Uber refund for $148 city ride

Ride service looking into party group’s late-night shock

Agroup of partygoers are shocked after Uber charged them $148.17 for a 5km journey in Auckland. The group of four took an Ola ride from a Remuera address about 8pm on Friday night to the Listen In event at Mt Smart in Mt Wellington and were charged $10.86, using a 20 per cent discount code.

When the concert finished they walked to a nearby McDonald’s to have better luck booking a driver to head home.

“There was already at least 50 people there who had the same idea, all huddled in the doorway to keep warm,” said one of the group, a woman aged 23.

They tried to book an Ola home about 1am but could not be connected to a driver so they booked an Uber instead.

“It took half an hour of waiting to be connected to a driver and a cancellation before we found a driver willing to take us.”

The Uber app first quoted them $52 — four times the cost of their Ola journey earlier — and they assumed the high price was due to surge pricing because of high demand.

But when they got home about 12 minutes later — a journey of 5.8km — they saw they had been charged $148.17.

Looking at their journey in the Uber app, the original address was a pick-up address in St Mary’s Bay, not Mt Smart stadium.

“It looks weird. We definitely weren’t anywhere near St Mary’s Bay but it has been added to our journey.

“We were pretty upset as $52 that we were originally quoted was already an expensive ride fare. Then to arrive home after a freezing wait to a $148 charge was absurd.

“That is almost triple what we had been quoted.”

A spokesman for Uber said the customer has been refunded and the company is still looking into the issue.

He said that when Uber prices are surging, the customers are shown the actual fare they will be charged for their ride.

“Upfront pricing allows riders to see the total cost of a trip from their location to a destination before booking a ride,” they said.

“There are occasions when the cost of riding is higher than usual. This happens when demand from riders exceeds the supply of drivers.

“With the Listen In event happening in Auckland, there were more riders than available drivers in the late hours of Friday night and early hours of Saturday morning.”

They said in situations of increased demand customers are still given an upfront price before they request their ride.

He encouraged anyone who has a concern about their account to contact the company through the app.