Uber Glitch Charges Passengers 100 Times the Advertised Price, Resulting in Crosstown Fares in the Thousands of Dollars (washingtonpost.com) 85
Uber passengers in multiple cities were startled Wednesday when they were charged 100 times the advertised fare for short trips, a glitch that sparked jokes about surge pricing gone wild. From a report: Riders in cities including Washington and San Diego took to social media to post about the sky-high rates, a problem that Uber confirmed, although it declined to say how widespread the issue was. Some who ordered food for quick delivery said they were also overcharged. One social media user reported that Uber maxed out her husband's card with a charge of $1,905, when it was supposed to be $19.05. "Not cool, especially on his birthday," she added. Another woman posted to social media that she was charged $1,308 for a $13.08 trip. The charge was so high it triggered a fraud alert, according to a screen shot the rider posted on Twitter.
Uber said the glitch has been fixed. The company said the fare would be corrected so riders are charged only the amount for their actual trip, though they may temporarily see an inaccurate trip fare on their credit or debit cards. Passengers won't need to dispute the charges with their banks.
Uber said the glitch has been fixed. The company said the fare would be corrected so riders are charged only the amount for their actual trip, though they may temporarily see an inaccurate trip fare on their credit or debit cards. Passengers won't need to dispute the charges with their banks.
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Doesn't Amazon have a stake in Uber. Looks like they're just making up for the money lost on Amazon's camera price glitch. Does Uber use AWS?
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I always forget trivial details like that.
I'm sure nobody paid overlimit charges.
I'm sure nobody get dinged for fraud.
I don't see the need for Uber to compensate anyone.
Is this a checklist of excuses you expect Uber and their friendly press will roll out when complaints roll in?
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This is not a mundane detail, Michael! Lumberg is sure going to notice a thousand dollar Uber charge!
Happened to me (Score:4, Funny)
It happened to me. $1300 Uber Ride. I just figured it was surge pricing.
Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Insightful)
> Passengers won't need to dispute the charges with their banks.
I absolutely would dispute it! They'll get hit with a $35 chargeback fee. They incorrectly charged you! It doesn't matter that they released a news statement saying "we'll fix it, please don't dispute!".
This is exactly what disputing the charge was made for!!! Yay, Uber gets hit with fees!!!
Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Insightful)
Absolutely. Dispute the charge!
This won't ding Uber's risk profile with card issuers/acquirers, but it will give them a minimum amount of pain for the error, and more reason to not make such mistakes in the future.
And then also card holders were damaged by unavailable credit or lost access to funds. This will never be recovered, but Uber ought to offer something.
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Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Insightful)
Two reasons to do this anyways:
1. Uber can get dinged hard if they retaliate against customers disputing plainly incorrect charges.
2. Lyft.
Re:Happened to me (Score:4, Informative)
Uber can get dinged hard if they retaliate against customers disputing plainly incorrect charges.
Not when the customers opportunistically dispute charges they already know Uber is going to roll back themselves. That could also get you in trouble with your credit card issuer, most or all of which make you certify that you made a good-faith effort to resolve the problem with the merchant [chargebacks911.com], prior to disputing the charge with them.
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If you HAVE contacted Uber about the wrong charge, whether or not they promise to reverse it, IF your card payment is due soon, you MUST dispute the charge that has NOT YET been reversed in order that you NOT BE REQUIRED to pay the wrongfully charged amount with your upcoming payment under you card's terms of service. If, like me, you pay your card's full statement balance each month, you may want to pay the statement balance MINUS the disputed amount (provided you DID initiate a dispute with your card) PL
Re: Happened to me (Score:3)
Posted earlier: "Just don't do it if you like using Uber since they'll probably ban your account"
Banning you, or *any* form of sanction, for disputing the overcharge, no matter if you were informed of proactive resolution, is retaliation. It's a violation of virtually every merchant agreement, Fair credit laws, and a tort.
Most card issuers will already have a resolution process working for these sorts of events, and will permit the merchant to adjust overcharges. This is similar to what happens when weather
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Banning you, or *any* form of sanction, for disputing the overcharge, no matter if you were informed of proactive resolution, is retaliation.
Please explain (with citations to the relevant authority for this sort of situation) exactly why it's retaliation when (1) the merchant already promised they were going to fix it, and (2) in full knowledge of that, you went ahead and disputed the charge (and in so doing, as I mentioned in my last post, certifying that you made a good-faith effort to resolve the problem with the merchant) without giving the merchant any opportunity to actually fix it as they promised.
I'll be very surprised if you can. That
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OK, you plainly did not read or understand my post.
I was responding to a previous post:
"Just don't do it if you like using Uber since they'll probably ban your account"
Which was a warning to maybe not lodge a dispute against Uber since the errors were being proactively reversed. I disagreed with that, BTW. Addressing your post, point by point:
"Please explain (with citations to the relevant authority for this sort of situation) exactly why it's retaliation when (1) the merchant already promised they were goi
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Nothing you said is incorrect, Mr[s]. AC -- it's just addressing a completely different situation than the one at issue here.
The problem happened on Wednesday, and Uber said they had fixed it on Thursday. There's no credit card company under the sun that requires payment immediately after the end of a billing cycle -- most are around 3 weeks. Plenty of time to understand whether the merchant is actually fixing the problem (to the extent the errant charge was even finalized on your bill before they caught
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So then they never get that person's business again for their mistake. Person uses Lyft, instead. Brilliant.
Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Insightful)
Also some customers who are paying with debit card, may have overdrawn their account and would have a a $35 overdraft fee.
While I understand the economics on why, banks seem to love charging people for being poor.
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Seriously, yes. If you don't have the funds to buy something, then you shouldn't enable the transaction! There was maybe a scenario for this with paper checks, where some snafu on your part made you forget your balance. Then that check, which gets cleared days later, still goes through. You're paying the $35 or whatever overdraft protection to avoid the hassle of whatever necessary service you wrote that check for.
Point-of-transaction things, like an uber ride or movie popcorn or whatever... yeah - decl
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Don't forget, banks will charge overdraft fees for ATTEMPTING to overdraw. Depending on the account type and your history, they may charge the fee AND decline payment. Then there's the other late fees. So Uber charges you hundreds, leaving you near overdrawn. Then 3 regular bills try to auto-pay from your account and cause overdraft fees. Then they add late payment fees to your account.
At that point, even if Uber gives you a full refund, you won't be able to pay all your bills (and associated late and overd
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I don't frequently agree with an AC, but this is one such occasion.
The GP post is being purely malicious for personal gratification (The "Fuck UBER" sentiment). However, if everyone sought out personal gain or malicious detriment for honest errors, overall costs would go up. And then you're just fucking yourself.
That's why frivolous lawsuits are illegal. They end up being a burden on everyone.
Re:Happened to me (Score:5, Interesting)
Step 2 - never use a card that can reach into your bank account ever again, for any purpose
Step 3 - cancel any card that can reach into your bank account
Debit Cards may look like Credit Cards, but they are not, barely so even in the most superficial sense. There is a large amount of legal regulation on credit cards, most of them protecting you not the credit card company, regulations that do apply to debit cards. Still further, when there is an error, with a credit card they have to fight to get the money from you, whereas with a debit card you have to fight to get the money back from them.
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When you make a purchase with your debit card, you should have the choice of running it as a debit or credit purchase. Always choose credit. This will insure that you are protected by the card company's zero-liability policy—you will not be responsible for unauthorized transactions.
It has nothing to do with what you are responsible for, and everything to do with your money being gone from your account and now you having to fight to get it back. Choosing "credit" doesnt mean diddly when they yank the money out of your account seconds after your purchase.
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When you make a purchase with your debit card, you should have the choice of running it as a debit or credit purchase. Always choose credit. This will insure that you are protected by the card company's zero-liability policy—you will not be responsible for unauthorized transactions.
It has nothing to do with what you are responsible for, and everything to do with your money being gone from your account and now you having to fight to get it back. Choosing "credit" doesnt mean diddly when they yank the money out of your account seconds after your purchase.
Wrong again. Debt is still your money, it's just that someone else is between you and the vendor. That someone else isn't going to lose money for you, they will insist you pay the debt you owe regardless of whether you think it was fair.
So not only have you lost money, you've also screwed your credit rating in the process by refusing to honour your debt..
The problem with using other people's money is that they'll expect it back... and some.
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What a fucking retard
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Step 1 - dispute the charge if its a debit card, absolutely 100% no questions just do it
Step 2 - never use a card that can reach into your bank account ever again, for any purpose
Step 3 - cancel any card that can reach into your bank account
Debit Cards may look like Credit Cards, but they are not, barely so even in the most superficial sense. There is a large amount of legal regulation on credit cards, most of them protecting you not the credit card company, regulations that do apply to debit cards. Still further, when there is an error, with a credit card they have to fight to get the money from you, whereas with a debit card you have to fight to get the money back from them.
A popular myth propagated by credit card companies (Visa/MC/AMEX). You do get the same protections with debit cards, especially in most civilised countries where banks and credit providers will be raked over coals for pretending they can't apply a charge back to a debit card. Functionally, debit cards work the same as credit cards, except you cut out the middleman, that's why they love to propagate this myth that debit cards have no protection... you're screwing them out of their cut of your money when you
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I absolutely would dispute it! They'll get hit with a $35 chargeback fee.
No, they won't. Not if they already fixed it. In fact, not even if they fix it after you complain.
You're just inflating your bank's customer service costs, and not costing Uber a penny.
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They'll get hit with a $35 chargeback fee.
No they won't. Disputes won't result in a chargeback when the company corrects their mistake. But congratulations on wasting your time and being a dick to a company trying to do the right thing. You're certainly showing them that they should be good corporate citizens in the future.
Burning question (Score:2)
It happened to me. $1300 Uber Ride.
When the final screen came up to rate the driver, were the tip amounts also based on the $1300 ride fee???
I was wondering if some drivers got some massive tips that were later pulled...
You can bet... (Score:4, Interesting)
You know the glitch didn't pay drivers a penny more...It's OK to charge the customers too much by mistake, but heaven forbid you pay your drivers to much by mistake.
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Why would the glitch pay drivers more? Are you trying to say Uber needs their glitches to pay drivers more? Do you realize that the charges were refunded? You should think this through some more.
Next time, buy Uber ride on Amazon (Score:1)
Hey, it worked for cameras [slashdot.org].
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The only thing rust is good for is TETANUS
Great name for Rust malware!
Uber cars are an appreciating asset (Score:2)
Prices were raised in expectation of the cars becoming fully-self-driving.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
There is no ???
The company can invest in the millions of dollars for a few days and return the amount and collect the interest.
Uber could had used this to buy back some of their stock, causing its price to rise, then sell it back out.
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Uber could had used this to buy back some of their stock, causing its price to rise, then sell it back out.
Invest, yes. But this they can not do. Not without a massive hammer landing on them.
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is very specific that this type of stock buyback is an illegal market manipulation and it is still enforced by the SEC. Rule 10b-18 has been around since 1982 and revised in 2003 to try to make it clear how to do buybacks without triggering the Exchange Act, but it's not a blanket grant of immunity even if you obey 10b-18 provisions. It is possible to legally do buybacks without meetin
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Company is temporarily short on cash
Uber pulls in fucking obscene profits. However, since the SV/VC world is in a panicky race against each other to nail down self-driving IP as fast as possible, they're reinvesting those profits and then some; hence their overall [pathetic] position.
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There are operating profits and balance sheet profits. Extremely profitable companies can show a loss by reinvesting in research more than what they make in profits. This helps them avoid taxes.
Like Uber, Apple is also not profitable as it pays all the profits out as royalties to Apple Ireland. Noone will say Apple is unprofitable
On a 6.70 ride in Austin the driver gets 3 dollars. How is that not profitable for Uber? Running an app and data center only takes so much money.
The model is
1)When you are growing
Financial glitches getting more common (Score:2)
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With both fiat and crypto you are just one glitch away from ruin.
Fuck no; crypto makes fiat look good. I imagine there are plenty of us who never even thought we'd see that...
Overdraft Fees (Score:3)
If a fare was suppose to be $40 and Uber charges $4,000, what happens if the rider gets hit by their bank with an overdraft fee? Will Uber cover that?
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They should. Debit cards don't have the same chargeback rules, but the offending merchant should make customers whole.
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They should. Debit cards don't have the same chargeback rules, but the offending merchant should make customers whole.
A popular myth credit card companies like to propagate is that debit cards don't have protection, the truth is they have the same regulatory protection as credit cards so if you need to do a chargeback, you can.
But apart from that you're dead on the money, an offending merchant should fix any costs arrears caused by their error. I say should because in the US, they're very good at avoiding this obligation.
However, what kind of savings account has a $4,000 overdraft? If a merchant tried to take $4,000
Re: Overdraft Fees (Score:2)
Debit protections differ mostly in maximum exposure, limits, and recovery. Just different. And of course risk models.
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Will Uber cover that?
So you've never had a bank account.
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Maybe OP has a bank account but is not stupid enough to use a Debit card with one, so has never had to see how such screwups play out.
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And this is why you never use a debit card outside of an ATM (and even then watch for skimmers). If your number is stolen or a merchant fucks up, your entire bank account is zero for the duration. Have fun paying bills for a couple weeks.
Easy come, easy go (Score:5, Funny)
Damn good thing I just saved all that money on Amazon camera gear....
Uber coders heard Kelenick was coming back (Score:2)
So they got all excited and started doing slimy things “by accident” again.
AB Testing (Score:2)
Nobody cares if it's your birthday (Score:2)
"Not cool, especially on his birthday,"
Maybe I'm getting old, but does anyone actually give a crap about their birthday anymore? Like the Patton Oswalt skit says, you get 20 birthdays. After 21, you only get a birthday on the 10's. Which, I guess if it was this guy's 40th, then I guess it's a bummer. Otherwise, pointless unneeded detail.