Free Now Surge Fees Causing Uprage and Outroar?

[silverbullet]

Imagine calling a band " the Walls " for fuk sake .... no wonder he's penniless

That’s the surname

Then The Corrs must be from Foxrock!!

[Jack Meoff]

Think they from Tipp

[Rat Catcher]

Free Now don't offer Limousines up above in Dublin, JM.

Uber don't charge surge fees up above in Dublin, Ken. I think there's a fixed rate technology fee but, in my experience, it's always more than negated through some discount or other.

Free Now Priority Taxis on the client app vary in price in accordance with demand i.e. surge fees are applied. The other thing with Priority Taxi orders is that they are routinely offered to non-priority drivers with tiny bonuses attached. Free Now has never told non-priority drivers what portion of the surge fee the "bonus" payments represent.

As Steve says the usual fare is €35 and that, broadly, concurs with the correct fare suggested on here it's pretty obvious he has been overcharged. Whether that is down to Free Now Surge Fees or the driver taking the piss is difficult to ascertain unless some investigative journalist can find out exactly how much of the €75 was paid to the driver. Clients paying extortionate surge fees think it's drivers making a fortune, it's about time some journalist set them straight.

In any event, the best advice one can offer Steve or anyone else is shop around. Free Now fares are always the highest up above in Dublin, Uber is generally the lowest fare option. Both of those firms typically employ the same drivers but Uber, despite charging clients considerably lower fares, pays the drivers higher rates. Conversely, in London, Free Now's unlicensed fleet of clapped out Priuseses generally offer the lowest fares in my experience.

[watty]

As Steve says the usual fare is €35 and that, broadly, concurs with the correct fare suggested on here it's pretty obvious he has been overcharged. Whether that is down to Free Now Surge Fees or the driver taking the piss is difficult to ascertain unless some investigative journalist can find out exactly how much of the €75 was paid to the driver. Clients paying extortionate surge fees think it's drivers making a fortune, it's about time some journalist set them straight.

All the tabloids carry the same story, more or less, without comment from FN but The Irish Mirror at this link got a quote out of Freenow and the article says:

In response, a spokesperson for FreeNow told the Irish Mirror: “At FREENOW, passengers are our number one priority and we are committed to providing accurate and fair billing.  "Taxi fares in Ireland are set by the National Transport Authority. Regarding this particular instance, we have completed an internal investigation and have been in touch with the passenger directly. We are taking appropriate action to prevent this technical glitch from happening again.”

I wonder what the 'technical glitch' was.  Does 'technical' mean it was FN's fault and not the human taxi driver?

The Irish Sun quotes him as saying he got a full refund.

So a happy ending for everybody.  FN identified and fixed a "technical (computer?) glitch" for only €75 and the customer was satisfied in the end.

[Octavia1]

Looks like a double charge
...had a woman 
Before Christmas ( not carnally) in me car who said a driver had cancelled but she was charged the full fair an taut I was bringing her for free...or sumtin ... to which i replied .....
 " #%^#£=^^::&&^£#£##^  me  bollix "

[Jack Meoff]

Free Now don't offer Limousines up above in Dublin, JM.

Uber don't charge surge fees up above in Dublin, Ken. I think there's a fixed rate technology fee but, in my experience, it's always more than negated through some discount or other.

Free Now Priority Taxis on the client app vary in price in accordance with demand i.e. surge fees are applied. The other thing with Priority Taxi orders is that they are routinely offered to non-priority drivers with tiny bonuses attached. Free Now has never told non-priority drivers what portion of the surge fee the "bonus" payments represent.

As Steve says the usual fare is €35 and that, broadly, concurs with the correct fare suggested on here it's pretty obvious he has been overcharged. Whether that is down to Free Now Surge Fees or the driver taking the piss is difficult to ascertain unless some investigative journalist can find out exactly how much of the €75 was paid to the driver. Clients paying extortionate surge fees think it's drivers making a fortune, it's about time some journalist set them straight.

In any event, the best advice one can offer Steve or anyone else is shop around. Free Now fares are always the highest up above in Dublin, Uber is generally the lowest fare option. Both of those firms typically employ the same drivers but Uber, despite charging clients considerably lower fares, pays the drivers higher rates. Conversely, in London, Free Now's unlicensed fleet of clapped out Priuseses generally offer the lowest fares in my experience.

It could have been an Executive taxi.
Do ye have these in Dublin?

[silverbullet]

As Steve says the usual fare is €35 and that, broadly, concurs with the correct fare suggested on here it's pretty obvious he has been overcharged. Whether that is down to Free Now Surge Fees or the driver taking the piss is difficult to ascertain unless some investigative journalist can find out exactly how much of the €75 was paid to the driver. Clients paying extortionate surge fees think it's drivers making a fortune, it's about time some journalist set them straight.

All the tabloids carry the same story, more or less, without comment from FN but The Irish Mirror at this link got a quote out of Freenow and the article says:

In response, a spokesperson for FreeNow told the Irish Mirror: “At FREENOW, passengers are our number one priority and we are committed to providing accurate and fair billing.  "Taxi fares in Ireland are set by the National Transport Authority. Regarding this particular instance, we have completed an internal investigation and have been in touch with the passenger directly. We are taking appropriate action to prevent this technical glitch from happening again.”

I wonder what the 'technical glitch' was.  Does 'technical' mean it was FN's fault and not the human taxi driver?

The Irish Sun quotes him as saying he got a full refund.

So a happy ending for everybody.  FN identified and fixed a "technical (computer?) glitch" for only €75 and the customer was satisfied in the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5HfOipwvts

[Rat Catcher]

I wonder how many other clients suffered from this so-called glitch and what the nature of the glitch was. It sounds like a €30-40 surcharge that wasn't notified to the client in advance.

We're a strange breed. Free Now get caught overcharging a client to the tune of €40 and drivers on here opine that he can well afford it and should stop moaning. Not one (present typist excepted) asked how much Free Now paid the driver!

[Rat Catcher]

I don't think Free Now offer executive taxis up above in Dublin, JM. If they do I've never heard of them. They used to offer a limousine/hackney service but got rid of it a few years back. We did have a contributor who drove a limousine for them.

Do they offer executive taxis in Cork and, if so, how much of the surcharge for the same (assuming there is a surcharge) is paid to the driver?

[Bob Shillin]

Got my meter verified today, all good. The guy confirmed that it's only checked on tariff 1. Is it beyond possibility that it could be ok on T1 but faulty on T2 or T3. Anyone qualified to answer?

[taxi1990]

I carried a homeless busker once who gave me 30 euro for a 20 euro fare. Just goes to show how pathetic this Walls guy is. 

[Dr. Martin Gooter Bling]

jemember a couple of years ago there was a cunt complainin about a 400 euro trip to galway or some dump and it turned out the cunt had some business that flogged socks for a wunner and t shirts for five ton.

[taxi1990]

jemember a couple of years ago there was a cunt complainin about a 400 euro trip to galway or some dump and it turned out the cunt had some business that flogged socks for a wunner and t shirts for five ton.

The fare was only 200 or less, the guy had a business in Belfast. And the driver stupidly gave him 40 euro off the fare.

[Octavia1]

Thers sumtin else goin on here I told yis alelready ...
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/rock-star-rages-over-mental-34438658
Went inta the local shop for the news paper for me da .....
Yur man's photo was all over the news papers ....
Do a Google search ... he's all over Facebook  an the internet .....
Wat we have here ladies an gentlemen is an aging  failing rock star who's most likely headin for bankruptcy .....
How does an past tense " rock star " get the publicity he needs without puttin a hand in his empty pocket ?
Thers almost certainly another party involved here .... cud that be uber ?
Now I'm no fan of feenow as ya know .... but thers money behind this .....
Never ever listen or take antin the shite irish media has to say as " truth" ....
In fact ther a shower of absolute scum ....
....
Let me explain further ....
If you or I was overcharged.... wat wud we do ?    Weed contact feenow an ask for a refund .... an if we didny get a response... weed make a complaint to the nta or whoever .... even before all that as taxi drivers weed know the fare was excessive
an probly tell the driver we want a receipt
Then tell him we want a cash refund or wer going make a complaint or giv em a boxing lesson ....
But Mr walls is all over the papers an social media ?
He must have a tour comin up round the
School halls down the bog or sumtin ....someone took an envelope
Poor cnut
 

[Octavia1]

Who's " borough taxis " he's given the nod to on twitter?