# Anyone else not getting paid for surge



## BCSApril

I took a rider from College Station to Bryan this morning. It was a rider I've taken before and the fare is around $14. We were under surge pricing this morning and at the time that I picked him up we were at 2.3 times on the surge.I did not get surge pricing for this run. This is the second time this has happened to me that I accepted a ride under surge pricing and did not get surge pricing. At 2.3 times the fare was wrong, it should have been way more and it shows only $14 and some change I'm getting for that trip. Anyone else have a simular situation, and did uber fix it or give a BS excuse?


----------



## CommanderXL

A couple of thing I've noticed: 1) Just because your app says it is a surge doesn't mean the passengers app also does and that's what really matters. 2) I frequently get pings while I'm in a surge zone but the passenger is not, so ... no surge!

Now, if I'm in a surge zone I ALWAYS verify when the ping comes in that it is also in the surge area. Or, after I have accepted it I use the clipboard/info button in the upper right to verify the surge rate.


----------



## Disgusted Driver

CommanderXL is spot on, you have to check the request as it's coming in or the clipboard after you accept to see it there's a surge attached to the fare. 
If you want to know what's happening in an area in real time you need to look at the pax app, that's the definitive guide. The partner app runs up to a minute behind the pax app, there's just a little latency in it.


----------



## BCSApril

Well, where I am the entire city /cities is one big zone, so anyone picked up was in the surge zone. Also, we were in surge for close to an hour at that time. I dropped a ride off, it was at 1.3x then it jumped to 3.2x then it dropped to 2.3x and I got the ping. I've sent an email to support about it. Just curious if anyone else has had a simular issue


----------



## BCSApril

BCSApril said:


> Well, where I am the entire city /cities is one big zone, so anyone picked up was in the surge zone. Also, we were in surge for close to an hour at that time. I dropped a ride off, it was at 1.3x then it jumped to 3.2x then it dropped to 2.3x and I got the ping. I've sent an email to support about it. Just curious if anyone else has had a simular issue


Also, when I dropped the rider off from the fare in question we were still in a surge of 1.3x


----------



## Disgusted Driver

I understand what you are saying but you are using deductive reasoning which may not be accurate. The only way to know if you are getting surge is if the request comes in with surge which you can see on the ping screen as it comes in or by checking the clipboard after you requested. How were you observing that the area was in a surge, through the partner app? It is not reliable and up to date as I mentioned earlier. 5 or 10 seconds delay can make all the difference and the delay is longer than that. While unlikely it is possible and I have seen an area go from surge to no surge back to surge in the space of 1/2 minute. I think it occurs sometimes when a lot of people don't accept the surge but say notify me when the surge is over, as soon as it's over they all request and then it goes right back to surge. By all means give it a try but it is unlikely that it's a mistake on their end.


----------



## Choochie

BCSApril said:


> Well, where I am the entire city /cities is one big zone, so anyone picked up was in the surge zone. Also, we were in surge for close to an hour at that time. I dropped a ride off, it was at 1.3x then it jumped to 3.2x then it dropped to 2.3x and I got the ping. I've sent an email to support about it. Just curious if anyone else has had a simular issue


Yes that happened to me. We had a 2.1 surge, got a ping, I was right in the surge and so was the pax. I saw no surge when I accepted and immediately cancelled. Got another ping while still in the surge, again no surge on app and same pax and cancelled. Third time I just figured wtf, accepted and he took me out of the area to a very rich town where there was no return trips so had to dead all the way back and of course, no tip!
I did question but it was futile.


----------



## Choochie

I didn't have the rider app open and there is a lag time and he probably hit notify when surge ends. He was hip - I was stupid.


----------



## BigPoppa

I accepted a trip that was in a surge area at 5.3x. Surge is a big fat Uber lie. I was told that those big chunks of the city that they identify as surge is just based on expected demand. They admitted to me that they don't want all the drivers in one area so they use surge maps to spread drivers out. When I asked about the trip I accepted in the 5.3x area, they confirmed it was not surge. I know what I saw and I was looking at it when the ping came in. So I pressed the issue. I was told that the actual surge pricing is base on the exact location of the rider when they request the ride. Meaning, there could be dozens of trips requested just blocks from each other and only 1-2 might actually be charged the surge price. It is a very devious practice that Uber should be ashamed of. But... they ain't.


----------



## Disgusted Driver

BigPoppa : What were you looking at when the ping came in? The driver app, the pax app or the ping itself? The driver app is not accurate, it does not reflect changes in real time, there is a delay. The pax app is accurate however things can change in a second. If the pax ping came in at 5.3 then you should get it. Over 3 or 4K rides, I've never had an issue with getting what I was supposed to on surge. I've gotten screwed a few times because I thought it was still on but it wasn't or a request came in just outside the area but those are manageable.


----------



## BigPoppa

I was looking at the driver app. I shared what I shared because most drivers think that if they get a ping in the area that shows surge, they get paid surge. But surge pricing on the driver app is a fraud.


----------



## BramasoleATX

Only way to know for sure if it is a surge fare is to look at the screen for the surge rate when a ping comes in. It will be just below the circle during the countdown. If no 2.4x etc then it is not a surge job regardless of what you see on your map before the ping. If you are under heavy surge don't accept trips that come in without a surge on them, let another driver grab it. Odds are higher your next trip will have a surge.


----------



## Disgusted Driver

BigPoppa said:


> I was looking at the driver app. I shared what I shared because most drivers think that if they get a ping in the area that shows surge, they get paid surge. But surge pricing on the driver app is a fraud.


Understood. If you are driving the surge, the only way to keep track of what's going on is to have the pax app up to predict what to expect and then check the ping as it comes in like BramasoleATX suggested. I drive select as well and will keep an eye out to see when the surge is on for X. Given the difference in commission and the fact that select rarely surges, if the X surge is over 1.5 I will switch to taking both X and select but i have to watch it carefully to make sure the surge hasn't dropped or gone away. I don't think the "fraud" is intentional on Uber's part, it comes down to an efficiency of programming and data bandwidth problem. Just loke the position of cars in the pax app is delayed 30 seconds or so, it allows them to write a more efficient program if they delay data slightly, don't need to ping things as often or transmit update info as frequently, saves a lot on cell data being used.


----------



## Jam Val

I think I experienced my first "notify when surge is over" ping....at least the first time I noticed. Sitting in surge, ping for surging area, no surge rate pops up. I accept, cancel, other and BOOM, surge area was gone. Smallest lag between surge going away on rider's end to the driver's end. That ****er sent a ping or whatever the second it was over. Since is skipped it 7 minutes away, I hope he had to wait 14 minutes.


----------



## pengduck

Pull up your riders app. If you will notice if you do a fare estimate I think it is it states that the rate is good for 2 minutes.


----------



## creativegal422

BCSApril said:


> I took a rider from College Station to Bryan this morning. It was a rider I've taken before and the fare is around $14. We were under surge pricing this morning and at the time that I picked him up we were at 2.3 times on the surge.I did not get surge pricing for this run. This is the second time this has happened to me that I accepted a ride under surge pricing and did not get surge pricing. At 2.3 times the fare was wrong, it should have been way more and it shows only $14 and some change I'm getting for that trip. Anyone else have a simular situation, and did uber fix it or give a BS excuse?


It's been happening a lot to me too. It's happening to me more frequently. I was even trying to record it to show them they I'm in the surge area and someone ping me in the surge area at 1.8 but I didn't get paid that. I emailed them and they gave the political answer that surge maps often change. So thats why I want to record it happening because it happening more then once.


----------



## Choochie

creativegal422 said:


> It's been happening a lot to me too. It's happening to me more frequently. I was even trying to record it to show them they I'm in the surge area and someone ping me in the surge area at 1.8 but I didn't get paid that. I emailed them and they gave the political answer that surge maps often change. So thats why I want to record it happening because it happening more then once.


Just keep in mind they get more $$ as well when it surges....


----------



## DriverX

Yep, I've gotten jacked by this too. I don't really think there's a lot you can do about it because the tech is running through so many different systems lags can happen in many ways. If your cel service is lagging, while switching towers or bad signal area, then your apps will be lagging too. I have to restart my phone every hour or so because losing the GPS signal or 4G completely hoses everything. 

Here's what might have happened to you. A pax can place the locator just outside a surge area, make the request and then quickly change the pick up location. They cheat the system this way because I think the surge is calculated based on GPS coordinates and doesn't make corrections for address changes. So that's why you gotta double check and cancel.


----------



## Pike1868

This happened to me last night. Surge was at X8 and they are claiming it went from X8 to regular pricing within a matter of seconds. Even the passengers thought it was being billed at X8. I've written several requests to support asking for a copy of the surge report and they refuse and claim it was at regular pricing.



BCSApril said:


> I took a rider from College Station to Bryan this morning. It was a rider I've taken before and the fare is around $14. We were under surge pricing this morning and at the time that I picked him up we were at 2.3 times on the surge.I did not get surge pricing for this run. This is the second time this has happened to me that I accepted a ride under surge pricing and did not get surge pricing. At 2.3 times the fare was wrong, it should have been way more and it shows only $14 and some change I'm getting for that trip. Anyone else have a simular situation, and did uber fix it or give a BS excuse?


----------



## Annapolis Ghostrider

I had a ping from the middle of a 2.3X surge zone and the request came in as a normal fare. I took it anyway but sent uber a message saying it was bs, but got no response. I sent them a note on the app too sending me to the wrong ping location on seven of eight rides last night (one time was four miles from passenger, other time was 8 miles). On one of those trips I clicked "yes" on the did you start the trip late? question, and saved the rider half the fare. Of course they complimented me on my honesty, maybe they could learn something from me.


----------



## Scott Lake

This happened to me several times last night (Raleigh-Durham, NC). Each time I was stopped in the middle of the surge zone and the the trip was less than 5 minutes away. Three times it was a 5.9x surge and once it was a 3.1x. One time, as I completed a trip that showed an XL fare during surge as a $14 non-surge fare on my end, the rider looked as his phone as he was walking away and said "Crap, that ride just cost $60." 

Another time, it was a 5.9x surge, I was two minutes away and when I picked up the rider I asked her if she got a notice that it was a surge, she said she did but it was 2.1x, when I completed the trip, it was a normal fare with no surge.

I documented each one and sent in an issue with the fare. Each time, I got a message back that my issue was resolved, but it doesn't look like anything was done. Then I get an email from support today saying that the surges can change on a moment's notice and they can never be predicted with 100% accuracy.

I really feel like I got screwed last night.


----------



## gearhead

Veteran driver here and I never cancel a request. I've never had a problem with getting paid surge or no surge. Trust me the Uber police as I refer to them.......know what you're up to when you cancel a request so you can snag a better ride if your in a surge area or not. These guys and gals sit at their computers just waiting for a driver to outsmart them. Some times you might get by with it, but most times you'll be flagged, and eventually if you continue this practice you will be taken off the platform. Always remember you're just a number to them one of 100,s of thousands around the country. They've seen and heard of everything a driver will try to do in order to boost their income per ride/hour. Believe it all averages out at the end of the week so save yourself some grief and worry and just accept the dings as they come in and your life will be much simpler. Don't try to outsmart the smart guys, they have all the tools at their disposal right there in front of them.
Happy New Year Uber on!


----------



## Annapolis Ghostrider

No reason to cancel, just ignore it.


----------



## SFVtoLAX

The driver app is misleading and false when it comes to surge areas. Yesterday I picked up at least five riders in surge zones, and the riders did not pay surge fares. The delay on the drivers app is not a few seconds. I'm convinced that the surge maps on the drivers' app are being used to get us to drive in anticipation of demand rather than during actual demand so that riders won't be charged more.


----------

