[selfdrive]

Tried using Uber for a day commute to my workplace.

I booked an Uber Go hoping I would get a small hatchback. While the driver was polite and the car was clean, it was a Maruti Eeco. The top part of the seatbelt was in place, but the bottom part nowhere to be seen.

For the return trip, I booked an Uber premium. The car I got was a Tata Indigo (quite dirty on the outside). I dont know in which parallel universe an Indigo is a premium car. After hearing some stories about Uber pool, I did not dare book a pool cab.

I spent a total of 700 bucks for really rubbish cars. I will be moving back to my own car for the next year I guess.

[bullet-tooth]

I constantly prefer Uber to Ola and the reason being the consistency in pricing. Today morning I booked an Ola mini from home to office at 115 INR. After I got down the app shows a total bill of 150 INR. Uber on the other does not do this.

[Caramba]

Uber in Bangalore is really going down the drain. The cabs are rundown the wait times are ridiculous and misleading sometimes. Sometimes the app does not tell you the driver is completing another trip till five minutes into the wait! Yesterday I waited for my Uber which was "9 minutes" away completing another trip. After a 25 minute wait the driver cancelled. The app very Kindly booked another one for me which was "10 minutes" away, but since I wanted to reach my destination this year I decided to drive myself.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Caramba

the wait times are ridiculous and misleading sometimes. Sometimes the app does not tell you the driver is completing another trip till five minutes into the wait!

This. This is a major problem and it has happened to me in Bangalore, Gurgaon and Mumbai. They don't tell you that the driver is completing another trip until the free cancellation time (5 minutes) is over. It is particularly bad near my home - I can see that the estimate is fine (5-10 minutes to reach my home), but at the junction near my home the drivers turn right instead of left to drop their current passenger to a nearby tech park. And that additional return trip adds 20-30 minutes to the overall wait time. I stopped taking Uber during the morning rush hour.

[Ajitsingh208]

I use Uber for intra city and Ola for outstation trips, But I have noticed a very disturbing trend. Even if I book an Outstation cab a couple of days in advance for 5 AM, the ride request to the drivers goes through only 1 hour before, what this means is that only drivers who have been driving through the night get this request and a sleepy driver shows up to drive you for the whole day. Then I have to ensure he doesn't sleep by continuously speaking to him till at least the Mumbai Pune Expressway is over. Has happened to me thrice now and I am now thinking of booking a private cab rather than Ola or Uber for Outstation trips.

Has anyone else faced this too?

Cheers!
Ajit

[atnyia]

Originally Posted by Ajitsingh208

Even if I book an Outstation cab a couple of days in advance for 5 AM, the ride request to the drivers goes through only 1 hour before, what this means is that only drivers who have been driving through the night get this request and a sleepy driver shows up to drive you for the whole day.
Has happened to me thrice now and I am now thinking of booking a private cab rather than Ola or Uber for Outstation trips.

Ajit, I booked a cab to Pune from Mumbai Airport via Makemytrip. They in turn gave the booking to Goibibo. These are proper outstation taxis with drivers knowing about the trip well in advance (his words, I got an SMS just 2 hours before).
Also, this was cheaper than aggregators by 15%.

[silverado]

I use OLA a lot and on most occasions I have been a satisfied user.
I don't not book anything other than OlaMicro or Olashare, hence I don't have much expectations about Cab types - Its wagon R always.

But cabs have been clean and service has been good, the only issue being they need guidance all the time, which is not the case with UBER.

[Prafful_Rathod]

Originally Posted by Caramba

Uber in Bangalore is really going down the drain. The cabs are rundown the wait times are ridiculous and misleading sometimes. Sometimes the app does not tell you the driver is completing another trip till five minutes into the wait! Yesterday I waited for my Uber which was "9 minutes" away completing another trip. After a 25 minute wait the driver cancelled. The app very Kindly booked another one for me which was "10 minutes" away, but since I wanted to reach my destination this year I decided to drive myself.

Exactly. This cancellation charge thing is being misused by Uber.

Last week I had booked a cab in Mumbai the driver was "5 minutes away' I called him after 10 minutes, no answer, after 15 minutes he canceled and I was given another cab showing waiting time of 10 minutes, I was slightly disappointed but decided to wait since my parents were also traveling with me. After 10 minute that driver too canceled the trip and Uber alloted another cab with waiting time of "20 minutes' as the driver was completing nearby trip.

I was fed up and tried canceling instantly but as per their logic I had already crossed time for cancellation which is weird. If the driver cancels the trip then user should get a chance to cancel his next alloted cab (without cancellation charges). Why should I suffer a delay of more than half an hour because their driver are not able to come on time and keep canceling.

This happens far too often, apart from this I have had no major issues with Uber and found them cheaper than Ola (almost always)

[skchettry]

Have always used Ola in Mumbai although had downloaded the Uber app on my mobile which I never used and later deleted it. The primary reason is based on feedback from Ola drivers who happened to be working for both Ola and Uber. They were the ones who told me that Uber works well for the drivers but passengers end up paying a bit more. On few ocassions I got much bigger cars than the micro that I usually book - got a Cruze once and couple of times Indica and Dezire. Otherwise most of the times it would be a Wagon R. But weird things that I noticed on many ocassions is that a waiting time of 5 minutes could turn out to be a good 20-25 minutes or you could be alloted a car whose waiting time mentioned to you would be 15 minutes, but if you check the app, you could find a few others standing unhired very close by.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by skchettry

.....
But weird things that I noticed on many ocassions is that a waiting time of 5 minutes could turn out to be a good 20-25 minutes or you could be alloted a car whose waiting time mentioned to you would be 15 minutes, but if you check the app, you could find a few others standing unhired very close by.

I have the same observation as well.
The phantom cars shown in the app could as well be a marketing ploy to attract bookings. Have seen this consistently happen... At the time of booking, 3-4 cars in immediate vicinity and time for arrival is shown as within 5 minutes, BUT the allotted cab is invariably further off and in many cases still doing a trip and the actual arrival time takes longer than 10 minutes.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by whitewing

I have the same observation as well.
The phantom cars shown in the app could as well be a marketing ploy to attract bookings. Have seen this consistently happen... At the time of booking, 3-4 cars in immediate vicinity and time for arrival is shown as within 5 minutes, BUT the allotted cab is invariably further off and in many cases still doing a trip and the actual arrival time takes longer than 10 minutes.

There may be a more interesting explanation for this:

When you open Uber and those mini black cars appear dotted around your local area map, you breathe a sigh of relief knowing a swift journey home -- bypassing sweaty public transport -- is within reach. But, according to a new study, the little cars are a total lie. "The presence of those virtual cars on the passenger's screen does not necessarily reflect an accurate number of drivers who are physically present or their precise locations," two employees of New York think tank Data & Society, which is due to publish the findings soon, write on current affairs site Slate. "Instead, these phantom cars are part of a 'visual effect' that Uber uses to emphasise the proximity of drivers to passengers. Not surprisingly, the visual effect shows cars nearby, even when they might not actually exist."

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/uber-algorithm-fake

[Dr.Naren]

I hardly use Ola or Uber. I had no choice today, had to use one in Bangalore. The trip was from E City to Malleswaram. It was during 10 30 AM. Ola app said Rs. 1050 and it was Rs. 583 in Uber. The car category was similar. I booked Uber. A swift Dzire picked me up. The driver cited traffic and road blocks in the suggested route. He took a very long route (used Nice Road).

The bill was Rs. 1561 . I paid and left. After few hours I sent feedback to Uber in App. I am shocked!! They refunded me the extra amount charged as Uber Credits in just 5 mins, really impressed with their customer support. Posting the screenshots.

See the route taken

Uber adjusted the amount after feedback

Super fast action and reply by Uber

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

They refunded me the extra amount charged as Uber Credits in just 5 mins, really impressed with their customer support.

I had a divergent experience with the their support. I took the NICE road as a preferred route, and I paid for the toll as was the case for some earlier trips.
Since some time payments were via e-Wallets, this time paid by cash since there wasn't enough balance.
To my surprise they had included toll fares in the bill and that too for an incorrect amount (Rs 12 excess).
When I notified them about this, they responded telling that to avoid such billing mistakes, I should pay electronically!! And they never bothered responding to the incorrect toll amount, on top of this they have charged GST@2.5% and SGST/UTGST@2.5% on the amount including the toll!!
While the amount involved is small, I'm taken aback by how companies take advantage of customers.
Right now, tempted to take them consumer court, not sure how much of my time needs to be wasted on this though.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by whitewing

To my surprise they had included toll fares in the bill and that too for an incorrect amount (Rs 12 excess).

My actual bill was Rs. 1560. They had included 200 bucks for tolls. It was actually higher than actual. Anyways uber refunded me Rs. 977 as credits. I just made it a point that amount varied by big margin for no fault of mine. I do not know Bangalore roads very well and depend on Google maps.

I used Uber 2 more times on same day. The bill was correct both the times. I was charged the same amount as promised before the trip. It was deducted from Uber credits .

[binand]

Was in Chennai today. Took an Uber from the airport to my ultimate destination (Kelambakkam, 32 km) for Rs. 510 which included the IT Expressway toll.

For return (which was to Central station; 34 km) I had to take a Fasttrack since I was having difficulty finding an Uber. The bill was Rs. 725, plus Rs. 25 toll on the IT Expressway.

Both were similar cars (Swift). As evident, Fasttrack was 50% more expensive. On their credit side, they sent the driver from Sholinganallur after I booked through their call center.

I did wish Google Maps integrated Fasttrack in Chennai and elsewhere. They have an enviable product that Olas and Ubers of the world can learn from, though a bit pricey (I think they do aggregation in addition to own fleet operations; which could be the reason prices are high).