[ashua]

Ola and Uber are just like private cab providers who have the freedom to charge as they please. But since the peak hour charges that we are used to paying are 1.5 to 2 times the regular fare (in a yellow taxi or an auto), calling it the same (peak charge) is misleading?

So what is absolutely needed is transparency about what the charges are going to be. Since these app based cab providers know my start and destination they have a sense of the KM involved and thereby should give me an approximate cost of the journey on the peak hour confirmation dialog. Will go a long way to soothe some of these after journey shocks that people get.

[sourav9385]

Guys, I've got a question for the regular cab users here.

When I'm booking a cab through Ola, shouldn't the cabbie assigned to me reach my location using GPS?

For the last coupe of days, whenever my wife tried booking a cab through Ola, the driver called up and asked for directions! This was not an isolated event at all.

Isn't that defeating the purpose of calling a cab through a mobile phone?

[confused_soul]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

Guys, I've got a question for the regular cab users here.

When I'm booking a cab through Ola, shouldn't the cabbie assigned to me reach my location using GPS?

For the last coupe of days, whenever my wife tried booking a cab through Ola, the driver called up and asked for directions! This was not an isolated event at all.

Isn't that defeating the purpose of calling a cab through a mobile phone?

Thats because Google Maps is accurate but not reasonably accurate in India yet

[Tamarind]

Yesterday tried to book a taxi via Ola for a ride around 14Km at 15:00 hours both pickup and drop locations being inside the city itself

In the beginning the Ola app repeatedly crashed (just blank page for several minutes and then force closed it via app manager) at loading the Google maps, and then the app started to report some error like "server not responding"
So tried calling the Ola phone number and they cut the call for about 7 times and then picked the call to say phone booking is not supported in my city "Chennai"

My mind voice => ** Huuh, this is why you should book at NTL even if its little costlier **

My friend who was beside me then said he can try from his phone (meanwhile I started to search for other taxis phone number), and after repeated attempts he was able to confirm a "mini" ride and to both of our surprise there comes the message with "peak hour" charges 1.8x extra !
Yes it reported peak hour by 14:45 hours on a weekday !

The cab was for my elderly people at home while I was at work, Without any choice, I booked the cab on my friends phone and was charged almost 500 INR for a ride of 14.7 Km. I did not inform them about the peak hour charges prior as I wanted them to get the justification from the driver side. And naturally after reaching the destination they argued about the charges and I got a call about the same

Then when I called up OLA customer care, I asked them only one question. "Define peak hours in terms of your policy".
The answer was shocking !. It seems that there is no defined peak time as per their policy and they define peak hour charges based on cab availability (what this means to me is that they can find out a desperate customer by the repeated number of attempts and say its peak hours in their place)

Deciding never to book Ola again, informed my parents to pay the amount. After I reached home late evening, they told me that they still fought with the driver and the poor driver showed up his mobile display. It showed two bills, one around 260 Rs for the driver and another bill for amount around 500 for the customer. And he also said that this has been the case for almost all the trips that he has driven for the past two days !

And further if you refuse to pay it will be deducted from his pay. So the elders paid him the amount as to not cause personal loss for the driver and left the place

What Ola did here is a typical scam. First they create the dependency by making you wait till the last half an hour (as mini rides are available only for riders within half an hour or so) before you commence your journey, then say that it is a peak hour irrespective of the time and availability so pay extra !
If you are on a strict time schedule to keep up, you will accept to it as it is already too late for calling up and checking other service providers (which is exactly what happened to me)

So beware of this SCAM from OLA

[bblost]

Tamarind, No offence, but I don't think you understand how this system works.

Peak hour charges are not a static entity. They are constantly changing based on cab availability at a particular location.
This is how it works with Ola and Uber.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by bblost

Tamarind, No offence, but I don't think you understand how this system works.

Peak hour charges are not a static entity. They are constantly changing based on cab availability at a particular location.
This is how it works with Ola and Uber.

Sorry, but this is actually a Scam. Creating artificial demand for cabs is a Scam.

At the airport last night, there were hundreds of OLA mini, and I could easily book, but was levied peak hour charges. A journey costing not more than 600 bucks, costed me 1675. Imagine my plight.

Sorry, but fact is OLA is Scamming now by creating artificial demand.
I am too done with OLA.

[mohammedismail]

Originally Posted by confused_soul

Thats because Google Maps is accurate but not reasonably accurate in India yet

Might be partially correct. In my situation more than 10 times that I have booked cab, there was only one driver who reached my pickup point without giving me a call asking for directions.

So i guess it depends on driver whether he wants to rely on the information which is on his google maps or give a call to the person and ask for directions. Unfortunately the drivers are comfortable with the later one!

[bharanidharang]

Bblost - In this case I would agree with Tamarind.

I faced a similar situation today in the same city "Chennai" . While there were a lot of cabs in the area I reside (Velachery) in chennai, when I booked a OLA mini, peak time charges (this is at 11 AM) of 1.4x was applied.

When I checked up with call center, they were not able to give a convincing reply on the demand in my location at that point of time and the free cabs for the same.

Have not faced this issue with uber yet. I have got peak time charges only if its a holiday or during rush hours.

[Tamarind]

Originally Posted by bblost

Tamarind, No offence, but I don't think you understand how this system works.

Peak hour charges are not a static entity. They are constantly changing based on cab availability at a particular location.
This is how it works with Ola and Uber.

To decide whether its fair or not, apply the same situation to your daily needs

Example: Petrol

In your area because the number of office goers are more hence more crowd and demand on petrol pumps, so any petrol bunk will cost you 2 times more per liter to control the flow of crowd

And now, think that its a weekend afternoon 15:00 hours that you are trying to go to office for which you want to fill petrol on your car !

Now to add on top of that, think that there is a bunk in-front of your eyes which is empty and still the same rule applies

Now compare that with my travel with OLA who put 1.8x peak time charge when i booked on a week day (afternoon) 14:45 hours ! !

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

For the last coupe of days, whenever my wife tried booking a cab through Ola, the driver called up and asked for directions!

When I check the bill, the address of the place where I booked is way off the actual place. The driver gets this address, which is wrong anyway. So they call up and confirm.

Originally Posted by confused_soul

Thats because Google Maps is accurate but not reasonably accurate in India yet

If I open Google map, it accurately shows the location. Why Ola doesn't is a mystery.

Originally Posted by bblost

Peak hour charges are not a static entity. They are constantly changing based on cab availability at a particular location.

'Peak hour charge' is gentleman term for 1 & 1/2 or double rate demanded by autos

[noopster]

Originally Posted by Tamarind

So beware of this SCAM from OLA

Sorry but how is this a scam? It's not exactly a hidden charge- you say you were aware of the 1.8x pricing while booking.

Sure we can argue about whether it's ethical or not. In fact in Bengaluru these guys have been warned not to indulge in any form of surge pricing. But it's not like they quietly slipped in a charge there- you were aware of it and Caveat Emptor rules!

[civic-sense]

In Bangalore, as mandated by the government, taxis are not supposed to charge more than Rs 19.50 per km during regular hours. Ola offers fares as low as Rs 10 per km. So surge pricing is admissible to the extend of 1.95X. Anything more, they are violating the law.

[speedmiester]

The new age cab aggregators and the ecommerce companies work on the principle of slow boiling of frogs. They lure us in with the discounts and the cheap prices, make us feel comfortable and feel like kings. Once we feel comfortable then the gouging starts, if one is not careful, we would end up paying more than thrice the market price for the services or goods.

The concept of surge pricing/peak hour charges are nothing but an eye wash to make up for the millions spent on attracting customers and drivers.

We will raise a big ruckus if an auto or taxi driver demands more than the meter fare, but we wouldn't bat an eye lid when paying the "Surge Price/Peak Hour Price"
Often this can be the result of prepaid or credit card payment that happens without the physical transfer of money. Out of sight is out of mind.

As always Buyers Beware!!! It is important to be aware of our rights and should be ready to look for an alternative once you are not comfortable with any service provider.

Originally Posted by civic-sense

In Bangalore, as mandated by the government, taxis are not supposed to charge more than Rs 19.50 per km during regular hours. Ola offers fares as low as Rs 10 per km. So surge pricing is admissible to the extend of 1.95X. Anything more, they are violating the law.

It is unfair on any service provider to charge more just because they provided me a discount or charged me less when I used their service earlier.

If the operating costs are increasing, then increase the fare. Do not go about conning people in the pretense of "Surge pricing/peak hour charges"

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Tamarind

Yesterday tried to book a taxi via Ola for a ride around 14Km at 15:00 hours both pickup and drop locations being inside the city itself

So beware of this SCAM from OLA

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Sorry, but this is actually a Scam. Creating artificial demand for cabs is a Scam.

At the airport last night, there were hundreds of OLA mini, and I could easily book, but was levied peak hour charges. A journey costing not more than 600 bucks, costed me 1675. Imagine my plight.

Originally Posted by msdivy

'Peak hour charge' is gentleman term for 1 & 1/2 or double rate demanded by autos

Would second noopster here. Would not call it a scam. Unethical-Yes. I see it as the honeymoon period of ultra low fares starting to wear off. Also, a point to note is that, Ola/Uber drivers have the option of switching off/on from the Ola/Uber network as they please. I assume the drivers are starting to learn the game, keep off the grid and create a scarcity. When this happens and demand increases, Ola/Uber bring in the surges to encourage more drivers to come back online. Today morning the Uber Surge at 8.30am in the morning was 2.7x. msdivy has pointed it out rightly above-Gentleman's term for the 'double meter' response from auto wallahs.

Originally Posted by noopster

But it's not like they quietly slipped in a charge there- you were aware of it and Caveat Emptor rules!

Originally Posted by sourav9385

Guys, I've got a question for the regular cab users here.

Isn't that defeating the purpose of calling a cab through a mobile phone?

Originally Posted by msdivy

If I open Google map, it accurately shows the location. Why Ola doesn't is a mystery.

Could be due to a few reasons

• We know the location is accurate. The cab driver does not know that. Some Uber guys just call and confirm that they need to come to the location google specifies. They don't ask for directions.
• Google location and accuracy is to an extent phone dependent. The phones given to the drivers as far as I have seen are mostly entry level ones. It may not show with the accuracy needed.
• Drivers themselves may not be very comfortable navigating using the maps.

[sourav9385]

Well, all that is just maddeningly unhelpful.

If we are booking through our mobile phones, it stands to reason that the cell phone has a valid internet connection.

If the driver cant figure out the damn route to my location on his/her own using GPS, then I'm better off calling a cab from the regular guys like fast track.

I don't want to spend the rest of my day barking directions into my phone, when the driver is clearly capable and equipped to locate me using his phone.

And the fare discrepancy is just ridiculous! nearly twice the normal rate at rush hour! At least my good old fast track does not charge such exorbitant prices just because it gets crowded on the damn street!

So, no thank you. No more Ola/Uber for me.