[HTC]

I feel it is the problem with 'PEOPLE' rather than technology or polices. people in general (including me) tend to find hacks, shortcuts and ways to beat the system. When it works for us, we are elated. When it works against us, we become unhappy. Here the tussle is between two sets of people- customer and driver.

I am aware of whatsapp groups where people with reward points were booking rides for others and taking discounted rates for that. Not sure if it is right or wrong(selling your rewards to others), but the way secrecy was maintained to get access to such groups meant something else.

At the end it is the accountability, honesty and the willingness to provide best possible service and pay for the service is the key to solving this and many other problems.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by searacer932

Uber/Ola have become like Chennai Autowallahs now
Unless the Uber/Ola model changes I don't think this menace will go away any time soon!

Recently I traveled to Bhopal. First thing I was surprised to see so many Maruti S-presso registered as taxi. May be its true for other towns as well.

Secondly, none of the Uber guys were willing to go by app. Once booked, they call, ask the destination, fare shown in app and confirm to travel only if we were willing to pay that fare in cash/ via UPI. Once we accepted this condition, they cancelled the trip from their side and picked us up. Further trip used to be uneventful. Happened with us for 4 out of 4 bookings in the city.

Now-a-days I am factoring in additional "20 minutes" to my travel time to manage this cancellation menace!

If you reach your destination 20 minutes early then no issues but those 20 minutes are absolutely critical particularly on those airports and railway station drops!

+1. I am also following similar practice after being stung by series of cancellations.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks to BHPians for sharing some tips. Here are 3 ways that significantly reduce the chances of a cancellation.

- Use Uber Scheduling. I am now scheduling my rides, and there are added benefits if you do it 2+ hours in advance. The reliability has been 100%. .

But really, "scheduling" has been 100% reliable for me.

In my experience, Scheduling has been an even greater let down compared to spot booking. In scheduled rides, till the scheduled time there is no visibility about who is the driver. And usually one tends to pay attention to other tasks in hand till the desired moment is past - in which case it becomes slightly worse than spot booking.

My experience with scheduled ride: the driver was booked but the driver did not pick call or replied the message. The car (as visible on the map) had a mind of its own and I could see it going in opposite direction. In 5 minutes I understood that driver is not interested in going, had to cancel and start with the booking process afresh.

In another time, I couldn't understand whether the scheduled ride was allocated or not, since I couldn't see the driver details. As an alternate I booked via Ola, and after some time I see that Uber has also allocated my ride to someone. LOL

I think your second point is a more sure-shot way to ensure that driver turns up at your doorstep

[libranof1987]

This menace seems to have made enough noise for the Govt. to be involved. Not that I expect things to get better, but at least it is out in the open in a formal way.

Cab aggregators, including Ola and Uber, have been warned of strict action unless they improve their systems and redress rising consumer complaints, a senior government official said today.

The government held a meeting today with the ride-hailing platforms amid a rise in consumer complaints of alleged unfair trade practices by them, including ride cancellation policy, as drivers force customers to cancel trips after accepting bookings, which results in customers paying cancellation penalties.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ola-...laints-2962316

[adisan]

CCPA issues notices to Ola, Uber regarding 3200 complaints in 1 month (report in Hindustan Times)

Acting on rising complaints, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Friday issued notices to ride-hailing platforms Ola and Uber for unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights.

The notices were prompted by the lack of proper consumer-grievance redressal mechanism, deficiency in service, unreasonable cancellation charges and issues related to the fairness of algorithms used to charge fares among major issues, the top consumer-rights regulator said. Ola had a larger share of complaints than Uber, the CCPA’s data showed.

[Roy.S]

Originally Posted by GTO

- Use Premium. Lesser cancellations than Uber Go.

This pic is from inside my Uber XL to Blr airport last week. The vehicle had obviously been crashed at some point and there were signs of this apart from the deployed airbag. It took me a while to figure out why the steering wheel had a stitched cloth cover on the centre. The AC was barely working. The driver was a decent guy though.

Experience with Uber premier at Kolkata was terrible. The guy was 2 mins away and called immediately to ask where I was. After that he didn't move for the next 10 mins. I cancelled the ride and got myself a Uber sedan. The dude demanded 30% extra to switch on the ac! The vehicle was in bad shape. Situation with Uber is ok in Blr but in Kolkata the cabs are as bad as the superannuated yellow ambassadors.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by HTC

I feel it is the problem with 'PEOPLE' rather than technology or polices.

It's a bit of both.

Uber and its equivalents work just fine abroad. If the fares on the app are too low, drivers don't take it. If they're too high, passengers don't take it. The technical issue that the apps do idiotically is not sharing the destination with the drivers. The minute you do that, you open this mess. Apparently Ola is changing this?

The people matter too. Only in India do we have this bullshit of extorting more money for AC, only accepting cash, complaining that the CNG rate is too high, last minute cancellations, etc. This scammy mentality is one of the things that drive me up the wall. If a driver was honest and upfront about the fare and the conditions of the ride, I'd probably give him a tip for being the one honest guy amidst a sea of crooks.

[thanixravindran]

I am using Uber more frequently in the last 2 weeks in Hyderabad. I see many times they charge booking fee now in the invoice which is around 30% but sometimes none. In auto, it is as high as 50% some times. Is it their commission that is now getting transparent in the invoice? Has anyone seen this in your trip invoice?

I completely switched to cash and there is very few cancellations.

[drift87]

Things are getting better. It seems the incentives as per rating are back and remediation actions are being taken against the driver for poor service.

[SoumenD]

A good case study on ola’s downfall.

https://youtu.be/LYs4b3fTX7Y

Btw lately it has been a giant pain getting a cab but last week I took cabs twice when I had to give my car for service and got to know the reason from the horse’s (driver’s) mouth. Since a lot of us have enabled digital payment(credit card/ola money) its a deterrent for the drivers. The ola guy told me he can see if the customer has opted for cash or digital payment. For digital they mostly tend to cancel and hence we don’t get cabs.

In line with his statement while I was trying to book with cc payment mode, for 20-30 mins I didn’t get a single cab but the moment I switched to cash I got one in flat 3 mins. Of course I paid via gpay but in this case he gets the money directly rather than it coming to him from ola at a later date. To be sure I tried booking the same way while going back to pick up the car and same result.

So everyone who is facing this issue of cabs rejecting try this way. Yes you can’t use digital mode like credit card but can use gpay/phonepe/paytm(thanks to digital payment acceptance), not necessary to carry hard cash as such.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Since a lot of us have enabled digital payment(credit card/ola money) its a deterrent for the drivers. The ola guy told me he can see if the customer has opted for cash or digital payment. For digital they mostly tend to cancel and hence we don’t get cabs.

This has been the reason from earlier too but since the number of cabs (atleast in Bangalore) were higher, one could get another cab if the one linked to you cancels. Now the number of cabs are lesser and also more disgruntlement due to pay parity etc adds to higher cancellations too I think.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

This has been the reason from earlier too but since the number of cabs (atleast in Bangalore) were higher, one could get another cab if the one linked to you cancels. Now the number of cabs are lesser and also more disgruntlement due to pay parity etc adds to higher cancellations too I think.

Pay parity they cant do much neither can we and that's not their reason for cancellations as per the Driver. Their main grudge is Ola/Uber take too long to pay their money and deduct heavy commissions. This way(cash booking) they get the money upfront and can decide when to pay the aggregators. Since everyone uses UPI now, payment in cash(via UPI) is pretty easy for customer.

About fares they themselves agree is quite high now and don't have much complaints as such considering Diesel rates came down but fares remained same.

[jkrishnakj]

I used Uber extensively at Hyderabad last week, 8 trips in total over 3 days.

Surprise surprise, not one person asked where I wanted to go and not once did I get cancelled or had to cancel. Something must have happened at Hyderabad recently.

[JoshMachine]

Have had to use Uber in Pune about 5-6 times in the past couple of months, some airport runs included therein.

Whenever I used "card" as payment option, my patience got severely tested - drivers cancelling randomly, taking too long to show up etc. and this inspite of the distance + fare being reasonably high at peak times.
The moment I switched to "cash", the bookings got confirmed instantly, irrespective of the distance or the fare involved.

Unfortunately, I don't see any respite from this situation here in Pune. The cab drivers don't seem to care about any negative feedback that might get generated.

[shipnil]

I have a different question. How do you book a non- CNG sedan on Uber or Ola? About a week back I booked Uber twice from home to Pune station and, reverse on the next day. I booked uber prime both times and got Dzire CNG allocated both times. We couldn't fit big luggage in boot and had to keep on front seat with 4 of us squeezed in the rear seat. I was hoping to get a diesel sedan.