While you book an Uber for a place you want to visit, it shows one fare (say around Rs 1,200). But when you reach the destination, the fare exorbitantly increases and your shock shoots up — say at Rs 1,600. Even if you have followed the GPS route (as per Uber “rules”), the fares always go up. This happens even when you go to known places regularly. Secondly, the GPS never gets updated. The GPS shows even those routes where the roads are closed or where major repairs are under progress – due to which one is bound to take an alternative route. And in such cases too fares go up. Why can’t Uber keep track of such routes and intimate proper fare that is applicable, at the time of booking itself?
Thirdly, as most of the drivers, nowadays, refuse your trip, they never “register cancellations” at their end, for obvious reasons. Hence, to book again, passengers are forced to cancel the first booking in such case, the “cancellation fees” are debited to passengers’ account. This is often not paid back. One has to fight for it. What is rude is that Uber tries to “justify” these wrong fees even when driver details are provided. This is highly atrocious and unpardonable of drivers and Uber. Uber must be earning a lot of revenue just by “overcharging” and “cancellation fees” than from the operational fares!!
Above all and most importantly, Uber, as an MNC, having PAN India presence (and globally too), must have a user and customer-friendly email IDs, contacts of executives and grievance and service centres and numbers to lodge complaints and get necessary solutions. Uber, in this context, is very conveniently dodging complaints from passengers with clear intention to mop of revenue through overcharging and fees. They need to learn from other service related operators and companies and have an honest and foolproof system in place to redress customer complaints. Importantly, they need to discipline their drivers too. Incidentally, I learn that in some countries outside India, Uber does have service and call centres and resolution process exclusively for passenger complaints. So, why not in India?
If there is no intention and commitment from Uber to improve the services and change their approach towards passengers, the day is not far off, when people of Mumbai and satellite cities will totally stop patronising and using Uber. And that will be the end of Uber in Mumbai and India too. It is not even impossible to throw Uber out.
Many passengers have already decided to make out a petition against Uber’s pathetic services and unethical practices and send to the Union Transport Minister and PMO. And, also start an association/ campaign against Uber to lodge complaints through consumer bodies. It’s now or never to discipline Uber on the whole.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
