Uber- scheduled booking wait time scam

Paisleyporridge

Hi Forum

Uber has a facility where you can schedule a taxi in advance. This is helpful, say for an early morning airport ride. It offers you a 10 minute window in which to expect your ride.

However, the drivers commonly arrive 10 to 15 minutes early and then charge a wait time form when they arrive. The charge is fairly modest but thus morning I called to complain. I got my wait time money back, but nothing for my trouble.

Uber advised that the driver does not know this a scheduled ride and therefore does not know about the time window. I don’t think this good enough. Their system should protect their customer against this overcharging.

john_jizzleJR

what trouble?

oldagetraveller

Or even use a different private hire company. Does it have to be Uber?
I'm sure it will be possible to "schedule a taxi in advance" elsewhere using that useful device, a telephone.

JJ_Egan

Lots of Taxi firms can take advanced web bookings .


As asked what actual trouble or is this yet another Scam post from first time poster ?? Reads as yet another looking for compo .

Caz3121

Paisleyporridge wrote: »

I don’t think this good enough. Their system should protect their customer against this overcharging.

If I don't like the way a customer operates, I don't use them. (had bad experiences with Uber in London and had to give directions to the driver as he had no idea where he was going - I didn't get anything for my "trouble" either)

Are there no taxi companies in your area?

lammy82

The Uber schedule service doesn't really do anything other than attempt to request a car at approximately the time you set it for. If there are none available at that time, you don't get one. You are still responsible for noticing that it's been requested and making sure you're ready to meet it when it arrives.

I don't think it's worth bothering with really.

Sheldon_Cooper

The problems I've had with Uber have been down to the fact that they decide where the pickup point is and don't really give you enough information as to where they have selected.

The last time this happened I booked a trip from a restaurant. They said the pickup was from 'the pharmacy' (no address). The restaurant was next to a pharmacy and we waited there. The car showed as having, the driver said he was there, but there was no car. It then showed as driver abandoned journey as customer not present.

We eventually discovered that the driver had gone to another chemist about 300 yards down the road.

JReacher1

Sheldon_Cooper wrote: »

The problems I've had with Uber have been down to the fact that they decide where the pickup point is and don't really give you enough information as to where they have selected.

The last time this happened I booked a trip from a restaurant. They said the pickup was from 'the pharmacy' (no address). The restaurant was next to a pharmacy and we waited there. The car showed as having, the driver said he was there, but there was no car. It then showed as driver abandoned journey as customer not present.

We eventually discovered that the driver had gone to another chemist about 300 yards down the road.

This seems a bit strange.

I’ve never had this problem with uber. On the app it tells you exactly where the taxi is and it’s very accurate. I’m unsure why you couldn’t find the taxi? Did you not have your phone with you?

Sheldon_Cooper

JReacher1 wrote: »

This seems a bit strange.

I’ve never had this problem with uber. On the app it tells you exactly where the taxi is and it’s very accurate. I’m unsure why you couldn’t find the taxi?

The driver only waited about two minutes. That time was spent exchanging messages.

But, really, the point of the complaint was that when you book a taxi from a restaurant (on a two way street), you don't expect it to turn up on the other side of the road, 300 yards away. If you'd ordered a taxi because of mobility issues it would have been completely useless.

Did you not have your phone with you?

No, I ordered the Uber by post.

Doozergirl

Sheldon_Cooper wrote: »

The driver only waited about two minutes. That time was spent exchanging messages.

But, really, the point of the complaint was that when you book a taxi from a restaurant (on a two way street), you don't expect it to turn up on the other side of the road, 300 yards away. If you'd ordered a taxi because of mobility issues it would have been completely useless.




No, I ordered the Uber by post.

You're not using the App to it's full potential. I got this wrong once and the same sort of thing happened - I was walking the streets trying to find the guy...

Except you can set the pick up point! Uber only has a guess as to where you are, but you can pin point the exact point you want the driver to wait.

You select the location you're going to first, then uber brings up a map showing your 'from' and 'to' locations as well as the 'confirm' button.

If you tap on the 'from' instead of 'confirm', there's a dropped pin. You can move the map around and select the exact pick up point. You find they'll wait in the exact spot!

Sheldon_Cooper

Doozergirl wrote: »

You're not using the App to it's full potential. I got this wrong once and the same sort of thing happened - I was walking the streets trying to find the guy...

Except you can set the pick up point! Uber only has a guess as to where you are, but you can pin point the exact point you want the driver to wait.

You select the location you're going to first, then uber brings up a map showing your 'from' and 'to' locations as well as the 'confirm' button.

If you tap on the 'from' instead of 'confirm', there's a dropped pin. You can move the map around and select the exact pick up point. You find they'll wait in the exact spot!

Thanks for that information. :beer:

I'm not a heavy Uber user, and previously they always stated a pick-up point right outside where I'd made the call.