So my ride found a way to get from C5 to Sta. Mesa in a straight line
Just when I felt like a true citizen of the 21st century with the internet and smartphones and radical world-changing digital-driven services are making my life a tad more bearable, I just got screwed over. So I was about to write about a few of my Uber experiences since many of the drivers are chatty, I had my first bad experience with the service.
So I booked my usual ride from our office in Sikatuna in Quezon City to go to Eastwood. It was a fairly uneventful ride and it took me the usual 30 minutes to get there. As always, there’s a bit of build up with those intending to turn left at Citibank from C5 with all those bastards who cut from the third and fourth lanes. But there wasn’t anything unusual about the trip.
The driver dropped me off at Eastwood Mall and I thought that was that. I just wondered why my receipt didn’t get posted immediately.
After an hour of wandering around the mall, I finally got my receipt and it was more than double the amount I usually get charged. What struck me was the plot of my trip’s route and my drop off point. Instead of Eastwood Mall, the receipt read “Saluysoy, Sta. Mesa, Manila.”
I immediately sent a support ticket informing them of the issue even citing my pickup and drop off points and approximate trip time. I even highlighted the weirdness of the trip map. And what did the support guy reply to me?
Could you please provide me the complete address of the pickup location and complete address of the drop off location (street address/city/province/zip code or postal code/country) for this trip so I can compare it with the current fare and adjust accordingly if needed?
Yeah right, guy. I already indicated those in my ticket. Giving the benefit of the doubt on the guy’s literacy, I gave him those details again. Then I got this:
I re-ran the estimate for your trip by your given pickup&drop off location and confirmed that the fare fell within the correct range for a trip of this time and distance.
Jeez. I’m quite. So I replied back, asking for an escalation of the matter, sending in screenshots of the map and relaying the full details yet again. I hoped that someone who isn’t a script monkey would actually take action on my support request.
After a full day of waiting for their reply, I finally got notice of the adjustment and a reply from a different support agent. They refunded me Php 120 – I still got charged Php 40 more than what I usually pay for the trip.
While Uber thinks this might appease my fury, it doesn’t. They still charged me way more than what I usually pay and that fare isn’t fair (lame word play).
Maybe I’ll just pay cash next time. Or try Grab. Or buy a damned car.
UPDATE (2016-02-03): After a fair bit of haggling, Uber finally adjusted this trip to the average based on my previous trips. Well, it took some back-and-forth with you but at least you gave in. You’ve got a ways to go in terms of support, Uber.