Nairobi – Taxi-hailing service Uber’s drivers are using dummy apps to extend the distance travelled by riders in order to charge them exaggerated fees, hitting Kenyan users’ confidence in the automated billing system.
The dummy apps, which have recently caused an uproar in Nigeria, interfere with the Uber Application’s location (GPS) readings to create a parallel travel path, prolong the journey and ultimately drive up the cost of the ride.
In recent weeks the rogue Uber drivers have used the dummy app to more than triple the distance travelled and charge customers fees that are exaggerated by similar margins.
One passenger who used Uber taxi from a location on Nairobi’s Riverside drive to the city centre — a distance of about five kilometres — was last week billed for 42 kilometres, resulting in a charge of Sh2,456 rather than an estimated Sh580.
Uber immediately agreed to properly bill the rider when the matter was reported and refunded the Sh1,800 that the driver had stolen from the customer.
Another rider who boarded Uber near the Chiromo roundabout on Ngong Road, a distance of less than four kilometres, was billed Sh1,900 for a distance of 17.6 kilometres.
He was refunded after filing a complaint.
Most riders, however, do not check the data sent to their e-mails at the end of a trip to confirm their accuracy.
- Read the original story at Nairobi News
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