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UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

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Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#121
post #84

Similar thing happened to me with Square. I used their debit card and applied a boost for grocery shopping. This promised some percent discount if I shopped at a grocery store. I did a sizable purchase (>$50) and at checkout withdrew $20 in cashback. Turned out, they had hidden conditions for denying the boost if the transaction involves cashback (no way to know this at all). I contacted support who just gave the tem…

That's the brilliant thing about being "at scale": as long as the incidents are infrequent enough that doesn't happen to essentially everyone, it's much cheaper to leave a wake of pissed-off ex-customers than it is to hire and support actual customer service.

It's also the sort of thing that is catnip to senators who want to score points against Big Tech.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#122
post #107
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A chargeback is a nuclear option, and pretty much every company you will ever deal with will burn you as a customer if you exercise it.

If you have to do a chargeback you should never give that company access to your credit card again.

Yes indeed, so, companies that you can't trust, but can't afford to piss off, should be the definition of anti-trust targets.

In an ideal world.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#123
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you contact the bank or a card company for a chargeback they will likely block you on Uber. Which might be PIA when traveling. All hail monopolies.

I was blacklisted on Uber a few years ago when I reported a security vulnerability to them. They said no such vulnerability existed. I sent them video. They said I must have been doctoring the video because they couldn't reproduce it. They then banned me. This was in 2015. They were then sued because the vulnerability apparently identified someone's affair[0]. I sent my email exchange with Uber to the attorney who su…

I originally tried/preferred Lyft because of all the bad publicity and stigma about Uber.

However, I read that many drivers work for both anyway, and over time, on the infrequent occasions I needed a ride, I realized only one thing really mattered to me.

That is, that a driver keeps at least one hand on the wheel at all times while driving. That's my definition of professionalism.

I just feel like I have better odds of that with Uber, maybe they simply have more drivers these days.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#124

This sort of thing is why I still use cash as much as possible. That way you have an atomic transfer. I get food, you get money. It could easily work with card, just pay on arrival and show the driver the payment confirmation. But that would mean Uber taking a small risk of fraud (e.g. people ordering food they didn't want before their account gets banned). So it won't happen unless people force it. It's the sort of…

>This sort of thing is why I still use cash as much as possible. >That way you have an atomic transfer. I get food, you get money.

Oh no you don't.

I got burned at a food truck that only took cash. I gave them money, they produce the food a minute later and say I haven't paid. I have no receipt and it's too busy for witnesses.

How many places do you pay cash and they don't give receipts? Don't you think there is a positive correlation? Why might that be? Who does it benefit?

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is funny because I always use credit cards because I want to protect myself… if I give you cash for something and then you fail to give it to me, I have no way of getting my cash back. If I use a credit card, my bank can get it back for me.

Right, except with an atomic transfer this is impossible. You can literally stand at the door, check that the food is there, done. The worst case is that the restaurant scams you and it's not good food. This happens far far less than the middleman scams or pseudo-scams like oversubscribing delivery drivers so that everything is cold or late.

I'd like to hear more about the industry of delivering food without prepayment.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#126

UberEats are shockingly bad in my experience (London, UK). They constantly try to tempt us back with 40% promos, but we have sworn off ever using them again. Last time we used them, every driver allocated to pick up the order abandoned the delivery when they got to the restaurant. I assume something was going wrong at the restaurant. This happened maybe 10-15 times, to the point that we were joking that the restauran…

Similar experience in the US for me. I wrote off UberEats completely after a truly abysmal experience where Uber accepted the order, and the restaurant made it, only for Uber to fail to find a delivery person to deliver it. Except the app gave no errors or notices about this, no "sorry, we can't find a driver right now, hang on..." prompt. Nor did it update the ETA for the order. It just happily kept pushing the ETA…

DoorDash has been pretty good in my experience, but they gouge restaurants pretty bad. Minneapolis passed an ordinance preventing that, which DoorDash now just charges the person ordering calling it a "Regulatory Response Fee". Which is added to their existing delivery fee, service fee, etc. It's like over $10 to get anything delivered, before a tip.

I now check to see if the restaurant is on ChowNow, which is a subscription on the restaurant's end and is a bit more fair as far as I can tell. Usually it's quite a bit cheaper to order through them and my understanding is the restaurant is getting more of the money. Of course hilariously then the orders are "fulfilled with DoorDash".

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#127
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought chargebacks also result in bans typically? If anything, I'd expect CFPB arbitration to be less likely to result in a megacorp ban than a chargeback. But I don't have any first or second-hand experience.

Even if it did, why would you want to continue a relationship with a company that has taken your money and won’t return it? Especially if they banned me from their service for getting my money back. This isn’t a complex calculus. Don’t do business with companies that steal from you, especially when they get upset that you took your money back.

This is a bit simplistic and dismissive. If Uber and Lyft both mischarge me once, I may still find myself needing at least one of them while in a potentially tight spot.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#128
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of unrelated, but I had a similar email issue after I moved between states earlier this year. Submitted a request for a quote from a moving company, and included the specific date of move in the request. They called me, gave me a quote, but I opted to go with someone else. Moving date came and went, we got settled in, and about a week later the emails came in. I would get one email per day informing me that they…

I looked at a used car (at a new car dealer) a few years ago, and got phone calls , one or more per day for weeks, until I called them back. I realize that maybe the person was forced to do it by their boss, and people hate being ghosted, but it was so far out of my idea of social norms that I didn't want to talk to them even more. If they're not taking the hint after 10 calls with no response, what are they thinking…

wonder if this is just because these places are operated/owned by older people who are used to an era where people called all the time? Norms might have been different then… but even if that’s the case, they should be aware of the current norms.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#129
post #85
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a coupon code that keeps showing up in my email for something like $20 off from Uber Eats. I usually use Doordash, so I don't end up using it. Eventually they send an email warning that the coupon is going to expire soon, don't let it go to waste, etc. I don't care, so it expires. Then two days later, I get another coupon code for the same offer, and the same set of emails repeat. This has repeated at least si…

Sort of unrelated, but I had a similar email issue after I moved between states earlier this year. Submitted a request for a quote from a moving company, and included the specific date of move in the request. They called me, gave me a quote, but I opted to go with someone else. Moving date came and went, we got settled in, and about a week later the emails came in. I would get one email per day informing me that they…

I’ve had similar experiences occasionally with a few tech recruiters (this is an outlier experience not the general one). Incessant emails until finally one with something cute and a gentle note that they won’t bother me anymore. It’s really annoying because I feel cruel for ignoring their emails but it’s not like it’s going to change my mind. If your email got ignored just move on, but I do understand that the business incentivizes that behavior.

Re: UberEats took unauthorized amount (and not willing to pay it back)

#130
post #114
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a coupon code that keeps showing up in my email for something like $20 off from Uber Eats. I usually use Doordash, so I don't end up using it. Eventually they send an email warning that the coupon is going to expire soon, don't let it go to waste, etc. I don't care, so it expires. Then two days later, I get another coupon code for the same offer, and the same set of emails repeat. This has repeated at least si…

Literally every time I order from Amazon they offer me a free trial of Amazon Prime. I take them up on the offer around 80% of the time, use the free trial, and immediately cancel. I've had probably 8 free trials of Amazon Prime over the last five or so years and they are still offering it.

Genius. I keep declining it out of some misplaced sense of morality.
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