. If he is a scammer, he deserves a severe reprimand. If it was an honest mistake, he deserves a talking to. In my line of work, an accumulation of honest mistakes will have consequences. Scott’s review will prevent him from making similar mistakes in the future.
On a separate note, thank you for the great blog. Your daily focus on teaching the reader to get travel for less is refreshing. You are well-written, innovative and have a clear focus of looking out for the benefit of the reader (cc links aside but I do understand the benefits to you and some readers). Too many travel bloggers are copy-cats, absentee moms or self-entitled hogs who think abiding by the “hacker code” is more important than benefitting the reader. Keep up the good work.
Wow. I am surprised by these responses. This guy appears to be a scammer with a low rating. If it was a honest mistake one time than Scott’s complaint would not get him fired. There has to be a pattern of abuse first. Apparently there is. Scott good job as I would not want to get in his Taxi. Great job Uber!
Glad you complained. In a day when everyone gets a trophy, people and companies need honest feedback. Complain when its not up to standards, and give praise whens someone goes above and beyond.
Those who say reporting 90-cent-scam is being cheap
are fatalistic, IMO, & not my cup of tea. If 90 cents
isn’t OK, you moralistic hipocrates**, then when is consumer
alertness OK??? $1? $1.33? $5 $20? $115.41?
**those who moan anonymously about actions of others,
certainly lead a life of moaning in general
You did the right thing. Doesn’t matter to me it’s $.90 or $90. At what point does a pile of sand become a heap? Ethically, this shouldn’t be happening in the first place.
To those bashing Scott: Where do you draw the line for how much is acceptable to steal from someone? You clearly think that $1 is okay to steal. How about $5? $20? $100? When does it become wrong to steal? I think it is wrong at any level.
Scott is 100% in the right here. He simply reported to Uber that he was stolen from. He did not ask for any compensation. He did not ask that the driver be fired. He simply brought the fact that he was wronged to the attention on Uber, and they gave him a full refund as a measure of goodwill.
Why is it such a bad thing to let a company know that someone is using their service to steal from customers? I applaud Scott here for not letting this guy get away with it and possibly continue to do so to others.
For people still claiming that the driver could have just made a mistake. The process requires the driver to enter the amount on the meter manually. The driver would be aware that he drove some distance away before stopping the meter. The driver chose to enter the full value of the meter, though, instead of correct for the amount he drove after dropping Scott off. I see no way that is an honest mistake.
One reason I like Lyft is that I enter the price at the end of the ride.
But yeah, report him. If it was a mistake, he won’t do it again. If it was a pattern, Uber will spot it.
I had something similar happen but not so trivial. I went about a mile in Washington DC from my friend’s apartment to the train station. The guy forgot (“forgot”?) to turn off the meter and continued the ride for 10+ minutes and another mile past the train station. This resulted in a charge about DOUBLE what it should have been. I requested a “fare review” and Uber added a credit to my account of a little more than half of the cost of the trip. In the end I paid a fair price, so I don’t fault Uber, but no “above and beyond” here.
[…] new to Uber. I’ve used it only a handful of times. All of them have been perfect experiences, except for the one when I got scammed for 90 cents (and Uber refunded my entire $20 […]
[…] All of my Uber Taxi and Black Car Rides have been superb–clean car, on time pick up, friendly driver–except for one. One driver tried to scam me out of $1, and Uber refunded my $23 fare for the inconvenience. […]
[…] Once you get dropped off, you rate your driver. Bad drivers are fired, so you are extremely likely to get a good driver. And if you don’t, customer service is extremely responsive. […]
[…] Car Rides have been superb–clean car, on time pick up, friendly driver–except for one. One driver tried to scam me out of $1, and Uber refunded my $23 fare for the inconvenience. I haven’t tried the other Uber car options […]
Wow, so many comments. I agree 100% with Scott, a driver does this on every ride and ups his income quite a bit. Scammers, cheaters, and thieves have to be dealt with ruthlessly. Scott did the right thing. I hope this driver is watched carefully and if he does it again, no more Uber contract.
let me tell you, myslef as an UBER driver; You should know UBER app is an app that is totally rely upon the UBER IPHONE Internet connection ie. 3G. You should know, for the transaction to be completed there has to be a decent Internct connection connectivity to that UBER IPHONE.
I have had so many issue when ENDING THE TRIP. I have had a moment that when I drop off the customer and customer gets out of my car and walked aways, I go ahead and slid the RED thing to end the trip butt the UBER iphone sometimes acts crazy that is because due to the lact of internet connectivity right at the moment. Sometime the UBER Driver app says RESTART your the app.
Common ISSUE with UBER IPHONE that the customer has to understantd it can happens anytime with anybody:
1) The driver uber apps gets stuck and cannot perfom start/end the trip transacation which led customer to think its scam (when its not).
BTW, why dont you use your common sense. If that DRIVER was to scam you, why he just scammed a .90c? dont u thnk he could have scammed you lot more than that. That driver knows all the how UBER work and how uber tracks, why would he want to play with .90c. ? If he had done like credit card fraud,its called scam.
ps. ITs all a honest mistake he had to deal with it.
You dont have any positive feelings toward human being. You have got no brain. Be positive.
Sounds like you drive uberx or Black Car. This was taxi, and he manually input the fare amount.
Ur an ass and a thief Scott. Return the rest of the money you stole from Uber minus your .90 cents.
How? And I’m not sure “stole” means what you think it means. Uber gave it to me voluntarily without my even asking.
As an Uber driver in Austin,Texas I’m glad the Uber iPhone calculates the fares so there is no oops or scamming on the driver’s part to be blamed for. I do agree tho that he was being dishonest and you did the right thing by calling him out thru Uber, if being a taxi driver is your livelihood and you do it all day and night you don’t just forget to end a fare and get paid. Anyways my promo code for a $10 discount for first time riders is [removed because there is a $30 offer]. Uber is awesome and not all drivers are dishonest! 😉
I am an uber driver and I have never heard of uber taxi or encountered a situation where the driver manually inputs the ride charge. As the person above explains, the UBER app sometimes crashes when calculating the amount and you have to restart the app and tell it again to calculate the amount. If you have already pulled away then it could continue to charge the extra when you tell it to calculate again. In this case, it really is an honest flub. ( I personally never pull away more than a few feet till the app has finished calculating and returned me to active to avoid anything like this.) I agree with others, you sound like your gloating that you got someone in trouble. Writing about the experience is one thing, but the way you have written it really does sound like you are excited to tell people you got someone in trouble over 90 cents which may or may not have been a mistake. Unless you know for sure. 100% that this guy was indeed running a scam, you should have simply requested a fare review and let UBER determine if something weird was going on, believe me, they would catch on if this guy was doing it over and over, but as it is, you told uber that he was scamming people which they are going to handle a lot differently than if you had simply asked for a review based on the fact that you feel that the driver had gone anothe quarter of a mile before he stopped the charge. Either way, you were right to ask for a fare review, you were not right to make it a giant todo and then make a blog post where you seem to be gloating.
This post was about Uber Taxi. You admit you don’t even know what it is. It works as I’ve described and not as uberx/Uber Black do.
Yes, I did admit I’ve never heard of it, but I love that your response completely ignores my criticism of the way you present it and completely attempts to deflect the conversation to me. That says to me that your real intent was to gloat.
No, I’m simply pointing out that your comment is completely wrong. The taxi driver inputs the fare manually. He chose to put in the wrong fare. That’s a scam.
Seriously… it’s only 90c. Relax bro.
That’s my logic when I go into a convenience store and take change from the charity jar (but never bills, that would just be wrong!). And while I am it, I help myself to a pack of gum or candy. And in my office, I go around to my coworkers places and take the loose change from their desks.
The poor taxi driver only deserved to get in trouble if he broke the $1.00 mark. He’s just an honest guy trying to make things work by padding everyone’s bill by less than a buck. It’s of course not an honest mistake but rather a calculated “revenue enhancement” because very few would ever notice it. And seriously… what a jerk Scott is only giving the driver $4 or 20% in tip which he was completely forced to do… oh wait, he was being generous to someone who later chose to take advantage of him.
I really hope that he didn’t get fired – after all, we need creative taxi-drivers like this available for the rest of us who aren’t fat cat bankers. If I can be sure of anything, it’s that this driver who cut corners here, would never do something worse to anyone else – like take tourists on circles, or take advantage of old-ladies – because we share the moral vow to never break the dollar mark.
Anywho… for the morons on the board (i.e. those that said it’s only 90c and Scott over-reacted), I need to confess that I am being sarcastic (it is pronounced sar-ca-stick) which means that I do not actually mean what I am saying, and instead, am mocking you.
Really – I hope that you in every transaction are scammed for only 90-cents, and that people like Scott don’t protect you by stopping scammers.
Wow, you really are a top rate pile of opportunistic sh*t. And how dare you make such an accusation without having any information or evidence to support it? And we’re supposed to pat you on the back for you being a thief? I would love to shove that .90 up your nose and pound on your face until coins come out of your ears. You do know that you have the ability to call an Uber driver to ASK, don’t you? Yes, I realize that it’s much easier to tap on a fare review link, but you really should get the facts before you dare accuse someone of being a scammer; you might have called the driver’s attention to something he had not previously noticed, that HE could have corrected for you! YES, with Uber Taxi, there is a manual punch, but that alone does not support your claim. You weren’t in that car with him, so you have NO IDEA of why that overcharge occurred. Maybe he had his last fare on the brain. Maybe there was a glare on the meter. Maybe the driver is freaking dyslexic! And, yes, maybe there WAS a cell issue (some drivers are neither able nor allowed to stop one meter independent of the other, which means that cell network issues CAN cause slight differences). Whatever the reason, you knew NOTHING and still forced a refund from that driver. And you do, of course, know that most Uber drivers work for less than minimum wage, don’t you?! Jerk. Huge Jerk. You really are a huge, nasty, slimy jerk.
Man, taxi drivers will support a thief en masse. A glare on the meter at night? You are reaching.
90cents, you sound like a whiney little baby
I am sometimes.
Can you just buy Uber credits and not have a credit card on file?
[…] Black Car Rides have been superb–clean car, on time pick up, friendly driver–except for one. One driver tried to scam me out of $1, and Uber refunded my $23 fare for the inconvenience. I haven’t tried the other Uber car options […]
I wouldn’t want to be overcharged any amount so the guy who called him a bunch of names and sounded like a thug needs to take his meds and calm down. I am mostly writing as I just moved from Hawaii and I paid about $35 to go from Salt Lake to Waikiki and to go merely from China Town to Waikiki for nearly $20 sounds like a huge rip off. Maybe I’ve used cheaper cabs or something. Just my two cents
Uber promo code: Uberjetblack $20 off first ride
Man, mistakes or technical issues like this are not uncommon. We Uber drivers are not robots and many times the app gets stuck or won’t finish the trip right away due to bad internet connection (not our fault).
That’s probably the reason why you were charged a little bit more.
If you do this again the company will take a closer took to your actions and wil probably not give you a refund for being charged a little bet extra.
Get a life!
[…] be clear, I am not particularly upset about losing $4-$10. I just find being ripped off for any amount very frustrating, and it looks to me like American Airlines is ripping off its customers to the tune of a few […]
you are pathetic! 0.90 cents get a freakin life. the guy probably forgot or did not have good service on his phone. screw you
He types in the fare. How could forgetting or bad service on his phone explain typing in too high of a fare?
I support Scott on requesting a fare review.
For those of you who cannot understand his explanation of what UberTaxi is, use Google. For example, http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-UberX-and-Uber-Taxi
Also, blogging is not gloating. While there is always an element of talking about oneself, that is the nature of blogging and there is nothing exceptional in this regard in what Scott wrote.
Also, he did not “get the guy fired” but just report it to Uber who will probably simply note the case and only take real action if there is a pattern.
There is an obvious pattern of irrational defense coming from taxi drivers.
Thanks!
Uber overcharged me TWICE. I was charged $40.46 twice for a trip that took 15 minutes to get me from my home to the doctor’s appointment. Then they said they’d give me a refund….that’s my actual charge was $22.16. Now it’s been almost two weeks and nothing. They won’t give me back my money. I’ve tried emailing the support team but I’ve been getting the same message, “we’re terribly sorry for your experience. It will take two business days for your refund to be posted on your account’. How the fuck you go from two days to two weeks???? Im not giving up, its theft.
I recently used Uber Taxi service, and when I got out of the car the meter read $50.25, and the Extras meter read $5.00. I got the bill in an email stating that my meter fare was $86.00, plus the extras and the 20% tip ( I didn’t realize was default, which I have changed in my settings) for a grand total of $106. I contacted Uber immediately and explained that I would like to know what the additional meter charges are for, (which I would be ok with if they were legitimate, maybe I am unaware of extra charges for airport pickup??) but have not heard back. Of course there is no number to call, simply an email system. I will dispute this with my credit card company of it come to it, this is ridiculious!
Free ride value of $20 when you use my code. ecy87ue
Thanks,
Thats not a scam. You just complained your way into getting a free ride. When drivers dont end the ride on time the problem is usually in the app. They try to end the ride and get an error message. Obviously they are driving so the miles are still accumulating. I have had to drive out of busy areas so that I could end the ride. I then emailed Uber to review the fare, but my rating still suffers because passengers always blame the driver rather than the technology. If this keeps up you’ll just have to go back to using expensive taxis.
You’re the millionth know-it-all who can’t read the post you’re commenting on. This is UBERTAXI. The driver manually inputs the fare into the app. Why would an app error stop him from pausing his taximeter and typing in the correct amount when his app starts working again?
.90 cents huh? Must be great. Apparently they believed my trip covering a distance of just 9 miles took 1454.95 minutes and billed me 364$ on a 15 min drive. Been a week and still haven’t heard back from them
Wow… I somehow missed this article the first time around but clicked over from today’s “scam” post. I have to say I’m a little baffled by the outcry of “only $.90???” comments. There is no amount that’s ok to steal, and no amount that’s acceptable to concede to a scammer.
And Scott didn’t get anyone fired, nor should he care about possible reasons for this mistake. Scott simply reported that he was over-charged on a fare. What the problem was, who did it, why they did it, is all irrelevant to Scott, as it should be. If there were problems on the back-end Uber needs to deal with it (which they can’t/won’t do unless customers report the issue). If a driver needs to drive somewhere where they can get a connection (which has been shown to not be the case here) then Uber needs a better way of dealing with that besides “Oh well… just charge the customer extra”.
Oh and uber taxi just hails a city taxi and allows you to pay through the app. Though the driver may have been registered on uber he does not work for uber. Or at least so I’ve read.
No drivers “work for Uber.” They are all independent contractors. You are correct that UberTaxi just hails a metered taxi.
[…] At least in Bucharest, my next stop, I’ll thankfully be freed from taxi tyranny and get to use Uber. (Check out this attempted Uber scam I foiled.) […]
90 cents. You’re a peice of shit. If someone was going to fuck you over it would be for more than a dollar. Uber drivers are not raking it in. If u figure it out. After taxes. Gas wear n tear. They make about .25 cents a mile. And your shitty rating can remove them from the program. If he fucked you over it would’ve been for more than a dollar it sounds like an honest mistake to me And you sound like a complete douche bag. I wish somebody drop you off in the desert and leave your bitch ass th I wish somebody drop you off in the desert and leave your bitch ass there
Explain exactly how he could have made the honest mistake of SUBMITTING THE WRONG FARE. As a reminder to the hotheads here who can’t read this post, this was not uberX where the app submits the route and fare, this is uberTaxi where the driver types into his phone what the meter says. It didn’t say what he typed in when he dropped me off.
[…] Black Car Rides have been superb–clean car, on time pick up, friendly driver–except for one. One driver tried to scam me out of $1, and Uber refunded my $23 fare for the inconvenience. I haven’t tried the other Uber car options […]
#1 Prove this was a scam.
#2 Drivers forget to charge (by clicking “Start Trip”) ALOT and thus give many free rides. It is 1000% possible that some also forget the click “End Trip” the very second that you step out of the car. God forbid it’s not instant, or within a nano-second.
#3 You were “scammed” out of 90 CENTS, yet you accept a payment of 23 DOLLARS? Then as it stands (and I know this is over a year old, but I am just now seeing it) you owe Uber $22.10. You expect 100% honesty from every person you ever come in contact with, yet you do not display the same respect? Your refund was 25.6 TIMES the amount you claim you were over-charged. Where’s the logic in that? The HONEST thing to do, would’ve been to contact Uber and say “I was over-refunded by $22.10”. I guarantee that didn’t happen.
#4 You think if someone actually wanted to scam money out of customers, it would be worth it for LESS than $1?
It DOES sound like an honest mistake. Maybe the driver had never worked UberTaxi before and he wasn’t aware that the software ran differently than others. Maybe he had an awful day and his mind was elsewhere. Maybe he just had a death in his family, and you were going to be his last ride for the day because he needed to get home, and was in a hurry. Maybe you’re just an asshole who will bitch and moan about 90 cents, that could’ve cost the driver his job.
Jerkoff…
#2 proves you didn’t read the post, so I stopped reading there. On Uber Taxi, you do not click “End Trip.” You manually enter the price on your meter. I’ve explained that a million times in the post and comments, but the pro-scammer crowd apparently can’t read.
Locally, Uber is still a ‘what if’ with regular cabbies bringing a civil suit in some court. Now what took in Seattle yesterday is a WTF. If the standards are $15 an hour with full benefits, only big businesses will be able to come to market, not the small entrepreneurs.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/unions-for-taxi-uber-drivers-seattle-council-votes-today/
Hey everyone, get $15 off your Uber ride by entering this promo code in your app!
rachelt3827ue
What a cheap ass!!! WOW please stay with uber us taxi drivers don’t like cheap asses like you
[…] Once you get dropped off, you rate your driver. Bad drivers are fired, so you are extremely likely to get a good driver. And if you don’t, customer service is extremely responsive. […]
[…] Once you get dropped off, you rate your driver. Bad drivers are fired, so you are extremely likely to get a good driver. And if you don’t, customer service is extremely responsive. […]
Anyone who hasn’t driven has no idea. I always wait to cut the meter until they’ve left my car. Before I did this, too many times I’d end the trip, and the person would start shuffling through their bag, or talking to the person next to them about what they were going to do next, or the most common was thinking they’ve lost their phone and not leaving the car until they’ve found it. But really recently I had two guys who just up and refused to leave the car, police had to come. When surge is happening all those minutes add up! The writer said they went a few tenths of a mile extra, at $.90 a mile this only makes up what $.30 of it? At $.20 a minute, it should be about 3 minutes later. The writer said he received the final amount 3 minutes later, which is a convenient amount of time… (do you have proof of that even?) When it doesn’t take 3 minutes to drive a few tenths of a mile or about 2 city blocks. You could explain it that he rounded the corner and sat there, but any driver who’d be show sty enough to try and steal $.90 probably knows sitting for a couple minutes isn’t worth it, you’re better off trying to get another trip.
I guess what I’m getting at is there’s probably another side to this story. An asshat like this writer who’d gloat over $.90, probably left out the part where he waited in the car arguing with the driver for 5 minutes to put in the fare in front of him (out of principle I also would have refused as the driver) And so when the writer left the driver had to do his own fare review for his time. Or maybe the driver knew he started the meter late (maybe a few dollars late) and decided he’d just drive a little more and cut it off at a conservative point only about a dollar.
We’re people who make mistakes, or steal, but we’re also intelligent enough to do some problem solving on our own to get what we deserve, and your lack of faith or trust over $.90, and your arrogance and confidence to assume you’re right and broadcast it to anyone is very disturbing. or more simply put, I find your lack of faith disturbing – Darth Vader
Another commenter who can’t read. This was Uber Taxi. There is no surge pricing. He manually input an amount $0.90 higher than when I got out of the car into his app.
No I got that, I’m saying he may have input the extra for a reason, and just because you didn’t know doesn’t automatically mean he stole.
In some cases like this one, inflicting the punishment is more wrong than the crime. The book the idiot by Dostoevsky is about a character who goes through life getting taken advantage of and everyone thinks he’s an idiot for being so kind and naive, but he’s no idiot at all for being so good and graciously giving other people more credit for their motives. You could have been “the idiot” here, and graciously looked away at something as small as $.90. A better person would have.
The odds of what you’re describing are so slim. Most likely he was slightly overcharging everyone thinking he wouldn’t be caught. Someone like that needs to be stopped.
Dear Scott,
1.You are an utter shame. Please next time make sure you walk to place since I am pretty sure you are very obese.
2. Please don’t shop at corporate places since you are ripping off people who’s producing the items in Vietnam or Bangladesh.
Your logic is awful .90 c you should see it as charity. He is not scamming you he’s just trying to meet day’s end.
I’m a whale, but I’m sensitive about it.
I hate the people of Vietnam and Bangladesh so much that I support their employment by purchasing things produced there. I also visit there (at least Vietnam, maybe Bangladesh some day) and spend dollars because I like to rip them off.
Good point about seeing my voluntary business transaction with a middle class American stranger (ie the top 1% of wealth in human history) as a charity. Next time I’ll let him scam me for $100 instead.
Wow, you’re still defending your crime-stopping, heroic $0.90 victory almost two years later! This was an epic moment for you. It was on this day that you realized that with the power of complaining you could not only nip the pettiest criminal of all time right in the bud, you could make a profit too. Oh that’s right, you had no earthly idea that they would refund all of your money. Please. Do you really think they would have just refunded the $.90?
I have not heard of Uber taxi, nor an uber gratuity. I am a share driver for a company that discourages tipping while consistently lowering rates. I do this job in order to make ends get a little closer to meeting. Can you believe that, occasionally, I not only am offered gratuity, I accept it! Because you had a dollar of gratuity built in, did the thought ever cross your mind to leave more than the built in tip? Before you solved this caper, then blogged about it for two years, back when you were just a regular guy, riding along in an uber taxi, where the driver manually puts in the fair, gets an automatic tip and is subjected to people such as yourself, Wayback in those days, I guarantee that you never considered giving a little extra because it was already included. To this day, you have never given a tip for Uber, have you?
Why would you? I’m sure you present the tips you leave anywhere.
I wish that the striper head ripped you off, but I doubt that he did. The returned money was definitely taken out of his pocket… Even your profit.
No matter what the situation, no matter what you say, you have been saying it for far too long. Most people who defend something like this for this long, know that they made the wrong choice. Not you. You’ll never know. Not even Trump will help you understand.
I hope that you get fired and are forced to drive people like yourself around, only to be fired again because of people like yourself. Then I hope you become a waiter.
This is a unique defense for him, that he built in his own gratuity! I like the ingenuity of your argument. Unfortunately gratuity is by definition a voluntary offering from the customer, not an automatic theft from the service provider.
Thats rough man . I feel bad for the driver. I’m sure he wastes more time for people to get in and out of the car then he makes delaying the meter. My phone died once and I had to switch out the battery and it took some time . a dollar isn’t worth the mans life.
You also didn’t read the post. He manually input the fare incorrectly–assumedly on purpose because it’s not clear how he could make a mistake.
The author of this post should be ashamed of himself. sMh what a hypocrite for costing a worker their job over 90c. Get real you are a loser and karma will get you one day.
I agree with you Scott. I have been using an uber in Australia for over 2 years. The UberX is usually good with around 1 in 10 rides having some sort of an issue. The most recent was a driver who refused to come to my side of the road on a main highway and insisted I cross. Thats illegal here and you can only cross at traffic lights which were quite far away in both directions. So at the time I did it as I was getting late for a appointment and later I reported the driver. I got the whole fare back but the point is, my time was wasted and experience was bad. I consider that a fair exchange.
Uber has a bad customer service in the way that they always give me a refund. They never really solve the issue of the occasional bad driver or getting a bad restaurant off UberEats. But in this world, thats the best we can get apparently. Getting my money back is some consolation but it would be better to be happy with the journey in the first place.
As for your taxi ride, I think you did the right thing. Accountants have scammed millions off people using small deductions from banks. I even get the occasional charges from my bank of around 20 cents every months which I have to get refunded because they say its system error. There is one fact, the driver entered the wrong amount as you stated. We won’t know the reason. But as a consumer you did right by contacting the company and you solved your problem. As for Uber refunding you all the money back, I think that’s just their way of dealing with things. In the long run, they know we will use it more if they do stuff like this and it’s good business sense probably. And for the driver, if he had a bad pattern he will be reprimanded. Else, it’s a costly mistake. Just like those NASA scientists that entered the values in wrong units and caused a shuttle collapse, this is a mistake, just a less serious one.
For people that say its just 90 cents, at what amount do you draw the line? If you say that it adds to the gratuity, just remember that tips are voluntary and it’s better to ask your customer for one. My uber drivers ask me for a good rating and I always give it as a form of gratuity. If you screw me over, I can screw you back.
NY waiters are known to inflate tip by dollar or two or some odd amount in between.
So could this driver be possibly entered the inflated amount to cheat you? Possible. In which case, you did the right thing by complaining.
But did you consider that he was preoccupied with getting late for his next rife and he “shoeed you away” then entered the amount in the app by reading the meter (not realizing that it is few pennies higher now as he is driving)? As much possibility of unintentional overcharge as intentional cheating.
I would have no problem getting someone into trouble over 90 cents if I were 100% certain that it was indeed cheating. You, yourself admit that you are not 100% certain. You leave a whopping 1% chance that you wronged the guy.
According to your own self-evaluation:
99% chance that you nipped in bud a habitual thief of many 90 cents
1% chance you got an honest hard working person into toruble without reason
Now are you still comfortable gloating over how you took advantage of uber’s “satisfaction guarantee” policy at 1% probability of getting innocent person in trouble?
You are worse than fox news watching trump voter
You give the driver 1 star rating for overcharging you 90 cents that is quite mean, everyone make mistake and late night hour can be tired, I understand you want the driver to paid his mistake, but give him 1 star rating is just mean he probably might take a deep rating drop and possible account suspend, all it mean 1 less driver and you future rate might go up since less driver and more likely surge,qq
What is your rating. Don’t forget drivers rate you ass well. With this .90 cents attitude please take take your biz to a near bus stop. You don’t belong in taxi or uber. From now on you should save 23 bucks and use bus. Saves you money and nobody will steal your .90. And BTW driver complains back and gets his 23. And btw in 500 rides his rating of your”1″ will disappear. And good luck getting your rating fix after driver 1 stars your cheap ass
Scott, you did exactly the right thing by reporting this. It was Uber’s decision to refund the full amount.