Uber are a really crap company to contact because there's is no phone number for customers and their online customer service really is awful. UberEats which is the same company and deliver takeaway food to your door is in some ways even worse because in a situation where your food turns up wrong, or worse doesn't turn up at all there's nothing you can do except wait a few days for Uber to get back to you while you are out of pocket and hungry. I found that writing to them online and also writing on their Twitter page got their attention quicker however, they really don't like bad publicity and you could do the same with an Uber taxi complaint.
Firstly contact them online to complain, if the price was on surge and you only agreed to pay the normal amount or it didn't clearly inform you of the higher price that you have to agree to (you should be clearly prompted), it is illegal for them to increase the price later and if they then take it from your bank without consent it's effectively fraudulent, you can threaten to contact your local council who licence them and your bank to report them, that should get their attention because Uber are already in severe trouble in London where the council has refused to renew their licence, they're only currently allowed to operate for the time being while the case goes to appeal, but if they lose it's the end of Uber taxis in London. I suspect they will keep their licence because they've become far too popular, but there is bound to be various conditions where they will have to vet their drivers much better and they may have to improve their customer service. Other councils are almost certainly watching the London case with interest because it will most likely ultimately determine Uber's fate nationally and if they're forced to improve, other councils are likely to insist on the same conditions. If after contacting Uber to complain you still don't get your money back I really would contact your bank and the council, you could also contact trading standards, please
click here and type for post code in for contact details in your area. Even if you were prompted, you obviously didn't realise you were being charged a huge surge price so you still have an argument, I don't like doing it, but if you wanted to play dirty you could accuse them of taking advantage of a vulnerable adult.
Various other taxi operators have also introduced similar phone Apps where you can track drivers, the rates maybe a little more, but other companies don't usually have surge prices based on demand and it depends on where you live, but many private hire taxis only charge per mile, not per mile and per minute which means you pay the same price for your journey every time no matter what the traffic or demand. Some councils may however charge different taxi rates at different times which may or may not apply to private hire taxis, E.g. you might pay more after midnight. The biggest advantage of using another taxi company however is that you can contact them immediately over the phone if there was ever an issue.
Other issues with Uber taxis I've experienced:
I've noticed that often Uber drivers are refusing to come to shorter journeys even after they've been assigned, they can sit there for ages without cancelling, hoping you will cancel and pay minimum fare. I have been stuck on numerous occasions when this has happened where the driver won't come and won't cancel at their end, eventually they usually cancel, but it can take up to 15 minutes. I suspect this is a scam and recently I even had a driver refuse to come that called me asking me to cancel that would have cost me £4.25, I refused and I was left for 15 minutes where I couldn't rebook another taxi, standing in the cold and I am reporting him to Uber.
I have also noticed some drivers cancel repeatedly when the prices are normal rates and on the verge of a surge price, I've had it where so many have cancelled that the system asked me to rebook and then it was a surge price, this was obviously extremely unfair and I suspect drivers are doing it on purpose hoping to force surge prices.
The quality of some drivers and their driving is awful as is some of their vehicles, it's no wonder London want to prevent them from renewing their licence. For instance, I have issues with my legs and it takes me time to get into a vehicle, but recently one driver started moving when I was only half in the vehicle with the door open and one leg still outside, it took a couple of loud shouts before he finally stopped and he could have severely injured me. On a few occasions safety belts have been faulty on the back seat and sometimes I've seen them frayed, this wouldn't even pass an MOT, let alone be legal for a taxi. A few drivers have driven dangerously and I know as an ex driver who no longer drives due to health issues.
Often the driver doesn't see the same information about the pickup location that you do, for instance I can book from by local Morrisons superstore and the phone tells me to "meet at the pickup point for Morrisons", however the driver often calls and asks me where I am because they only see a road address with a house number, so unless they happen to know the number is Morrisons, they're often driving along the long road outside looking for a house number that isn't visible, without driving into Morrisons car park to the taxi pickup point where I'm waiting by the entrance. Another issue is the position of the pickup pointer on the map, if I book a vehicle from my home address the pointer is always half way down my street which I have to walk to, nowhere near where I live, but if I then manually move the pointer to my flat it shows an address that is at the opposite end of the street. I used to move the pointer to my flat and most of the time it worked fine despite showing the incorrect address, but once a driver decided to park the opposite end of the street, stating that I was in the wrong by using the incorrect address, so what-ever I do I can't win with their extremely flawed system that they refuse to correct or are unable to.
Many Uber drivers that operate in Birmingham are actually from another area completely, often Wolverhampton and many seem to have a poor knowledge of Birmingham roads that can definitely show. This is apparently because it's much easier to get a licence from Wolverhampton council as they're less strict, but once they have a licence there is no law to prevent them from working in Birmingham anyway. Many true Birmingham taxi drivers are quite annoyed.
Many Uber taxis are hard to spot as taxis at all, some only have a licence disk on their windscreen and no other taxi markings what-so-ever. I suppose this isn't a major issue, but in my opinion all taxis should still be clearly marked.
I am considering not using Uber taxis any more because of all the issues, even though they can be cheaper unless there's a surge price or they're stuck in traffic for ages (in Birmingham private hire taxis unlike "black cabs" and Uber only charge per mile, not per minute too).
PS: On UberEats most of the time the delivery person doesn't turn up in the mode of transport the system states, E.g. an Uber bicycle is usually a car or they turn up with a different car registration to the one reported. I've had a driver that didn't turn up at all even though I was waiting for him on the street outside for ages and I was left hungry without food, out of pocket with no way of getting Uber to reply for a few days with similar online only contact methods as with Uber taxis (I got them to respond the next day after spamming their Twitter page), on that occasion the driver definitely took the food I'd paid for as I spoke to the restaurant. I've also had food turn up with items missing and again I've been left without being able to resolve the issue on the evening, even the restaurant couldn't help and they swore the items were included, so again I suspect the Uber driver eat them. I now use Deliveroo or Just Eat instead.
