U*er has been pestering me every time I book a ride to the airport to reserve a ride for the way home upon arrival. I had resisted this until now because I never saw the point of doing it. This last trip out, however, U*er, once again, asked me to reserve the trip home, and so I did it. They assured me that I could click a button saying that I had arrived, and that a driver would pick me up and take me home. Seems pretty simple if you are in the ride sharing business, right?
No, it apparently is not. I waited until I got my baggage and clicked the “I’m ready” button. U*er assigned a driver that was 24 minutes away. This is the Friday after Thanksgiving, so it was possible, I suppose to have no drivers, but Lyft would have had a driver there in four minutes, so, for whatever reason, this driver accepted the U*er ride. Well, he sort of accepted it, because five minutes later, he cancelled picking me up.
After the driver cancelled, the ride then went into a “Priority pickup confirmed. Your driver will meet you soon” state, and it sat there for 30 minutes. I called U*er, and talked to an agent who said that U*er had an issue on their end and that the only thing I could do was cancel the original trip and book a new one. She said she would document it so that U*er would “try to” honor my reservation’s rate. Well, so after an elapsed 60 minutes or so, I was in a $55.66 U*er instead of a $15.44 U*er, but I thought U*er would make good on it.
After going back and forth literally a dozen times, this is what U*er has to say:
I’m sorry to hear about the confusion regarding your ride fare.
I’ve reviewed your trip and can confirm that the amount you paid, $55.56, is within the estimated price range you were shown before requesting the trip. We’ve verified that you weren’t charged more than the estimated price.
If you have any further questions or believe there was an error, please feel free to reach out to us. We’re here to help.
Thank you for being a loyal member of U*er One. We appreciate your understanding and patience.
They said that six different times, using the same language. The automated agent said it. The agent through U*er “Help” said it. The agent through direct messaging on X said it. What it comes down to is “F-off! You had a reservation, we screwed up, and you are stuck with it.”
So, a few conclusions:
- DO NOT TRUST U*ER to do an airport pickup. They have no interest in honoring a reservation. They do not compensate you if the pickup stands you up or is never fulfilled. I was not looking for a free ride, only a ride at the agreed-upon rate.
- Shop around. In Phoenix, we have Lyft and Waymo as well as U*er.
- There is no point in dealing with U*er support. They are not empowered to resolve an issue and just read from a script. I requested a one-time “courtesy credit” to split the difference in the costs, and they never even addressed that.
Here is the list of U*er people who could have fixed this:
- Gwen – the original agent who told me to cancel my $15.44 ride.
- AI agent – I had low expectations for this, so I don’t blame AI.
- Mae – sent her the screen shot of $15.44 ride. Turfed me to a different team.
- Karina – told me that $15.44 and $55.56 are the same. Closed issue.
- Kartik – told me that $15.44 and $55.56 are the same. Closed issue.
I’ve been an U*er rider since 2011. I am an U*er One member. I would have thought U*er would have had some good will toward me and would have at least said, “Here’s $25, now go away.” But, they would rather have me shop around. So be it.
Remember the old adage that says that if you like a company’s service you will tell one person, but if you are wronged you will tell 12? You are one of the 12!