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Uber charges Houston woman $500 for 30-mile ride

This surge pricing horror story is quite a doozy.

Photo of Alex La Ferla

Alex La Ferla

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What’s the most you would pay for an Uber ride? $50? $60? How about $511? That’s what one woman from Houston, Texas was charged last week for a 30-mile ride, and she’s none too pleased about it.

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Clark and her friends decided to take the ride sharing service to and from the Houston Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off on Friday night. While the ride to the event cost them approximately $60, they were shocked when they saw the price tag for the trip back home to Humble, just north of Houston.

“Nobody in their right mind would step into a car knowing that it was going to cost them $500 to go 30 miles,” Clark told KPRC 2, Houston’s NBC affiliate.

Clark filed a complaint with Uber, and a company representative replied via email with a summary of Uber’s surge pricing policies. “Due to high demand for rides, our fares were increased to ensure we had rides available for those who needed them,” the email reads.

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KPRC also reports that the news team spoke over the phone with another Uber representative, who said Clark elected to use a more expensive form of the service on her way home. The Uber Black vehicle she rode back in would ordinarily have cost about $120, but rose to the $500 mark due to a 4.4x surge pricing multiplier in effect at the time.

Apparently, Clark wasn’t the only one affected by Uber’s surge pricing during the rodeo:

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Clark says she will not be using Uber again in the future.

H/T KPRC | Illustration via Max Fleishman

 
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