RIDE SHARE comparison thread

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DiDi: until 6pm today, use FLASH to claim $8 off-peak voucher valid until next Friday (excludes 7-9am, use after 2x $10 referrals)

Ola: use GOLD for $20 off first ride (ends Friday 22nd November) - Sydney CBD -> Airport cost me just $10.47 :)
 
I had two interesting experiences on the way to our SYD office this morning.

Home - CBR: Both Uber and Ola quoting about $40 from Kambah. Ola has the FLY coupon for 20% off so I choose them. I got a driver quickly and the little car was 5mins away in Athllon Drive. When I checked the app after 5mins, the car was now 19mins away and in New Acton. I cancelled and got another ride so I lost 20mins. Weird but no biggie.

SYD-Office (nr Lane Cove): Checked both Ola and Uber again and both were similar around $60. Again the 20% off LAND coupon means Ola gets the ride. Within 10 seconds of accepting I got a call from 02 9191 9794. I do not answer calls from numbers I don't know until I'm in the car. No voicemail left. The little car was hovering 6mins away, not moving towards the airport. The same number calls again two mins later and I let it go through to voicemail too, again no msg left. This happens for a third time and the whole time this is happening the little car hasn't moved. I googled the number (02 9191 9794) and I can see that others have reported it's a "scam number used by Ola". I blocked the number and cancelled the ride and re-booked another car on Ola. That all went well except for the driver getting lost in the maze of one-way streets and no through roads near the office. But that's another story.

If these jerks are going to stuff people around like this to extract cash off the books/system, or whatever they were trying to do, then the system will fall over and folks will go back to getting ripped off in taxis, like the old days.
 
Ola does seem to be getting a lot worse. I get the feeling the drivers aren't behaviour managed and they seem to just get away with everything.

Few examples;

1) Booked a Ola from King St, Newtown to Pyrmont. All went fine, got out of the car and got an email receipt for about $100. Seems the address had logged as King St, Parramatta and the journey map showed that. No idea how their GPS based system can do this.... Took a lot of fighting to get a refund, but still charged too much.

2) Booked an Ola to go to the airport at 7am. Driver picked the job up, drove to the street next to mine and then started heading in the opposite direction. Obviously had picked up another job with another app. Called several times but no answer. Charged cancellation fee.

3) Ola for inner city trip. Vehicle listed as Silver Yaris. I'm standing on the street waiting and nothing shows despite the vehicle showing as parked in a side street. Eventually a black Camry pulls up with some idiot yelling my name out the window. Get in and Sanjeev gets all shirty because I "didn't answer his call". The phone didn't ring. I ask why he's in a different car, however he all of a sudden lost his ability to communicate.

4) Same evening, get an Ola back and it's another Camry. This guy nearly crashed three times and is taking each corner at breakneck speed. Spends the entire trip whispering into his bluetooth earpiece in Hindi.

5) Another Ola airport pickup. Vehicle appears to sit at the Maccas for 10 minutes. Driver then calls and says he's in the pickup area. App said "Toyota Corolla" and I find him in an old grey import Toyota sedan that I did't recognise. Might have been a Corolla... but not one we've ever had here.

Reported to Ola on each occasion and it's basically ignored. They did try to call once at 3am. Yes 3am. However never heard from them again.
 
Not a comparative experience per se, but the Ola discounts are getting wafer thin. Now a max of $6 per ride. Using didi or even uber paid with discount gift cards probably a better option.
 

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