I
booked #Uber from #Mumbai #Airport for my brother at Terminal T2. Now that there
is a specific zone for pickup at T2, it has become easier to book Uber / Ola
after arrival. As part of the arrangement, Ola / Uber driver has to pay Rs
100/- before taking the exit to #MIAL and this amount then gets added in the
trip.
The
upfront fare showed Rs. 453/- and we went ahead with the booking for #UberGo.
When I received the trip summary, I noticed that instead of Rs 100/- to be charged
for the airport pick up, we were charged Rs. 160/-. Hence, I again checked with
brother if they took the sea link during the journey. Since it was 4.45 am in
the morning, my brother did not feel the need to take the sea link and he came
by the normal road. I also checked the actual invoice by logging into my a/c on
the uber website. It also did not give any details.
Hence,
I sent a mail to Uber Support asking for the clarification of these Rs.60/-
charged to us. (its another issue that you will not get any standard issue
preset by Uber to seek such information. None of the options cater to such an
aspect).
The
reply I got from Uber was that Uber now works with #UpfrontPricing wherein the
base fare, time, distance, dynamic pricing based on demand, applicable tolls
and surcharges are pre-calculated. In this case, as long as the pick up and
drop off points are the same as when requested, you will be charged the Upfront
price, no more, no less! That being the reason, we do not facilitate the
provision of a fare breakdown.
Since,
I was not convinced I asked for this specific aspect to be clarified. I even
informed Uber that we had not taken Sea Link and hence toll for the same if
charged should be refunded back to us. But again I just get standard reply - The
fare amount is shown upfront so you know what you have to pay before confirming
a ride. It is displayed at the beginning of the trip and holds as long as
destination remains unchanged and the suggested route is followed.
The
fare considers duration, distance, high demand in the area, tolls, and local
conditions (traffic, road blocks). It also includes service tax payable to the
government. Since the upfront fare is system generated, the breakdown of the
same is not accessible.
This
to and fro happened a few times and finally as last resort I decided to have
take this to the Grievance Officer at Uber. Uber India does have a Grievance
Officer whose email id is mentioned on the website and hence I wrote to him
sharing the chain mails with summary of the issue. To my utter shock, this is
the reply I received – “ You’ve contacted an address that does not accept
incoming email.”
Why
would some company share email id of the Grievance Officer on its website if
the email id does not accept incoming email in the first place.
Left
with no other option, I posted this state of affairs on #UberIndia #FaceBook
page. Here again the first things mentioned was this post would be reviewed
before being posted on the their page. Finally, it was posted and the reply I
received was to contact uber through the website.
So
I again sent the summary of the whole issue on the link provided now through
FB.
To
my surprise I got the reply in less than 30 minutes that the trip was reviewed
and there was an error in the fare as route did not pass through toll and my
uber account was credited with Rs. 160/-
I
realized that Rs. 100/- was towards airport charges which were genuine and
asked the same to be taken back. But Uber is yet to revert on the same.
I
am still wondering what happened that when I followed the #SOP, I did not get
satisfactory resolution of the issue and what had brought the sudden change in
heart at Uber that they refunded MIAL charges as well.
Also,
not sure now if Grievance Officer mail id does accept incoming mail. Probably I
will explore that some other day
So
what do you learn from this aspect:
- Check the trip fare and the invoice if you see any anomaly in the amount charged
- Write to the support and keep writing back till you don’t get any satisfactory reply
- Write to grievance officer as next step
- Use social media to highlight the issue
Today
this happened for Uber. Tomorrow it might happen for Ola / or for that matter
with PayTM / freecharge or any other service we use these days.
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