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# Watch Out: Uber Ride App Bait-And-Switch
July 25 2024
Written by Yuval Kremer.
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AN ANGRY ANGELENO - I live in Los Angeles. I used to switch between Uber and Lyft every 6 months. One would become cheaper and have shorter wait times and, so, I would switch. I've been using Uber (with a little Blue Bus and Metro usage) for roughly 2 years (with a lot of walking). Recently Uber became more expensive. For example, I compared a (roughly) 40 dollar Uber ride to a (roughly) 30 dollar Lyft ride (between Santa Monica and my Beverly Grove hood)...guess which one I chose.
Today was the last straw. I took a short round trip that I always take. It used to be less than 10 dollars one way. Now it's more than 10 dollars on both ride services. So, I chose a round trip for roughly 15 dollars on the Uber ride app.
The Uber driver was very nice. Normally, I pay attention and provide advice to the driver, since I know this area like the back of my hand. Going from what used to be called (what real estate agents used to call) Beverly Center Adjacent to Beverly Hills on Robertson between Wilshire and Olympic for a quick stop...and returning...short round trip. I was not paying attention, probably because of the summer heat. The driver got stuck at a Metro roadblock (near La Cienega and Wilshire Metro Subway work) when she was going south. Then we took San Vicente (which goes diagonally south and east) and I told her that distance would be a bit longer, but time would be improved, if we turned right on Olympic. She missed the turn, and we went further south and east than we should have gone. So, at least two driver mistakes. No biggie. She was nice and I told her I was in no rush; that I was only worried that she was losing time and money on this ride. I also did not get expect to be charged extra.
On the way back, I was completely attentive. The stop was very short...almost no waiting. Then I directed her around traffic, and we got back very quickly. When I get home and go to rate and tip the driver, 15 percent is suddenly over 5 dollars. That was the red flag. I looked at the final price and it was roughly 33 dollars instead of 15 dollars. That's a bait-and-switch, highway robbery, grounds for a complaint to regulators, grounds for a class action lawsuit, take your pick.
Then when you go to complain, it's hard on the Uber App (almost by design), they have no customer service phone number. Maybe it got fixed, maybe not. I could not get confirmation. Receipt on the app looked the same as before. That's a problem with Uber Eats too...no customer service phone number. Don't tell me it's too expensive. DoorDash (DD) has amazing phone customer service. Maybe that's why DD dominates food delivery, even after Uber bought Postmates.
My response to this absolutely horrible experience with Uber? If you steal from me, or try to steal from me, you'll lose my business going forward. I deleted the Uber App on my iPhone. I'll be using Lyft from now on. I'll keep LA Metro as a backup, but it's still too dangerous at the moment, too crowded, too dirty, too inconvenient. And Covid is back, so I'll wait till the pandemic recedes again.
*(“The Angry Angeleno” is the nom de plume of Yuval Kremer. Yuval is a Registered Democrat; a Cali-Camp, Harvard-Westlake (pre-merger), USC, and Loyola Law School Alum; and a former ballot candidate for Mayor of LA (failing to prevent Mayor Garcetti's reelection) and LA County Supervisor (ran against Sheila Kuehl, Katy Yaroslavsky's former boss). The opinions expressed by Yuval are his and his alone (not those of CityWatchLA), but will likely be yours soon!)*
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