Author Topic: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?  (Read 2147 times)

Offline TheSlightEdge

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Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« on: December 16, 2019, 11:23:14 AM »
I have no way of proving this, but really convinced the gift cards/passes are all a scam. Others on Reddit have complained about this as well.

Take Uber to/from work almost every day. Pool price for around a year was always around $11-$13 (located outside NY). Started buying gift cards and passes in an effort to save some money. All of a sudden, the typical $11-$13 rides shot up to around $15-$19. SAME EXACT ROUTE. Had my friend who doesn’t have the pass/gift card order the identical ride and magic: the ride went back down to $11-$13.

I’ve had the same problem with Lyft and Via. The latter was terrific in the beginning since I bought a weekly pass that covered any rides up to $7 (anything over and I’d pay the difference), and almost all the rides fell within this range. Then, again, after around 6 months, the rides mysteriously became more expensive. A ride 5 min from my house that would normally cost $5 increased to $8-$9 and I was forced the pay the overage. Complete waste of $.

I posted now because I see that buying “discounted” Uber gift cards is becoming increasingly popular on this site. Uber doesn’t disclose its pricing algorithms and I’m convinced that once the company has  you “locked in” it can essentially charge you whatever it wants  to make up for the difference. Also, if you noticed recently, when you order Uber pool rides and elect to wait a bit longer, Uber will now offer you $1 in Uber Cash. This, in my opinion, is a way for them to provide suckier service without any cost since they’ll just make that money back when they overcharge you on a future ride.

Please excuse any typos/grammatical errors, typing on my phone here. Just want to reiterate that this is purely conjecture. Reason why I’m posting is because I want to hear others’ opinions and whether they have experienced the same issues. I’m so fed up with these ride share companies. Yes, they provide a great service, but they’re not transparent at all.

Offline ah giten

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2019, 12:10:35 PM »
I have no way of proving this, but really convinced the gift cards/passes are all a scam. Others on Reddit have complained about this as well.

Take Uber to/from work almost every day. Pool price for around a year was always around $11-$13 (located outside NY). Started buying gift cards and passes in an effort to save some money. All of a sudden, the typical $11-$13 rides shot up to around $15-$19. SAME EXACT ROUTE. Had my friend who doesn’t have the pass/gift card order the identical ride and magic: the ride went back down to $11-$13.

I’ve had the same problem with Lyft and Via. The latter was terrific in the beginning since I bought a weekly pass that covered any rides up to $7 (anything over and I’d pay the difference), and almost all the rides fell within this range. Then, again, after around 6 months, the rides mysteriously became more expensive. A ride 5 min from my house that would normally cost $5 increased to $8-$9 and I was forced the pay the overage. Complete waste of $.

I posted now because I see that buying “discounted” Uber gift cards is becoming increasingly popular on this site. Uber doesn’t disclose its pricing algorithms and I’m convinced that once the company has  you “locked in” it can essentially charge you whatever it wants  to make up for the difference. Also, if you noticed recently, when you order Uber pool rides and elect to wait a bit longer, Uber will now offer you $1 in Uber Cash. This, in my opinion, is a way for them to provide suckier service without any cost since they’ll just make that money back when they overcharge you on a future ride.

Please excuse any typos/grammatical errors, typing on my phone here. Just want to reiterate that this is purely conjecture. Reason why I’m posting is because I want to hear others’ opinions and whether they have experienced the same issues. I’m so fed up with these ride share companies. Yes, they provide a great service, but they’re not transparent at all.
I hear what your saying, but if they are doing this, they can get into some Legal trouble, no?
Unless its disclosed that you agree on every ride when confirming?..

Offline Joel

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2019, 12:11:16 PM »
I have no way of proving this, but really convinced the gift cards/passes are all a scam. Others on Reddit have complained about this as well.

Take Uber to/from work almost every day. Pool price for around a year was always around $11-$13 (located outside NY). Started buying gift cards and passes in an effort to save some money. All of a sudden, the typical $11-$13 rides shot up to around $15-$19. SAME EXACT ROUTE. Had my friend who doesn’t have the pass/gift card order the identical ride and magic: the ride went back down to $11-$13.

I’ve had the same problem with Lyft and Via. The latter was terrific in the beginning since I bought a weekly pass that covered any rides up to $7 (anything over and I’d pay the difference), and almost all the rides fell within this range. Then, again, after around 6 months, the rides mysteriously became more expensive. A ride 5 min from my house that would normally cost $5 increased to $8-$9 and I was forced the pay the overage. Complete waste of $.

I posted now because I see that buying “discounted” Uber gift cards is becoming increasingly popular on this site. Uber doesn’t disclose its pricing algorithms and I’m convinced that once the company has  you “locked in” it can essentially charge you whatever it wants  to make up for the difference. Also, if you noticed recently, when you order Uber pool rides and elect to wait a bit longer, Uber will now offer you $1 in Uber Cash. This, in my opinion, is a way for them to provide suckier service without any cost since they’ll just make that money back when they overcharge you on a future ride.

Please excuse any typos/grammatical errors, typing on my phone here. Just want to reiterate that this is purely conjecture. Reason why I’m posting is because I want to hear others’ opinions and whether they have experienced the same issues. I’m so fed up with these ride share companies. Yes, they provide a great service, but they’re not transparent at all.
If you can get proof of the same ride different pricing then you have a case

Offline Dan

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2019, 12:13:49 PM »
Yup, why speculate?

Get 2 phones at the same time and take a picture of both to get it viral.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline aygart

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2019, 12:23:59 PM »
Yup, why speculate?

Get 2 phones at the same time and take a picture of both to get it viral.
Just make sure to use non-identifying addresses.
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline TheSlightEdge

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2019, 01:03:57 PM »
Good suggestions here, appreciate it. Will test out with two phones and report back.

Offline as2

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2020, 02:56:08 PM »
Good suggestions here, appreciate it. Will test out with two phones and report back.
Any update?

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Offline how

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2020, 03:23:19 PM »
I headed reports of the  same thing happening  if you take the same route on consistent basis. Price jumps after a few trips.

Offline TheSlightEdge

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2020, 10:57:14 PM »
Any update?

Tested it a bunch of times and the price I was quoted was higher around 50% of the time. SAME EXACT ROUTE. I didn't want to post an update here because, to be fair to Uber, it wasn't happening every single time. I have my suspicions, but before I post something like that, I need to be 100% sure.

Also, per the post above, I've noticed the same thing as well. Uber is really sketchy.

Offline how

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #9 on: January 28, 2020, 11:09:48 PM »
Tested it a bunch of times and the price I was quoted was higher around 50% of the time. SAME EXACT ROUTE. I didn't want to post an update here because, to be fair to Uber, it wasn't happening every single time. I have my suspicions, but before I post something like that, I need to be 100% sure.

Also, per the post above, I've noticed the same thing as well. Uber is really sketchy.
lyft plays games to. When they offered 20% off the next ten rides, prices suddenly went up 20%....

Offline ReadsTheT&C

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2020, 01:32:25 AM »
I do this with my DW when one of us has a GC and the other doesn't and like the OP said the account with the GC isn't higher 100% of the time but maybe around 20% or so. I used to see this with ubereats delivery fees on our 2 accounts. Mine were routinely higher for the same restaurants to the same address. I screenshoted and sent as messages through the help portal and never got a real response.

Offline yelped

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2020, 01:40:47 PM »
I do this with my DW when one of us has a GC and the other doesn't and like the OP said the account with the GC isn't higher 100% of the time but maybe around 20% or so. I used to see this with ubereats delivery fees on our 2 accounts. Mine were routinely higher for the same restaurants to the same address. I screenshoted and sent as messages through the help portal and never got a real response.
Maybe send it to an investigative magazine like Vox or whatever they have out there.

Offline TheSlightEdge

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Re: Uber Pass/GC a Scam?
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2020, 05:07:51 PM »
Here’s an interesting thread on Reddit that I discovered which described the exact problem I, as well as many others, were experiencing:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/c6putx/lyft_increases_the_price_of_your_ride_when_you/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all