A Uber passenger is trying to get to the bottom of a wait time fee that she describes as a “sneaky charge.”
The accusation comes from Ontario-based TikToker @pinatravels, who reports that she was in Montreal and noticed that a wait time fee charge on her receipt didn’t quite match up with her actual experience.
“Today for literally no reason I looked at an Uber receipt and I noticed something,” she begins. “For a trip I took last night, I got charged 56 cents wait time.”
@pinatravels anyone else noticing sneaky wait time charges from Uber? #ubercanada #uberdriving ♬ nintendo wii (mii channel) song – julie on the internet
She explains, “This kind of bothers me because the driver had marked that they have arrived but they were really just circling the parking lot. The driver wasn’t in view of us when they marked themselves as arrived.”
She theorized this might just be a Montreal thing since she hadn’t experienced that in Toronto, and also mentioned, “I’m not at all blaming drivers for this,” despite what she’d said earlier about her experience.
“I’m curious what people think about this sneaky charge,” she wondered.
Commenters expressed their thoughts on the wait time fee.
“Toronto has it too!” one said. “We got picked up from Union and they were way back in the traffic when they marked arrived but they weren’t even close.”
The creator replied, “omg!!!! this feels scammy to me.”
Another shared, “I was charged wait time after my driver ‘arrived’ at the wrong location and I had to go find them.”
“I got charged a wait time when the driver didn’t know how to put his Tesla into drive,” another quipped.
“I wonder if the drivers even get paid for that extra time,” one wondered.
“I doubt it,” the creator answered.
The Uber site doesn’t shed much light on the matter. The page dedicated to the subject says:
- In some locations, a per-minute wait time fee will begin a few minutes after your driver arrives at your location.
- If your trip is canceled and you are charged a cancellation fee, you will not be charged for wait time.
- Wait time fees and thresholds vary by location. In certain markets, additional wait-time charges may apply to your trip depending on how busy it is.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Uber via email.
