Uber upfront pricing

Uber’s upfront pricing is anything but. They quote a fare that they say is fixed but the actual fare is invariably more for no apparent reason. If you query the fare they stand by the increased fare. In the most recent email they cited airport fees which were known before the trip started and should have been included in the upfront price.

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Interesting, thanks for highlighting the issue @samwardill. Any other Community members come across fee add ons when using Uber?

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@BrendanMays I’d be happy to share more details of my experience. I have evidence of the rides and also the ridiculous response by Uber customer service. For example, they have said in their most recent email that “After further review, I can see that you were charged for $0.53 wait time fee and $4.20 Sydney Airport access fee”. The driver did not have to wait at all for me. If there was any wait it was because of the slow traffic through the Sydney Airport pickup area (which is something that Uber need to take up with the airport). Obviously the Sydney Airport access fee should have been included in the Upfront Price for a pickup scheduled from Sydney Airport.

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Were you collected from the ‘Priority Pick-up Zone (PPZ)’ or some there else?

It appears the $4.20 fee only applies for vehicles using the PPZ and not other pick up areas such as the Express Pick Up Zone. The fee is charged by Sydney Airport for both the domestic PPZ and International PPZ use.

Uber’s website does explain the fees, however, it should have been known for calculating/quoting the Uber transport fees. In the estimate/quote provided, it have any exceptions, such as fees for toll roads or airports?

The $0.53 waiting time fee seems unreasonable if you didn’t leave the driver waiting…and if it was collection from the international terminal, it appears that a driver has 15 minutes before the driver’s etag is charged. This is explained on the Uber website as well. I expect if it was the domestic terminal, the time taken to load the bags and depart after the driver stopped was charged by Uber at $0.53.

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Thanks @phb, good to know about the PPZ vs Express differences. That in itself is a point of discussion - they both sound kind of fast and I wonder how clear it is for the weary traveller. Next time I’m there, I’ll be sure to take a look.

Getting out of the Sydney airport is a bit of a nightmare no matter which way yout turn in my opinion. The train for two people is typically just as expensive as a cab/ride share into the city. However, if you catch a cab and it’s a short trip, I’ve personally experienced verbal abuse from the cab drivers on seperate occasions as they didn’t get the length of fair that they wanted after presumably waiting in the queue. And for Uber, there’s the fees as Sam has raised.

So if ever see me making a break across the tarmac and scaling a fence, you’ll know why. (Kidding, of course.)

@samwardill, if you email me the exchange at bmays@choice.com.au I’ll pass it on for consideration to our investigations team.

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I cannot speak for SYD, but most civilised airport cab ranks take pity on the drivers getting a short fare. They can collect a chit from the ‘rank boss’ that lets them come back at the head of the queue.

FWIW when I am the short fare I give a non-whinging courteous driver an extra fiver atop whatever else might be warranted to ease his pain and more often than not they then go the extra bit to help with getting luggage out and so on.

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I sympathise with the cabbies and I’ve heard they can skip the line for short fares. Didn’t seem to help on the occasions I have caught a cab from the airport in terms of an aggressive attitude, but I should clarify that I’ve had plenty of good experiences with cab drivers and I appreciate their job can be quite tough.

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The ACCC Court action over Uber pricing has landed Uber with a hefty fine of $21 million. Interestingly the Judge reduced the parties agreed penalty by $5 million stating that the $26 million agreed “greatly exceeds any amount I consider to be appropriate”.

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Many years later.

When first challenged by one customer Uber’s only reply was to provide a pro forma response on why customers were charged tolls as an added cost! Apparently Uber has now realised the error of its ways, in this instance.

Not the first time. Ignorance we are often reminded is no excuse when one is found to have acted unlawfully.

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