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While I do suspect that he might not have paid close attention to warnings of surge pricing (I'm an avid Uber user, and I've always known if price is surging), I do think he is right to be irritated at the company's lack of response. Even if what he's claiming is totally false, there's a good chance he fully believes in his side of the story, whether out of malice or honest misunderstanding, and Uber should treat this as an opportunity to reacquaint a user with their service, rebuild a relationship, and minimize any possibly damaging PR.

The lack of customer support is a problem with many of the software-eating-the-world startups, one that I think will hinder wider adoption. When you're automatically charging customers variable prices for services of variable quality that often deal with your safety or personal property, you should probably provide customers with effective recourse.



The post is from December, 2013. Uber added the surge confirmation thingie in February, 2014.


Perhaps the type-it-in confirmation bit, but they've been very plainly notifying users of surge pricing since at least 2012:

http://blog.uber.com/2012/03/14/clear-and-straight-forward-s...


Uber should really update the price, not get people to sign off on a "multiple".

They are doing every thing they can to avoid disclosing the price, because of "sticker shock".

That's simply shady marketing, howver effective.

On that page it shows a fare and a multiple...it would be trivial for them to show the "adjusted price".

http://blog.uber.com/2012/03/14/clear-and-straight-forward-s...

Instead, the "old price" is in a tiny font and the "new multiple" is in tripe size font.

The whold concept that by agreeing to a "multiple" is the same thing as "agreeing to a new price" belies the fact that they are not disclosing the new price.

They are leaving only the information that allows it to be inferred.


for services...that often deal with your safety or personal property, you should probably provide customers with effective recourse

^^^ This is a well stated, & concise summary of the main issue.


Case in point: I can afford Uber, but don't user Uber, because these stories make it hard to trust them




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