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Comment by rmason | Hacker News Reader

I am left wondering after fourteen years in business how Uber let a bug that would let you not only jump continents, but do it in fifteen minutes, was still allowed to exist?

If the bug was somehow allowed to exist because it was so rare, then why didn't that large of a fare automatically force a notification of someone at Uber? Seems like that large an amount should have required human intervention before his debit card was charged.

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I think it was so rare that they didn't even have a system to handle it. Nobody was ever rerouted to Australia or charged near $40000, nobody even thought it could happen.

The bug may have been a cosmic bit flip or extreme race condition, which means it would've been near-impossible to find. Though Uber should've had a system in place to prevent a $40000 charge, there are many many "weird" behaviors which could be caused once you allow the possibility of cosmic bit flips, to detect them all.

It’s funny, you think they would have some sort of checking for if a ride is even possible. This implies that in the logic of Uber’s routing and fare calculation they are able to come up with a sum for a trip that is impossible, but their own app doesn’t allow you even book the trip. Why not simply apply that same logic when billing, too? Detect that something is clearly wrong, automatically generate a support ticket, and let a human intervene before charging. Seems like a better way to handle it than just making the charge.

Uber doesn't really care about the customers. The customers are merely a means to an end in skimming as much cash as possible from drivers and investors alike while the Management Suite takes as large a salary and bonuses as possible.

In other words, Uber is basically a scam. It's not ever intended to make a profit. It will continue as long there are sucker drivers and sucker investors to hand over easy money to the top Management.

You are 100% correct! They have been scamming BILLIONS of dollars from the world for a decade.

"Uber's Operating Losses Piled Up to $12 BILLION since 2014" (source is from 2018)

https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/17705.jpeg

"Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) on Thursday reported its first profitable quarter on an adjusted basis since it launched more than a decade ago - November 4, 2021"

https://www.reuters.com/technology/uber-posts-first-small-ad...

How much of that was their failed entry into China?

You tell me.

Looks as though their software is missing something as basic as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanity_check

I got charged $23000 in june by Tmobile for absolutely no reason. They refunded it but the WTF vibes were strong. Apparently, it happens.

If I'm charged that much, it will never go through.

I must not have that kind of money yet

Most cards with a >$10k limit let you spend 2x your credit limit as long as you pay it off in 1 month. So if your limit is $20k (typical), you can spend up to $40k.

Also see "NPSL cards"

My guess is that some newer exception handling system itself had a bug, and the issue that caused this ride to be excalated might have been completely unrelated. For example, some unrelated bug causes data loss about the ride destination. The system for handling this edge case for repairing that data could be newer or operated by a human who fat fingered it.

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