UBER...Is this trick a scam or not????

[Budgiesmuggler]

Not my typical post but would be interested if anyone else has experienced this.

If i am on a seeking.com or normal date, one of my usuals places to meet the lovely lady is the Ned. At the end of the evening I always get them an uber home. Sometimes its fairly local say islington or clapham, but a couple have been £100 plus fares to hertfordshire, essex or mid-kent. Three times the following has happened.

The fare is accepted and car turns up...usually a merc or bmw. Girl gets in and sets off while i trot off to the station miserable i havent pulled. 10mins down the line, the girl calls me to say the uber driver says the booking has been cancelled. I speak to the driver who obviously says they dont have a clue why, a girl who thinks im an idiot for not booking the uber correctly so usually i then say let me try and rebook it from your current location. They never accept it (usually someone else does) so then what always happens is the driver says, hes happy to still take her to the location but i can pay in cash by transfer when she gets there. They never ask for the money upfront always and give me the spiel that she will be safe. I ask for a photo of the number plate and a photo of their driving licence to be whatsapped to me. I also obviously have the booking details on the app, albeit cancelled so feel she is safe, although i get its not ideal for insurance, but at 1am or something there arent many other options. On each occasion, the girl has called me to say she is safely home and then driver sends me paypal or bank details for me to do a transfer for around the same price as was the original fare.

First time it happened, i thought it was an uber issue. Second time i thought it was a coincidence. Third time i still played along but smelt that this is some sort of scam. I can only assume they do that as they get all the fare rather than having to pay X% to uber, etc. Cant think any other reason why they would do it.
Never happened when ive pulled and gone back with the girl, only happens when they are alone in the car.

Interested if anyone else has experienced this or if my intuition that this is to scam uber is correct.

TIA

Budgie 

[harryhavanagh]

I wouldn't be surprised if they are avoiding paying Uber. A quick search on Google shows that Uber can take 50%+ of the fare you are paying to them. This is called the "take rate" and is bundled up in BS like insurance (which is an Uber company anyway), fees and other BS.

[southcoastpunter]

So the cost to you op is about the same as the uber rate? ( you aren’t charged more or otherwise out of pocket )?

I don’t think Uber themselves would cancel the journey once it is underway and if a driver did that ( without good reason ) I don’t think he would last long with uber! I suspects an “arrangement “ made between girl and driver !

[Mr Garmin]

This is a well known trick by Uber drivers to avoid paying the company for the job.  Report them to Uber.

[juzz]

This is a well known trick by Uber drivers to avoid paying the company for the job.  Report them to Uber.

If Uber are taking 50%+ (greedy bastards) then its surely inevitable their drivers will try 'workarounds'? The main risk is to the passenger though.

[daviemac]

I thought Uber cars had trackers, so how can the driver say the journey's cancelled but still be seen at the destination?