My grab experience

[hellohello123]

Visit thailand once per year.

Just left bkk.

Completely over trying to negotiate  taxi drivers to use the meter , so decided to try grab.

 

My first trip was a nightmare.

Standing on sukhumvit rd, had 2 drivers accept jobs, get close and couldnt find me so just cancelled with rude msgs

2 drivers accept, 5 to 7 mins away. Gps showing them not moving for 20 mins, next minute they drive in the other direction and cancel, eventually the app said no drivers in the area.

Got pretty annoyed and managed to flag a normal cab

 

After that used grab about 8 times.

Only has 1 to 2 cancellations. Other thab that generally ok. The gps sometimes was weird eg putting me in a locatiopn 200m away, 

Fares were a about 20 % more than metered taxi.

 

Eg meter from svn airport to sukhumvit about 550 inc tolls.

Grab was 600

 

Still dont get why some drivers  would accept a job, literally get to 1m away and then cancel, 

As a user if i cancel 5 times i get my account locked, surely the same for the drivers

 

Also, actually  had a metered taxi turn up as my grab, he turned the meter  on and grab app was 150, while his meter was 120, 

And i had to pay 150 which is fine as that was what the app said

[asiaexpat]

Tried Grab on several occasions and found they are not very reliable. If they see a trip that pays more they cancel your trip. Also, have never shown up on time to my house which seems to be a GPS problem. The cars have been regular taxis but in good and clean condition. Much easier to walk to the main road and get a regular taxi.

[owenm]

I've been using Grab for over a year. I have found them great in most cases. 

 

When you book through your app you have choice of grab taxi or grab car. Grab car is a fixed price per app and a modern private unmarked car is usual. If you go with grab taxi, the approx fare on the app is 10-20% higher than what you'll actually pay. It's calculation is usually based on GPS and traffic conditions. Grab taxi is always on meter price + 20bht booking fee. 

 

Every week I take a 25km trip with grab taxi. App approx price shown is 230-265 Bht. The paid meter fare is usually 190-200 Bht + 20 Bht booking fee. 

 

One time my mistake was booking a grab car. I hit the wrong choice on the app. Fixed price to same destination was 240 Bht in a newish modern saloon. You also accrue greater points on Grab car than taxi. And no extra booking fee.. 

 

I have only ever had 2 cancellations due to high traffic in the area. And sometimes the driver will call to clarify location or I send message in app with soi no and house no etc. 

 

Highly recommend Grab and you get to review the driver out of 5 stars at end of trip. And a trip receipt is automatically emailed too.. 

Edited February 6, 2019 by owenm
xxx

[Pravda]

6 hours ago, hellohello123 said:

Completely over trying to negotiate  taxi drivers to use the meter , so decided to try grab.

 

I have been living in Bangkok for 5 years now. I took taxi probably around 500 times. I can honestly say it has never, ever happened to me that taxi refused to turn on the meter. Refuse a ride, yes.

 

You must stay at Khaosan or some other dodgy place. Yes, that includes some 5 star hotels where the lazy scum hangs around.

[seancbk]

5 hours ago, asiaexpat said:

Tried Grab on several occasions and found they are not very reliable. If they see a trip that pays more they cancel your trip. Also, have never shown up on time to my house which seems to be a GPS problem. The cars have been regular taxis but in good and clean condition. Much easier to walk to the main road and get a regular taxi.

 

You should select Grab Car not Grab Taxi.   Then you'll get regular cars driven by regular folk.  

[me4175]

I feel that Grab has declined in quality. Now I frequently encounter drivers cancelling on me without any cause or notice. Also, I have seen drivers coming up with an excuse ("I need 30 mins to your location" when the app shows 5 mins) to get me to cancel instead of them. I kinda miss Uber.

[jkcjag]

1 hour ago, Pravda said:

 

I have been living in Bangkok for 5 years now. I took taxi probably around 500 times. I can honestly say it has never, ever happened to me that taxi refused to turn on the meter. Refuse a ride, yes.

 

You must stay at Khaosan or some other dodgy place. Yes, that includes some 5 star hotels where the lazy scum hangs around.

I agree...never had a problem with the meter. On very rare occasions I've reminded the driver, if there's any sign of hesitation on his part.

[hellohello123]

1 hour ago, Pravda said:

 

I have been living in Bangkok for 5 years now. I took taxi probably around 500 times. I can honestly say it has never, ever happened to me that taxi refused to turn on the meter. Refuse a ride, yes.

 

You must stay at Khaosan or some other dodgy place. Yes, that includes some 5 star hotels where the lazy scum hangs around.

ok, i used the wrong terminology

 

not refusing to turn the meter on, but refusing to accept the job with a meter

[lopburi3]

12 minutes ago, hellohello123 said:

ok, i used the wrong terminology

 

not refusing to turn the meter on, but refusing to accept the job with a meter

You just ask the next - agree in heavy traffic periods it can be hit and miss but should never be more than a couple refusals before driver agrees - and in most cases this will be less than 5 minutes with the number of taxi on the streets.  Would agree waiting taxi at hotels/tourist spots often pull such nonsense but those on road seldom do.

[hellohello123]

7 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

You just ask the next - agree in heavy traffic periods it can be hit and miss but should never be more than a couple refusals before driver agrees - and in most cases this will be less than 5 minutes with the number of taxi on the streets.  Would agree waiting taxi at hotels/tourist spots often pull such nonsense but those on road seldom do.

well, since I am a tourist, yes I usually give up after 3 taxis, or depending on how many other people are doing it

 

my latest was a 4-5 star hotel just off Sukhumvit 23

and the other night was rod fai ratchada night market

[AAArdvark]

8 hours ago, asiaexpat said:

Tried Grab on several occasions and found they are not very reliable. If they see a trip that pays more they cancel your trip. Also, have never shown up on time to my house which seems to be a GPS problem. The cars have been regular taxis but in good and clean condition. Much easier to walk to the main road and get a regular taxi.

I thought that the indicated GPS location can be manually adjusted to a more precise location.

[TPI]

4 hours ago, owenm said:

I've been using Grab for over a year. I have found them great in most cases. 

 

When you book through your app you have choice of grab taxi or grab car. Grab car is a fixed price per app and a modern private unmarked car is usual. If you go with grab taxi, the approx fare on the app is 10-20% higher than what you'll actually pay. It's calculation is usually based on GPS and traffic conditions. Grab taxi is always on meter price + 20bht booking fee. 

 

Every week I take a 25km trip with grab taxi. App approx price shown is 230-265 Bht. The paid meter fare is usually 190-200 Bht + 20 Bht booking fee. 

 

One time my mistake was booking a grab car. I hit the wrong choice on the app. Fixed price to same destination was 240 Bht in a newish modern saloon. You also accrue greater points on Grab car than taxi. And no extra booking fee.. 

 

I have only ever had 2 cancellations due to high traffic in the area. And sometimes the driver will call to clarify location or I send message in app with soi no and house no etc. 

 

Highly recommend Grab and you get to review the driver out of 5 stars at end of trip. And a trip receipt is automatically emailed too.. 

I've used Grab in CM a couple of times, brilliant, with English speaking drivers, non frightening driving habits and very happy to offer extra trips...all at very reasonable prices! Better than grabbing a metered taxi any day! IMHO 

[Letseng]

4 hours ago, owenm said:

I've been using Grab for over a year. I have found them great in most cases. 

 

When you book through your app you have choice of grab taxi or grab car. Grab car is a fixed price per app and a modern private unmarked car is usual. If you go with grab taxi, the approx fare on the app is 10-20% higher than what you'll actually pay. It's calculation is usually based on GPS and traffic conditions. Grab taxi is always on meter price + 20bht booking fee. 

 

Every week I take a 25km trip with grab taxi. App approx price shown is 230-265 Bht. The paid meter fare is usually 190-200 Bht + 20 Bht booking fee. 

 

One time my mistake was booking a grab car. I hit the wrong choice on the app. Fixed price to same destination was 240 Bht in a newish modern saloon. You also accrue greater points on Grab car than taxi. And no extra booking fee.. 

 

I have only ever had 2 cancellations due to high traffic in the area. And sometimes the driver will call to clarify location or I send message in app with soi no and house no etc. 

 

Highly recommend Grab and you get to review the driver out of 5 stars at end of trip. And a trip receipt is automatically emailed too.. 

Every time I order one they cancel after I waited for 20 mins., or I can see them on the app not moving at all yet they are supposed to be close by but app shows location Asoke. Very different if you book a trip to Suvarnabhumi. You get a taxi instantly.

Once I ordered grabcar from Wireless to St Louis Hosp. Driver had never heard of St Louis or of Bts Surasak. Have given up on them.

[Thomas J]

3 hours ago, me4175 said:

I feel that Grab has declined in quality. Now I frequently encounter drivers cancelling on me without any cause or notice. Also, I have seen drivers coming up with an excuse ("I need 30 mins to your location" when the app shows 5 mins) to get me to cancel instead of them. I kinda miss Uber.

When Uber was here the prices were lower and the service better. Now the prices are up 30% to 50%.  Routinely the cost will go from lets say 220 baht to get to a location to 370 baht to return from the same location.  Also, often they will wait to see if they get a better rider and then cancel on you saying they are too far away. 

[Stocky]

I've had the same experience with Grab Taxis cancelling, on one occasion so close that I watched him drive past. I've given up on using them.

 

Will use them again if the driver rating system operates from the point the fare is accepted, then if cancelled you can rate the driver one star.

[mike324]

Grab has no competition, so prices up and standards down. Not only that Uber paid their drivers pretty good during rush hour times so the drivers have very little incentive to cancel and actually tried to drive good and get paid well.

 

Grab's incentives for drivers are not as good as Uber.

[hellohello123]

2 minutes ago, mike324 said:

Grab has no competition, so prices up and standards down. Not only that Uber paid their drivers pretty good during rush hour times so the drivers have very little incentive to cancel and actually tried to drive good and get paid well.

 

Grab's incentives for drivers are not as good as Uber.

ive only used uber in my home country once,

and I also used grab recently in indonesia bali, was very impressed by grab there,

not one cancellation, prices were about the same as a metered taxi, no delays no nothing

 

so I was expecting similar in bkk,

however unfrotuantely there is far more traffic in bkk than bali, so hte estimates for time were often very wrong, which is fair enouhg,

 

just the continual negotiating through msgs for the grab drivers to pick us up and find us once aloocated was the biggest pain

 

am happy to pay a tad more than the meter for piece of mind

[Fairynuff]

Before Grab became the only choice they were more reliable and cheaper with promotions running almost all the time often making them cheaper than taxis. Since they bought out Uber I use them a lot less. Often way more expensive than taxis and poor promotions. If a driver asks ME to cancel I refuse. If they don’t cancel they can’t get another job.

i use meter taxis mostly now with few refusals except when I’m in tourist locations, then I’ll book a grab.

[me4175]

19 hours ago, Stocky said:

I've had the same experience with Grab Taxis cancelling, on one occasion so close that I watched him drive past. I've given up on using them.

 

Will use them again if the driver rating system operates from the point the fare is accepted, then if cancelled you can rate the driver one star.

I'll usually report them to support. Not sure it really helps but feels better than just accepting their behavior.

[Thainess]

Why not just get a bicycle? Park it where you want (500 baht buys you a strong lock), no waiting for a taxi and you can get where you're going more quickly in central BKK by bicycle than you can by taxi. No traffic jams any more. Benefits of exercise, helping the environment, plus you save a lot of money. BKK is dead easy for cycling as it's completely flat and there are almost no potholes in the roads around the central area. Ditch the taxi and get a bicycle - you'll be glad you did!

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, Thainess said:

Why not just get a bicycle? Park it where you want (500 baht buys you a strong lock), no waiting for a taxi and you can get where you're going more quickly in central BKK by bicycle than you can by taxi. No traffic jams any more. Benefits of exercise, helping the environment, plus you save a lot of money. BKK is dead easy for cycling as it's completely flat and there are almost no potholes in the roads around the central area. Ditch the taxi and get a bicycle - you'll be glad you did!

Ditch the Taxi and get a bicycle..   Arrive sweating? Get hit by a car? Get wet in the rain? have to carry shopping on a bike? travel to another part of town? you'll wish you didn't !!!! 

Ride you bike back from the bar / pub??... no thanks... 

 

The only time I can see a bike being useful would be for a commute to and from the office where there are changing and shower facilities at the office for the months of the year rains aren't a daily occurrence. 

 

Grab are usually good, but from time to time the 'Thainess' slips in and have a frustrating experience with them trying to get to your destination....  A phone call to the driver (if you speak Thai) usually resolves this issue... 

 

I live down a Sub Soi - friends visiting for the first time have never had an issue finding the address... about 30% of Grab Taxi's still have difficulty - It just comes down to the fact that some of the drivers are just not that switched on....

Edited February 7, 2019 by richard_smith237

[fhickson]

On 2/6/2019 at 3:07 PM, owenm said:

Highly recommend Grab and you get to review the driver out of 5 stars at end of trip. And a trip receipt is automatically emailed too.. 

and that rating is taken seriously enough for drivers to be nervous about it.

 

any screwing around you have that piece of mind you got back at them. you can also log a ride investigation on the app if your overcharged and they have a gps record of the route driven.