used to be good.. while it lasted.
Today I made an order using Uber from La Sirena. The total was 5,883 DOP, a little over $100 USD. I checked the stats of the driver and it said he had 0 deliveries, so I guess he’s new. No biggie, everybody has to start at the beginning, right? It took quite a while for him to pick up my order, but I think Uber started doing this in the past 6 months or so (or the drivers do it?) they wait at a place for another order from the same place/restaurant so they can double-dip. If your order is late it’s no big deal to them, they will sit there and wait for the money. With grocery items, being late isn’t the end of the world for me. Nothing perishable, I was cool and not annoyed by it. It becomes a problem when it’s a pizza or hamburger or something and they take 90 minutes to get it to me because they waited for another ‘parallel’ delivery. A pizza I will put in the oven for a few but a hamburger? It’s not something you want to eat after it's been sitting out for 90 minutes. They have like worms and stuff.
So I receive the usual “We’re sorry your order is late” message from Uber, and the updated delivery time was supposed to be 7:40 pm. (it notified me that the driver had “another stop” before me – obviously since he sat there waiting for the other order).
At 7:09 pm, I received a message: “we hope you enjoy your order”. The order was marked delivered in the app. I had been watching the driver progress map thingy and the driver never made it no-where near me anyway. I don;t know where he delivered my stuff, it wasn't like an accidental delivery to my next-door neighbor. Obviously he delivered it to himself or his girlfriend or the other “another stop” person. They have a ‘call driver’ feature in the app, and I war-dialed him without any response. He just didn't answer.
Contacting support has gotten me nowhere, they don’t respond either.
My permanent address is in San Francisco area, and I know people who work for Uber there. AFAIK that’s their headquarters. They say they can’t do anything because it’s basically a different company, like a franchise, and told me that I should just leave a bad review. REALLY? I think these guys maybe need to be kicked out of DR for good because the company seems like it could be a bunch of thugs robbing tourists (and probably locals, too). I feel robbed, anyway. Maybe it's just a fluke.
Last time I used the app to get an Uber from SDQ airport they driver picked me up, went down the ramp and canceled my trip (which charges you like $10 USD, right?). At the bottom of the ramp he said that the Uber fee wasn’t enough and demanded 3x the rate in cash. I don’t request Ubers from the airport anymore.
They probably need to be shown the way out the door in my opinion. Maybe I’ll hear back from them, mañana, hopefully mañana mañana, but I think I’ll probably have to do a charge-back dispute on my credit card, which is a pain. Uber should just do the right thing.
On the other hand, maybe the driver got creamed by a truck or something. That would suck for him, and I’d feel bad. That kind of thing happens. But they could have at least communicated to me about it, instead of pretending as if I received the order and charged me for it. I drove over to Bravo at 9pm to buy the stuff the guy didn’t deliver, because I actually needed the items.
Today I made an order using Uber from La Sirena. The total was 5,883 DOP, a little over $100 USD. I checked the stats of the driver and it said he had 0 deliveries, so I guess he’s new. No biggie, everybody has to start at the beginning, right? It took quite a while for him to pick up my order, but I think Uber started doing this in the past 6 months or so (or the drivers do it?) they wait at a place for another order from the same place/restaurant so they can double-dip. If your order is late it’s no big deal to them, they will sit there and wait for the money. With grocery items, being late isn’t the end of the world for me. Nothing perishable, I was cool and not annoyed by it. It becomes a problem when it’s a pizza or hamburger or something and they take 90 minutes to get it to me because they waited for another ‘parallel’ delivery. A pizza I will put in the oven for a few but a hamburger? It’s not something you want to eat after it's been sitting out for 90 minutes. They have like worms and stuff.
So I receive the usual “We’re sorry your order is late” message from Uber, and the updated delivery time was supposed to be 7:40 pm. (it notified me that the driver had “another stop” before me – obviously since he sat there waiting for the other order).
At 7:09 pm, I received a message: “we hope you enjoy your order”. The order was marked delivered in the app. I had been watching the driver progress map thingy and the driver never made it no-where near me anyway. I don;t know where he delivered my stuff, it wasn't like an accidental delivery to my next-door neighbor. Obviously he delivered it to himself or his girlfriend or the other “another stop” person. They have a ‘call driver’ feature in the app, and I war-dialed him without any response. He just didn't answer.
Contacting support has gotten me nowhere, they don’t respond either.
My permanent address is in San Francisco area, and I know people who work for Uber there. AFAIK that’s their headquarters. They say they can’t do anything because it’s basically a different company, like a franchise, and told me that I should just leave a bad review. REALLY? I think these guys maybe need to be kicked out of DR for good because the company seems like it could be a bunch of thugs robbing tourists (and probably locals, too). I feel robbed, anyway. Maybe it's just a fluke.
Last time I used the app to get an Uber from SDQ airport they driver picked me up, went down the ramp and canceled my trip (which charges you like $10 USD, right?). At the bottom of the ramp he said that the Uber fee wasn’t enough and demanded 3x the rate in cash. I don’t request Ubers from the airport anymore.
They probably need to be shown the way out the door in my opinion. Maybe I’ll hear back from them, mañana, hopefully mañana mañana, but I think I’ll probably have to do a charge-back dispute on my credit card, which is a pain. Uber should just do the right thing.
On the other hand, maybe the driver got creamed by a truck or something. That would suck for him, and I’d feel bad. That kind of thing happens. But they could have at least communicated to me about it, instead of pretending as if I received the order and charged me for it. I drove over to Bravo at 9pm to buy the stuff the guy didn’t deliver, because I actually needed the items.
