Public outrage erupts in Qatar over increasing Uber trip cancellations and extra charges.

Commuters have taken to social media in recent weeks to express frustration over increasing cancellations and extra charges by leading taxi-app Uber.

Countless complaints have rolled in against Uber by users who say they have been unfairly charged due to cancellations in an issue that has been reported across Qatar. 

“Big fraud in trip cancellations. Drivers are cancelling trips and users are automatically charged without any notification,” one Uber customer said in a one star review, screenshotted by a Twitter user and shared with Doha News. 

“No contact details in the invoice. No invoice number to track. Biggest fraud company. Eating customers money, No email id , no support, no call back. Big frauds. I booked taxi 01/11/2021 yesterday evening from lulu center Rayyan. Driver did not come or contact. they cancelled my trip and charged 5 Riyals,” another person claimed.. 

On Twitter, a number of users say they have been trying to reach out to the company and its support team but have been unable to do so. As of yet, Uber has yet to release an official statement to address the rising complaints.

For many customers, the issue is becoming frustratingly too common. Users that spoke to Doha News said they have been left for long periods of time for their cars to arrive and are then shocked to find last minute cancellations – putting obstacles and unnecessary delays to their commutes to their daily comittments.

“Driver didn’t show up. I was late for my hospital appointment,” one customer wrote. 

Some say drivers are reportedly accusing customers of not wearing masks as an excuse of canceling on them. 

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“Very bad experiences with Uber.. The driver falsely accused me of not wearing a mask. I am a doctor and I would NEVER leave my house without a face mask! This is ridiculous and unprofessional and I did not care for the tone of the email. Not gonna use Uber ever again,” a review read. 

In addition, some complaints show that cancellations are being followed by extra charges or an automatic deduction of money.

Another customer told Doha News “almost on a daily basis, I am left to wait for 10-15 minutes for the driver to arrive to then see them cancel the trip in the last minute. I am still charged for the trip and have to then go out of my way to chase Uber for my refund. It is ridiculous and time consuming”.

“On more than one occasion I have been charged twice for the same journey – and sometimes the second charge is even higher than the first one, there is no logic to this whatsoever and it is almost impossible to get a response from Uber to solve the issue,” the same customer said.

One Twitter user suggested bringing in alternative transport companies, saying “a competitor for Uber might make it less bad.”

Cancellations are not the only issue. Countless customers from Qatar have taken to popular Facebook groups to protest increasing prices. While this has been attributed to increasing demands, customers have described the jump in costs as “unreasonable”.

“8 riyal distance goes up to 16 to 25 riyals, and 13 riyals distance goes up to 30 to 45 riyals, do you think it’s fair?” one person said.

Another user said told Doha News he used to pay 24 riyals for his trip to work ever morning but this has now increased to 36 riyals.

“A slight increase when demands are high is one thing, but an unreasonable and sudden hike in prices, especially when there are so many unresolved issues, is completely unacceptable,” he added.

For some, the issue is so frequent that they say they have stopped using the Uber app altogether.

Doha News reached out to Uber for a comment but has yet to receive a response.