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Well, I just got an email from them, they are imposing £5 surcharge during the rail strikes in and around London:
“With demand for our car services likely to be greater than usual, we are working to ensure we have sufficient cars on the day for your important journeys, and so we will be applying a £5 additional charge, going directly to our driver partners, to all journeys within a 75-mile radius of Central London.”
This is just low.
I don’t think anyone will actually be affected as none of us can even get a booking with them anyway ha ha
I don’t think anyone will actually be affected as none of us can even get a booking with them anyway ha ha
that is also true. I moved in Jan, couldnt get any car since then
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
Yes the AL benefit on the Plat card is completely worthless, it’s a shame they didn’t partner with Uber.
It’s not just Addison Lee, it’s Uber and Free Now that has shortage of drivers. Also nobody wants to drive to/from London airports these days. Even my local cab company struggles at times.
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
Because there is no reason it should end there: surcharge for the council for collecting my recycling that day, surcharge for the school teachers for the pain to get to schools, surcharge for me for having to work from home with a small child…
The ONLY idea of the strike is to cause disruption, right or wrong, not to open up new avenues for firms like ALee to surf it.
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
Because there is no reason it should end there: surcharge for the council for collecting my recycling that day, surcharge for the school teachers for the pain to get to schools, surcharge for me for having to work from home with a small child…
The ONLY idea of the strike is to cause disruption, right or wrong, not to open up new avenues for firms like ALee to surf it.
Companies like Uber and BA have this sort of dynamic price increase during periods of increased demand/reduced supply built in to their platforms. Hardly seems reasonable to beat up on AL for being transparent and up-front about it.
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
So you would accept that, if a supermarket saw you are thirsty after running or on a hot day, to charge you double for a bottle of water? Or when you go to a cash point for an urgency you are charged more fees?
AL will be getting more money because there will be more journeys. Some still have to use them to go to hospital appointments, etc.
I am genuinely confused as to why Amex Platinum and Centurion offer and continuously promote Ad Lee credit as a benefit – surely they must know how awful AL are and that most people can’t get bookings, even weeks in advance? The trust pilot reviews pretty much sum the AL situation up. Seems odd to me that Amex would choose to associate with a company like AL given how useless it’s become.
Someone mentioned other cab companies are having driver shortages but when I request an Uber I get one every single time no issues… wishful thinking but would be great if Amex could switch the credit to Uber instead!
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
So you would accept that, if a supermarket saw you are thirsty after running or on a hot day, to charge you double for a bottle of water? Or when you go to a cash point for an urgency you are charged more fees?
AL will be getting more money because there will be more journeys. Some still have to use them to go to hospital appointments, etc.
Those examples are not the same at all, AL are not singling out individuals. Now, if 100 runners were to arrive at a shop then the price may well change. What they are doing is basic economics, demand vs. supply, I am guessing you didn’t try buying a webcam this time 2yrs ago, stayed at a hotel during school summer holidays, ever used eBay, etc..?
@T_London every time I request an Uber, they accept and cancel. It usually takes 2 attempts at minimum before anyone accepts. This is especially true if you want it to/from the airports.
@T_London every time I request an Uber, they accept and cancel. It usually takes 2 attempts at minimum before anyone accepts. This is especially true if you want it to/from the airports.
I have exactly the same experience, even in central London. I gave up on Uber moons ago now.
Yes, Uber in London now seems quite hopeless and anyway is no longer cheap, so have gone back to black cabs that are also more comfortable.
I remember right after things started opening up again in London last year, it was quite difficult to get an Uber and I had to keep trying several times (with Bolt too). But nowadays I’ve not experienced any issues at all so am surprised to read the above… in fact a couple of times recently I ordered an Uber and it arrived in less than a minute which was a surprise! admittedly no experience with using them for airport rides though.
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
Because there is no reason it should end there: surcharge for the council for collecting my recycling that day, surcharge for the school teachers for the pain to get to schools, surcharge for me for having to work from home with a small child…
The ONLY idea of the strike is to cause disruption, right or wrong, not to open up new avenues for firms like ALee to surf it.
Companies like Uber and BA have this sort of dynamic price increase during periods of increased demand/reduced supply built in to their platforms. Hardly seems reasonable to beat up on AL for being transparent and up-front about it.
I know how dynamic pricing works. I’ve flown enough. But this is not that.
There was a attack once in Sydney, if I remember correctly. People were running to safety and Uber surcharged as their dynamic pricing algorithm kicked in due to the demand.
I say that was also inhumane, and Uber apologised.I remember right after things started opening up again in London last year, it was quite difficult to get an Uber and I had to keep trying several times (with Bolt too). But nowadays I’ve not experienced any issues at all so am surprised to read the above… in fact a couple of times recently I ordered an Uber and it arrived in less than a minute which was a surprise! admittedly no experience with using them for airport rides though.
Where I live, it is common to have some issues with getting Uber or Bolt.
Have to start requesting quite some time before I actually need it, as often there are no drivers, or drivers will cancel when en-route.Uber cancelled 1 pre-booked ride last week, ludicrously claiming “payment failed” (with the card I’d used before and after with no problem whatsoever) and another yesterday (which simply disappeared from the app shortly after notifying me it was 3 minutes away!) Booking a replacement took 15 minutes, unnecessary aggravation and made me late for an appointment. When I called to complain they were unreliable, I was offered £5 toward my next ride (which I’m unlikely ever to trust to arrive).
I also just tried to book an Addison Lee car for 4 June – only to be told they have no drivers available (“try next week”!)In the past month, I’ve used 3 Ubers in Vienna and 5 in Washington with no delays or problems whatsoever.
Correction: Addison Lee for 4 July not June
Why do Uber drivers accept then cancel? I had this a lot in the US
Why do Uber drivers accept then cancel? I had this a lot in the US
Don’t think drivers ‘accept’ rides. They are forced to.
Usually drivers cancel if they think they’ll be stuck in traffic due to that trip or it works against incentives (example based on number of trips) etc.
If I remember correctly, Uber had a policy of allowing drivers to cancel maximum 2 or 3 trips a day. Anything more than that, their earnings could be impacted.
Why do Uber drivers accept then cancel? I had this a lot in the US
Don’t think drivers ‘accept’ rides. They are forced to.
Usually drivers cancel if they think they’ll be stuck in traffic due to that trip or it works against incentives (example based on number of trips) etc.
If I remember correctly, Uber had a policy of allowing drivers to cancel maximum 2 or 3 trips a day. Anything more than that, their earnings could be impacted.
They aren’t forced to, they can take whatever they want and they tend to cancel because they see a more lucrative ride on another app. If you talk to any driver, they will confirm this.
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
So you would accept that, if a supermarket saw you are thirsty after running or on a hot day, to charge you double for a bottle of water? Or when you go to a cash point for an urgency you are charged more fees?
AL will be getting more money because there will be more journeys. Some still have to use them to go to hospital appointments, etc.
What’s wrong with it? It’s going directly to the driver, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in London on strike days and every journey takes twice as long – a £5 surcharge is cheap if anything.
Because there is no reason it should end there: surcharge for the council for collecting my recycling that day, surcharge for the school teachers for the pain to get to schools, surcharge for me for having to work from home with a small child…
The ONLY idea of the strike is to cause disruption, right or wrong, not to open up new avenues for firms like ALee to surf it.
AL are fixed price – they’ll obviously be more demand on strike days but the journeys take much longer too because of the extra traffic – on top of less journeys/hr, all that idling in traffic will burn fuel. If any of their drivers have a personal car they can use for Uber they’d be silly not to work for them on strike days instead – they’ll make much more with surge pricing and all the extra cash for sitting in traffic jams.
Anyone who can afford a taxi through central London on strike days and an Amex Plat can afford a £5 surcharge. Re things like clinics, in my hospital, appointments that can’t be moved to video/telephone calls are being moved to different dates and the appointments which can’t move and need to be F2F, transport is being arranged for those who can’t walk/drive/afford a taxi.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Wait wait… you sound like someone else is “fixing” their prices. And they’ll are make more money by making more journeys. Market economy rules do not just apply to companies.
And why stop at £5? I can afford £10, shall I pay more?
Doesn’t make much sense to me honestly.
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