Grab - what happened?

[samtam]

Ever since Grab took over Uber it has dramatically increased its prices and in the case of Grab car, removed the points (unless you pay), added in a new 3% "foreign payment" fee, (a charge when the card you have registered is not issued in Thailand).

 

It seems obvious to me that the Grab car sector of their business is not really of interest to them, having demolished the competition. The usual business model, I suppose.

 

What I find objectionable is that changes only manifest themselves when you spot a change in billing or activity, through a plethora of information. All rather sneeky. Sometimes the quality of the car (in Premium) is so dire, it's just not worth it. They ask you to rate, but "this is certainly not the Grab experience we want you to have!" when you provide the reason for not giving 5 stars, I'm sure it goes straight into the file marked "bin". 

 

Such a pity. Businesses thrive on a good reputation, but cynical loyalty programmes are a complete con.

 

Rant of the day.

Edited January 18 by samtam

[eyeman]

Grab car  prices are ridiculous. Bolt can sometimes be 1/4 of the price although not always available and flag taxis often a 1/2 of the price or better.  Only use when desperate now.

 

 

[retarius]

What did you expect exactly? Reduced competition is unlikely to bring down prices. 

[Celsius]

Thailand.....what happened 

[samtam]

6 minutes ago, retarius said:

What did you expect exactly? Reduced competition is unlikely to bring down prices. 

 

Thailand's business model. OK for the very big boys. Suffocate potentially good business.

Edited January 18 by samtam

[retarius]

1 minute ago, samtam said:

 

Thailand's business model. OK for the very big boys. Suffocate potentially good business.

I got news for you, it's pretty much the same everywhere.

[Gaccha]

17 hours ago, samtam said:

dramatically increased its prices

 

The initial low prices were to grab (pun intended) market share. They were clearly not sustainable. And even with the current prices they are not earning a profit. 

 

But it is fantastic that Grab exists since it breaks the local motorbike/car cartels, forces better behaviour of drivers, and gives more options to us.

 

Obviously not great news for drivers. It means low wages for them and they must achieve higher standards. I can only welcome them to the new world of neoliberalism!

[FritsSikkink]

18 hours ago, samtam said:

Ever since Grab took over Uber it has dramatically increased its prices and in the case of Grab car, removed the points (unless you pay), added in a new 3% "foreign payment" fee, (a charge when the card you have registered is not issued in Thailand).

 

It seems obvious to me that the Grab car sector of their business is not really of interest to them, having demolished the competition. The usual business model, I suppose.

 

What I find objectionable is that changes only manifest themselves when you spot a change in billing or activity, through a plethora of information. All rather sneeky. Sometimes the quality of the car (in Premium) is so dire, it's just not worth it. They ask you to rate, but "this is certainly not the Grab experience we want you to have!" when you provide the reason for not giving 5 stars, I'm sure it goes straight into the file marked "bin". 

 

Such a pity. Businesses thrive on a good reputation, but cynical loyalty programmes are a complete con.

 

Rant of the day.

Pay cash

[samtam]

37 minutes ago, Gaccha said:

 

The initial low prices were to grab (pun intended) market share. They were clearly not sustainable. And even with the current prices they are not earning a profit. 

 

But it is fantastic that Grab exists since it breaks the local motorbike/car cartels, forces better behaviour of drivers, and gives more options to us.

 

Obviously not great news for drivers. It means low wages for them and they must achieve higher standards. I can only welcome them to the new world of neoliberalism!

 

When it's good, it's very good. When it's mediocre, it's a rip off. Unfortunately Grab do not seem to take criticism of their less than 5 star ratings with any degree of seriousness, despite their auto-generated blurb.

 

But I agree that it is nicer to avoid some of the truly awful taxis. But in their defence, the low flag fall is only ever going to produce sub par service, or worse. That too is by no means universal. Sometimes I've had better service from a taxi than from a Grab Premium ride, (the difference in car notwithstanding).

[Gaccha]

8 hours ago, samtam said:

Grab do not seem to take criticism of their less than 5 star ratings with any degree of seriousness

I think they take it very seriously. The drivers are paranoid of having their star rating drop below 4.

 

Grab is very strict. If your car is older than a few years, or there is too much mileage, or you play music without the customer's permission, then you'll not be a Grab driver for long.

 

But Grab are also aware of customers who themselves have a bad reputation. Grab drivers are encouraged to give ratings of their customers. Should a customer accumulate a low rating, their low ratings would not be taken seriously.

 

I can see this with when I have complained. Grab Food has instantly given me refunds when the refund is very difficult to justify on any evidence provided.

 

I have had a similar situation with Lazada. They have given me refunds before the seller even received their products back from me after I initiated the refund procedure.

 

I'm convinced this is from having a good reputation.

[treetops]

On 1/18/2024 at 9:02 AM, samtam said:

 . . . . . added in a new 3% "foreign payment" fee, (a charge when the card you have registered is not issued in Thailand).

When did this happen or can anyone else confirm it?  Are you sure it's not a fee from your bank?

 

I'm an infrequent Grab user but have my overseas credit card linked to my account and have never noticed any 3% surcharge.

[reefsurfah]

21 minutes ago, treetops said:

When did this happen or can anyone else confirm it?  Are you sure it's not a fee from your bank?

 

I'm an infrequent Grab user but have my overseas credit card linked to my account and have never noticed any 3% surcharge.

Just last month, it’s all of grab services.  Bunch of <deleted> but this is expected when you have no regulation or viable competition.  

[samtam]

16 minutes ago, treetops said:

When did this happen or can anyone else confirm it?  Are you sure it's not a fee from your bank?

 

I'm an infrequent Grab user but have my overseas credit card linked to my account and have never noticed any 3% surcharge.

 

Per Grab's response to me today:

 

We would like to inform you of an important update regarding payment policies effective December 7th 2023.

 

Starting from the mentioned date, consumers utilizing an international card for transactions will incur....

 

[samtam]

"....this fee is designed to offset the processing costs associated with international cards and is not intended for profit..."

 

I'm sure credit card companies like VISA and MasterCard will be delighted to have their business.

 

Presumably there are no processing costs for locally issued credit cards.

[reefsurfah]

1 minute ago, samtam said:

"....this fee is designed to offset the processing costs associated with international cards and is not intended for profit..."

 

I'm sure credit card companies like VISA and MasterCard will be delighted to have their business.

 

Presumably there are no processing costs for locally issued credit cards.

It’s a scam but not much can be done if not regulated.  Basically they are trying to recover the 3% visa and Mastercard are charging them.

[treetops]

Thanks both.  Just been playing about with it and it seems it's automatically added to the initial price when the card is selected as the payment method.  Time to change cards.

[Lee65]

On 1/19/2024 at 10:13 AM, FritsSikkink said:

Pay cash

 

Just selected 'Cash' as a payment method on a Grab order and the total was 2 baht higher than that for my foreign credit card ...

 

Getting jerked around by Grab (Lazada, Shopee, etc. etc.) has made using their services annoying.  But these companies don't seem to care: in Asia there's always another 10 million uneducated, non-discerning, serfs potential customers happily lining up to be manipulated. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12 by Lee65

[samtam]

On 1/19/2024 at 8:38 PM, reefsurfah said:

It’s a scam but not much can be done if not regulated.  Basically they are trying to recover the 3% visa and Mastercard are charging them.

....which I thought these card companies specifically discouraged.

[Dolf]

On 1/18/2024 at 7:07 PM, eyeman said:

Grab car  prices are ridiculous. Bolt can sometimes be 1/4 of the price although not always available and flag taxis often a 1/2 of the price or better.  Only use when desperate now.

 

 

Depends on the city. Bolt is much cheaper in CM but not much different in Udon. Grab has the cheap mini car option too.

[Dolf]

8 minutes ago, Lee65 said:

 

Just selected 'Cash' as a payment method on a Grab order and the total was 2 baht higher than that for my foreign credit card ...

 

Getting jerked around by Grab (Lazada, Shopee, etc. etc.) has made using their services annoying.  But these companies don't seem to care: in Asia there's always another 10 million uneducated, non-discerning, serfs potential customers happily lining up to be manipulated. 

 

 

 

 

2 baht isn't a lot of money you realise.

[Ralf001]

11 minutes ago, Lee65 said:

 

Just selected 'Cash' as a payment method on a Grab order and the total was 2 baht higher than that for my foreign credit card ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 baht higher even after processing fee's ?

[samtam]

1 minute ago, Dolf said:

2 baht isn't a lot of money you realise.

Yup, not a lot of money. But I'd rather have it than Grab. Their new add on charges are costing them a lot more in reputational cost than the credit card fee and the "platform fee", (which seemed to only be effected 2 times).

[samtam]

On 1/19/2024 at 10:13 AM, FritsSikkink said:

Pay cash

 

I'm sure a cash payment is as much of a pain in the derriere for the driver as it is for me. And will the driver have no have change, (like a taxi driver)?

 

[Lee65]

5 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

2 baht higher even after processing fee's ?

 

Yes.  The total.  Or the 'grand total' if you prefer.

[Dolf]

5 minutes ago, samtam said:

Yup, not a lot of money. But I'd rather have it than Grab. Their new add on charges are costing them a lot more in reputational cost than the credit card fee and the "platform fee", (which seemed to only be effected 2 times).

So you don't tip then. Worrying about 2 baht is pretty sad.

[Lee65]

10 minutes ago, samtam said:

Their new add on charges are costing them a lot more in reputational cost than the credit card fee and the "platform fee"

 

Indeed.  'Annoy customer' seems to be a staple of Thai business.  Perhaps their thinking: "If the customer is happy it means we could have extracted a few more baht out of them."

 

 

 

Edited March 12 by Lee65

[Ralf001]

5 minutes ago, Lee65 said:

 

Yes.  The total.  Or the 'grand total' if you prefer.

 

Defo then.

Vote with your feet.

2b overcharge is criminal.

[samtam]

1 minute ago, Dolf said:

So you don't tip then. Worrying about 2 baht is pretty sad.

 

I do tip, rather too generously for everything in Thailand.

 

My point was simply the "it's not a lot of money" argument works for both sides. If it's such a tiny amount for both parties, why bother?

 

My point about having change, is do I always have to have the smaller notes (less than THB500 or THB1000) available? I used to always for taxis, as they could never even change a THB100 bill, but now I give them THB100 if it's within 25% of that.

[Dolf]

1 minute ago, samtam said:

 

I do tip, rather too generously for everything in Thailand.

 

My point was simply the "it's not a lot of money" argument works for both sides. If it's such a tiny amount for both parties, why bother?

 

My point about having change, is do I always have to have the smaller notes (less than THB500 or THB1000) available? I used to always for taxis, as they could never even change a THB100 bill, but now I give them THB100 if it's within 25% of that.

2 baht times 1 million is a lot. That's why they do it and maybe banks put up their fees. Use big notes in 7 /11 to get small ones.

[Lee65]

1 minute ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Defo then.

Vote with your feet.

2b overcharge is criminal.

 

The point - for those too thick to understand - was that Grab is evidently adding a 'fee' for Cash payment higher than the 'fee' for foreign credit cards.