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Comment by edoceo | Hacker News Reader

That's almost as bad as the Taxi companies!!

How so? If I book a taxi and then don't show up they can't charge me a thing. Quite the opposite, they send me a text saying "driver couldn't find you, reply YES if you still need a cab".

I did say almost. In place of an app, a charge and a process to ask for a refund I have to call someone to order a car. Then it shows up more or less on time and costs some money.

Read all the other complaints here. There is very little difference between Uber and Lyft and the age old cab companies.

I've been required to give a credit card over the phone to book. When the taxi didn't show up thirty minutes later, it was a chargeback to avoid their fees. Uber is becoming a horrible company. But in most cities (e.g. Silicon Valley, Austin, D.C., New York) they replaced something much, much worse.

Wow, that's awful, sounds like a blatant cash grab! You're basically guaranteed money from everyone that calls, there's no incentive to have enough drivers to cover demand.

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It's been my experience that, when calling, I've never waited less than 20 minutes for a cab and often have waited an hour. It's amazing that taking the bus is quicker than calling a cab. Once I actually was unable to even get through. I was in a small hotel lobby and the owner offered to give me a ride instead. Later on, in another hotel lobby, I paid it forward and offered to give a lady a ride to the airport when she was having trouble getting a cab on the phone.

I guess my point is, for all its flaws, Uber is still better than a taxi in less populated areas....

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