http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/an-uber-halloween-horror-story

11/3/2014 12:52:43 AM

misleading thread title is misleading

11/3/2014 12:55:16 AM

This happened to me, but for 52.00 After having a free 30 dollar credit. There is NO WAY You can dipsute uber charges either.

11/3/2014 1:11:31 AM

were you blacked out drunk?

11/3/2014 1:22:09 AM

So -- and I'm being completely serious here -- what the fuck is Uber? From the article it sounds like a taxi.

Yes I know, google, but I want a boiled down TWW explanation.

11/3/2014 2:59:17 AM

^its a phone app/service that lets random people play taxi driver. of course actual taxi drivers dont like it

11/3/2014 6:37:54 AM

You don't have to accept charges or get to see rates with Uber?

11/3/2014 7:58:59 AM

Charges are billed to your Uber account, which is linked to your credit card when you sign up. It is cashless.

Rates can change with what Uber calls "surge pricing". BUT...this woman is a dumbass. Uber makes their surge pricing times very clear, I think you are able to get a quote before getting in the car, and I think Uber makes you key in the surge pricing multiplier before you can even get a quote.

It is no easy feat to be completely oblivious to how much $ you will be spending.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 8:13 AM. Reason : d]

11/3/2014 8:10:53 AM

Uber shows you the rate multiplier and then makes you type it back to them before it lets you accept a ride.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 8:11 AM. Reason : ^ yes]

11/3/2014 8:11:08 AM

But it's OK because Uber was hot as fuck

11/3/2014 8:26:32 AM

wtf is this price surging bullshit? sounds like a fucking scam.

11/3/2014 8:51:51 AM

it's not really, it makes a lot of sense economically. pricing either rises with demand or you create a situation where there is a race to get services, and it just comes down to timing and luck. surge pricing allows those with the highest demand to get service.

as long as the prices are made clear in advance, which it looks like these are, then i don't see the problem

11/3/2014 8:58:10 AM

Two sides to the same coin.

The coin is: you get charged more during certain times, special events, etc

Side 1: Uber would tell you the reason for surge pricing is to get more uber drivers on the road during high transportation volume times. How to get more uber drivers to go "on call"? Pay them more.

Side 2: increased demand during peak volume and special occasions lets uber charge you more. Uber is taking advantage of a low supply and increased demand to gouge customers. They know it is shady... We know its shady.... The BBB knows its shady.


*Around DC, I usually see 2x surge pricing around peak rush hours. And I see anything from 3x to 9x surge pricing on special occasions like new years eve, Halloween, fourth of July, etc... When everyone wants drunk wagon to come pick them up.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 9:05 AM. Reason : most of the time, uber is cheaper than a cab]

11/3/2014 9:02:08 AM

Damn I wanna be an uber driver now LOL

11/3/2014 9:25:08 AM

Quote :

"misleading thread title is misleading"

11/3/2014 9:26:40 AM

I get changing rates based on demand, but a $360 fare for a 20 min ride? C'mon man. I wonder what the normal fare for that ride is

11/3/2014 9:41:58 AM

regardless of how/why this happened, i feel like we're going to see a lot more sob stories and begging for crowdfunding in the near future.

11/3/2014 9:50:48 AM

If she called a cab, she would have still been waiting for it.

No matter, she was able to hit up her friends to more than pay for it so its all good. Wonder if she pocketed the $200 extra over her goal?

11/3/2014 9:56:54 AM

whether it's an individual or a corporation, it's never a good look to privatize gains and socialize losses. you have to actively and affirmatively agree to the price before you accept the ride or a driver will even come to you. blah blah blah, moral hazard. whatever.

11/3/2014 10:01:03 AM

I knew that Uber jacked up rates for high demand times, but do they really get this high? And do people really pay this much for cab rides?

11/3/2014 10:05:10 AM

You cant get a cab on a party night. It is virtually impossible.


I damn near froze to death on Hillsborough once. All of the cab companies I called had a busy signal up or no answer. I finally saw a taxi dropping someone off near the Wilmot and flagged it down. I am pretty sure I would have walked home before paying that much, but would have parted with $100 bucks had it drug on much longer.


It also reinforced my preference to go out drinking on my side of Western at like Ruckus or Jax.


This also makes me want to get approved on Uber just to drive on party nights. A few fares like that would make it worth staying sober.

11/3/2014 10:07:41 AM

I want a new TV, everyone please PM me your contributions and share my need on facebook

11/3/2014 10:08:03 AM

I think I read where the multiplier was something like 9x in this case.


So, that is probably a $40 regular fare with the multiplier that she agreed to, before the uber taxi would even come get her squirrely ass.

Seems to me she had a few options in front of her:

-Agree to an very expensive uber before the car comes to get you. Have a clean, car arrive, and take you where you want to go.

-call a taxi. Maybe it comes maybe it doesn't. Maybe its clean, maybe its not. Maybe when it comes, someone else will swipe it. Pay a fixed ratw, and not have to worry about surge pricing.

- get your drunk ass on a bus.

- walk

- don't drink so much that you can't drive

-get a friend to drive you



Point is, no one forced her to summon an uber. And when she did, she would have had to be a complete dumbass to not realize how expensive her ride would be.

11/3/2014 10:18:49 AM

Seriously, I could see somebody claiming they didn't know what the price would be a year ago, but there's no way you can miss it now. As people have said, it says something like "The current surge pricing is 2.25 (or whatever) times the normal price due to demand. Type 2.25 to accept this." And there's a fare estimator. I've gotten drunk enough to buy stupid shit before but it never occurred to me to beg for money on the internet to pay for it.

11/3/2014 10:47:19 AM

This is the same thing as running up a bar tab that you don't remember, but unlike getting drunk, getting a safe ride home is actually in your best interest. LOL

11/3/2014 12:02:17 PM

My roommate used UberXL with 6 other people Friday night for the ride home and their charge was $270 (normal taxi would have been 18-22). They were apparently too drunk to notice the 9X multiplier due to the time and date Halloween) and when the Uber driver told them about the upcharge they didn't do the math. They also didn't bother to get a fare estimate (which the app will give you when you're deciding if you want a ride).

I don't really see how this is a shady business practice. Supply and demand, and there's nothing hidden about it.

11/3/2014 12:58:05 PM

I gotta say that I'm fascinated that Uber is so popular with young, liberal types, as it is the most right wing business model available.

No regulation, no accountability, charge whatever the fuck they feel like. Kinda amazing.

11/3/2014 1:31:49 PM

^ Its because you can book it with a sleek iPhone app, same reason that crowd spends $12 a day a Starbucks.

11/3/2014 1:45:55 PM

^,^^
prob because it's better than a taxi in almost every way (apart from surge times)

11/3/2014 1:57:41 PM

i don't agree that surge pricing is worse, if you really need a cab then not having one or waiting hours isn't necessarily better than paying a lot for one

11/3/2014 2:21:05 PM

Use 333 taxi, never had a problem with them. Plentiful drivers, and from my experience competitively priced and friendly.

Also - If this chick wasn't attractive do you think she'd have been able to get this crowdsourced like that?

11/3/2014 2:24:16 PM

she might be ugly as fuck, she could have used some stock pictures to pull this scam

11/3/2014 2:34:26 PM

^^^
true

11/3/2014 2:38:19 PM

.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 4:07 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2014 4:07:13 PM

Quote :

"Use 333 taxi"

You mean taxi-taxi right? They're great...very rarely a disappointment. Plus their number is stupid easy to remember

11/3/2014 4:14:50 PM

I use Uber very regularly and have never had an issue

could not be happier with the service

11/3/2014 4:18:53 PM

^same with me except one time their price surging got me at like 80 bucks for a cab. Bastards

11/3/2014 5:41:22 PM

Quote :

"^ Its because you can book it with a sleek iPhone app, same reason that crowd spends $12 a day a Starbucks."

Not really true. I've been spending ~$200-250 a week with Uber for work (lots of airport, dinner, client trips). You can select Uber taxi and it's a normal taxi. Most of the big taxi companies also have an app that's exactly like Uber's app that lets you pay for your ride with your credit card. So the only advantage to Uber is to can select a nicer or larger car. My experience in some of the larger cities is it's roughly the same.

e.g. I usually pay $70 from/to the airport in Toronto with an Uber Black Car. I tried a taxi twice and it ended up being almost exactly the same after you factor in a 10-15% tip.

11/3/2014 7:01:04 PM

Depends on where you are.

In SF, it's insanely cheap to go 2-3 miles in most parts of the city. Cabs cost way more and are much harder to find. Fuck cabs.

11/3/2014 8:35:14 PM

also Uber Taxi isn't available in every market. It's certainly not in Charlotte yet.

11/4/2014 8:41:07 AM

Need me some Uber Luxury. Haven't seen that pop up yet.

11/4/2014 8:49:24 AM

Used Uber today...

Cost me $10.99

11/7/2014 12:12:47 PM

anyone trying to frame Uber's base offering (UberX) as a premium service doesn't know what they're fucking talking about. if used correctly it's cheaper than a cab. if you're illiterate or stupid I can see how it would be confusing though.

11/7/2014 2:04:57 PM

Quote :

" if used correctly it's cheaper than a cab."

Only sometimes. A lot of times there's flat rates to/from airports and often at night cabs will be cheaper than Uberx as Uber will do a x3+ pricing that taxi's don't always do.

11/7/2014 2:40:44 PM

It amazes me that there would be anyone who would take the person's side. She knew (or was told beforehand and was too drunk to remember) what it would cost and did it. She had a choice, whether or not it is shady on the part of Uber.

Uber is most definately in Charlotte. I've used it.

11/7/2014 6:01:39 PM

^^

Quote :

"if used correctly"

as in don't fucking use it during surge if price is an issue for your poor ass

see? only hard if you're illiterate or dumb

11/7/2014 7:45:32 PM

So people who are disadvantaged or illiterate should be taken advantage of in this country?

11/7/2014 7:47:24 PM

meh, you gotta draw the line somewhere. if Uber tried to charge this chick $700,000 for this ride and she was drunk/inattentive enough to accept that price, I think we'd all agree that would be unfair and predatory.

so it's just a question of how much is just outrageously too fucking much. I personally think $362 is right on the border (which I guess speaks well of uber's business acumen.) but for me, they're fucking slimeballs for charging her that, whether she accepted or not.

11/7/2014 7:48:55 PM

I can definitely see how she would be upset. She's an attractive young woman, she's not used to having to pay for things or deal with the consequences and repercussions of her decisions. It must have been very confusing for her.

11/7/2014 8:35:20 PM

Quote :

"So people who are disadvantaged or illiterate should be taken advantage of in this country? "

if someone is illiterate to the point that they can not read pricing, they shouldn't be out spending money. it's not taking advantage of people when you offer someone quotes, show pricing, and make them confirm pricing my typing in the multiplier before picking them up

11/8/2014 9:05:56 AM