[deathwalkr]

So for some reason, someone in Delhi was using my wife's email id for uber and ola. Ola had an easy option to inform that the email id was not belonging to the person using it but uber, man oh man. i had to go through so many mails before they helped remove the mail id from that account.

Shouldn't there be a verification option before someone can use mail ids?

[drmohitg]

Experienced a very unique business model last month during my visit to Kolkata. I am not sure how this all works but my mama's college going daughter told me about this guy in Kolkata who is booking Uber cabs for you for as low as Rs. 50. The whole business model works in the following way:

You have to call a person X whenever you need to book an Uber ride. He will ask you your destination and book the cab for you using his Uber account and Paytm wallet. The rates are pre-fixed. For a ride actually costing Rs. 200, you need to pay only Rs. 50. Anything above 200 and you need to pay Rs. 50 plus the excess amount. Once the driver arrives at your doorstep and your ride starts, this person X obviously gets the same intimation on his end via the app. Now all you need to do is to transfer Rs. 50 to his Paytm wallet and thats it.

I failed to understand how this works. My cousin sister excitedly told that this guy has hacked into the Uber/Paytm network and is managing all this. I am still perplexed to how he is managing to fool Uber and Paytm.

[hserus]

Either that or he assigns it to his own cab(s) and is arbitraging on the incentive that an uber cabbie is given

[cooldude1988765]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I failed to understand how this works. My cousin sister excitedly told that this guy has hacked into the Uber/Paytm network and is managing all this. I am still perplexed to how he is managing to fool Uber and Paytm.

He is most likely an UBER employee, if I remember right they get rides upto Rs 200 for free and then at actuals thereafter. It usually doesnt last long, he is most likely to be caught and fired.
UBER does have a fraud team and a friend of mine works in the same team.
They were people giving ads in daily classifieds with the same offer.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

When contacted, support just said her account has been suspended permanently. On being pressed, they offered a vague 'suspicious activity' explanation and refused any further help.

I appreciate their system being robust enough to catch what maybe suspicious activity, but refusing to help a genuine customer who may have inadvertently made a mistake and is asking for help is just absurd.

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

When I tried booking, I got locked out message from Uber app, asking me to contact customer care... I got the following replies in follow-up mails :

"It appears that your account has been suspended for activity that violates our Terms and Conditions and will be unavailable for you to use."

"You will appreciate that these security features need to be built in to prevent misuse of our services and to prevent users from creating accounts for the sole purpose of taking free rides. You might not have had that intention, however, the system cannot differentiate between the two situations and frankly, there really is no way for anyone else to distinguish the two either. I am afraid I really cannot be of any more help with this than I already have."

Originally Posted by cooldude1988765

UBER does have a fraud team and a friend of mine works in the same team.

So, cooldude1988765, you might be able to pass-on the above feedbacks to the mighty, invincible and self-righteous UBER. The sarcasm is deliberate, and directed only towards godly UBER.

[cooldude1988765]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

So, cooldude1988765, you might be able to pass-on the above feedbacks to the mighty, invincible and self-righteous UBER. The sarcasm is deliberate, and directed only towards godly UBER.

@AutoNoob Do you really think that if I an unaffected party asks for feedback on a specific issue that as far as UBER is concerned has already been closed will make any sort of a difference.

Do understand that UBER is a service provider, they do not owe you anything. If you do not like their services do not use them and look for alternatives. As simple as that. UBER is not a product that one has purchased and is now stuck with.

The only way UBER will change its attitude is if people stop using their services, no amount of ranting and complaints will help.

As far as I know UBER is well within its rights to deny service to an Individual. Next time you do step into a bar/restaurant/pub please note usually there is a sign displayed "RIGHTS OF ADMISSION RESERVED"

Kindly note I am not associated with UBER in any way and have just typed what seems logical.

[Fillmore]

Slightly off topic forward I got in WhatsApp ...
Didnt analyze it in detail though.

##Buying a car v/s uber
Any car in india cost atleast Rs 6,00,000
Scrap value after six year - Rs 1,00,000
Net amount goes in effective
Life of six year Rs 5,00,000
Nos of days of six yr is 2200 days

So Rs. 5,00,000/2200 = Rs. 230 /day
Yearly insu Rs 15000 = Rs 41/day
Daily petrol minimum = Rs 100/Day
After every 3 yr tyre &
Battery change charge
Rs 25,000 i.e. = Rs. 23/day
Yearly maintanance of
Car Rs 9000 i.e = Rs 25/day
If driver employed ( bcas)
Uber comes with a driver =Rs 300/day
Plus interest loss on
Car buying amount
@8% on Rs 6,00,000 = Rs 131/day
_____
So total daily exp is
After buying new car = Rs 850/day
------------------------
So unless you pay Rs 850 daily to hire a cab you are effectively in gain travelling in uber.

[kiku007]

The same software which is designed to act smart in this case...

Originally Posted by noopster

Noticed a nifty feature of the Uber app. Wifey needed to go to a city hospital for an appointment but wasn't sure of the route and parking options so she took an Uber. The app is on my phone and I was in another city on work. When I fired up Uber and gave the pickup point in my home city, the app asked me, "Is this booking for someone else?" and allowed me to add a contact (name and number) of the person to be picked up.

I then got busy with my work and to my surprise about 10 minutes later my wife called to say she was in the cab headed to get destination. The cabbie called her directly to coordinate. Big change from the past when I've had to send her a screenshot of the car number plus call the driver from the app, copy his number and send that separately to her to call.

Best thing is for the return trip it gave me the option of selecting Me, Wife or someone else (new). Extremely well designed and user friendly feature- 5*

...is what does the below thing as well.

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

.....I got locked out message from Uber app, asking me to contact customer care. As we were pushed for time, we booked two Uber and an Ola cab, and reached Railway station.

The surprise came later when I contacted Uber to unlock my account. I got the following replies in follow-up mails :

"It appears that your account has been suspended for activity that violates our Terms and Conditions and will be unavailable for you to use."

"You will appreciate that these security features need to be built in to prevent misuse of our services and to prevent users from creating accounts for the sole purpose of taking free rides. You might not have had that intention, however, the system cannot differentiate between the two situations and frankly, there really is no way for anyone else to distinguish the two either. I am afraid I really cannot be of any more help with this than I already have."

After few back and forth mails I understood that I am hitting my head against a wall who hardly cares about genuine concerns of customers.

I deleted the Uber app for good from my and wife's phone. Since then we have been using Ola without any problem.

I don't think Uber is trying to play "God" without fear. It's just a new system which is taking decisions (Without human interventions at all times) and will evolve as time goes.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

The beauty of the online business is in the ability of the companies to play "god" without fear.

The new age technology companies thrive on innovation. Some get the thumbs up from users while some don't. But they do evolve, learning from the outcomes or experiences much sooner than what we have been used to in traditional services. Just look back; it didn't take too long for Uber to move from "Card Only" to "Cash accepted".

Sympathies to the family who's had an accident incident with an Uber Car. Please talk to a Lawyer. I guess, you can include the Driver, the Car owner, the Insurance Company and Uber as parties in your Claim for compensation. Most likely it is the insurance company that will be liable for paying compensation (IF properly insured) and NOT the driver or the owner or Uber.

Like someone said, please try to understand the concept of INSURANCE.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by cooldude1988765

Do understand that UBER is a service provider, they do not owe you anything. If you do not like their services do not use them and look for alternatives. As simple as that. UBER is not a product that one has purchased and is now stuck with.

As far as I know UBER is well within its rights to deny service to an Individual. Next time you do step into a bar/restaurant/pub please note usually there is a sign displayed "RIGHTS OF ADMISSION RESERVED"

I fully agree with what you have said. Yes, no one is bound to Uber; I have already deleted the working Uber account from my wife's phone and using Ola without any issues.

My concern arises from the fact the customers are treated mechanically . May be because the way we work is quite opposite and therefore I feel frustrated when the companies keep the customers as last priority in their scheme of things. It’s not only Uber, infact every company that behaves like this. The "right to admission is reserved" and we do accept the terms and conditions; but isn't it the customer that should be priority and given sufficient resolution for the issues faced.

The only way UBER will change its attitude is if people stop using their services, no amount of ranting and complaints will help.

This seems just a wishful thought. Uber is now an out-grown entity and doesn't care about fraction of frustrated non-customers (atleast till some big player arrives to bite into its pie)

Originally Posted by kiku007

I don't think Uber is trying to play "God" without fear. It's just a new system which is taking decisions (Without human interventions at all times) and will evolve as time goes.

Yes, and till the time system evolves, manual oversight is necessary. The so called Artificial Intelligence enabled algorithms can handle things which fall within a certain set of parameters. Beyond that they are as dumb as they can get, a.k.a. Ultron. So, as the situtaion stands today, the system should indeed flag a suspicious activity or may block it for a certain time-period (like the Bank systems do) with an option of resolution after due verification from customer(s).

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

Yes, and till the time system evolves, manual oversight is necessary. The so called Artificial Intelligence enabled algorithms can handle things which fall within a certain set of parameters. Beyond that they are as dumb as they can get, a.k.a. Ultron. So, as the situtaion stands today, the system should indeed flag a suspicious activity or may block it for a certain time-period (like the Bank systems do) with an option of resolution after due verification from customer(s).

True, they hire Corporate Astrologers to do forecasting and strategy planning with fat packages. Everything works perfectly inside the AI system, but in reality nothing works.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

Yes, and till the time system evolves, manual oversight is necessary. The so called Artificial Intelligence enabled algorithms can handle things which fall within a certain set of parameters. Beyond that they are as dumb as they can get, a.k.a. Ultron. So, as the situtaion stands today, the system should indeed flag a suspicious activity or may block it for a certain time-period (like the Bank systems do) with an option of resolution after due verification from customer(s).

Agree, they could flag it and wait for a person to manually vet it. But wait, what are we automating then? Calm down man. I've been in a similar situation before with ICICI. I wanted to make payment for Rs.3,25,000/- using my ICICI CC. ICICI was ready to approve an temporary increase in credit limit because I was also holding savings bank account with them. But the problem was that their Fraud deduction system isn't going to approve a SINGLE transaction worth Rs.3,25,000 for my card type and they can't manually override. Was I frustrated? Of course, yes. But it is what it is and I had to use another payment method.

Originally Posted by deehunk

True, they hire Corporate Astrologers to do forecasting and strategy planning with fat packages. Everything works perfectly inside the AI system, but in reality nothing works.

Nothing works? Do you live off the grid by any chance and just happened to login and post the above? Because like it or not, AI works for you in many places around you.

[deehunk]

I am definitely aware of places where AI works and based on my experience as a customer with Ola from 2 years, app based taxi business is still evolving in India. AI's cannot handle the complex algorithm of the current business model. Whenever I get a chance I share and explain them all the possible failure modes in their AI system. There is a need for a professional with an experience in taxi operations to sit with the software developers and first fix the business model. Then AI can efficiently manage the system, but are Ola and Uber willing to spend time and money ? I have shared my own experience from August, 2016. The issue was resolved only after repeated follow up with Ola team.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Once the driver arrives at your doorstep and your ride starts, this person X obviously gets the same intimation on his end via the app. Now all you need to do is to transfer Rs. 50 to his Paytm wallet and thats it.

I failed to understand how this works. My cousin sister excitedly told that this guy has hacked into the Uber/Paytm network and is managing all this. I am still perplexed to how he is managing to fool Uber and Paytm.

I don't think Paytm needs to be hacked for this. It is a simple transaction in the wallet as far as Paytm is concerned.

I am guessing here, but, assuming he is booking through different mobile numbers, he maybe utilizing the referral bonus (free ride upto 200). A big problem in such a case would be the new numbers he would need to 'refer' and book from. Just wondering, what if someone takes a ride and doesn't transfer the amount?

Interesting case for sure.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

So unless you pay Rs 850 daily to hire a cab you are effectively in gain travelling in uber.

This is the reason why Anand Mahindra, about a year ago, spoke about the threat to the car industry's growth, by Uber and others.

He wasn't saying this in a manner critical of these services, just pointing out some important economic and other fundamentals of private car ownership that will radically change once these service get real traction.

Another way to look at this is to see how much time private cars spend in parked condition. On the other hand, every business manager knows the importance of "sweating" assets by their fullest use.

Another advantage of Uber/others is how easy it gets to drink and not drive. No worries about designated drivers and enthusiastic cops.

I bought a Nano for use in the city before Uber became popular. I definitely see no reason now why I should ever buy a bigger car than Nano, and will not do so. I no longer need my ego to be satisfied by what car I own. And with the money saved, I can probably fly for almost every holiday and avoid the death traps of Indian highways.

I for one only wish all these service providers great success in the years to come.

PS: one analogy for these is how India was able to leapfrog the telecom issue without laying fixed lines, using mobile phone tech. Hopefully, these services will do the same for the pathetic state of affairs of public transport infrastructure.

[FrozeninTime]

Another terrible experience with ola. My parents had booked an ola from Chennai central railway station.
The driver said he doesn't know how to use Google maps and asked for direction. My parents obliged and used their smartphone to guide them to sterling road where they were going to stay. But instead of following instructions he deliberately took them to different direction and when they finally reached the destination my mother fed up with antics of the driver refused to pay money. He misbehaved with her. Fearing escalation my father payed him and sent him back.
I am tired of this crap called Ola. These companies are running away from responsibility to commuter. Had this been US the driver would be in Jail and Ola would have been sued by me. But this being India one has to keep quiet. My only question to Ola is - Are you hiring Goonda disguised as drivers? This is happening to woman in another so called safe city. Really pathetic!


P.S - I have no vested interest to defame Ola but the accountability is lacking which worries me. I have asked my parents to hire a proper cab next time than use their services. No point in calling customer care as they did nothing when I complained last time in July