The Problem Facing Uber in the Dominican Republic
What you should know about taking Uber in the Dominican Republic.
Maybe this is an open letter to Uber operating in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Plata to be specific.
First off, Uber, you either pay the drivers more to their satisfaction, or regulate the mess that many of your drivers are causing for far too long.
This situation is why I am strongly considering no longer using the Uber app in the Dominican Republic.
The Problem
Before I cut right to it, I’ll start by saying that not all Uber drivers are the same, the good characters are just being strongly outnumbered.
Now it’s rare that one will want to pick you up without hassle to pay more than what the app requires. Imagine that: you go through the app, locate a driver, lock in a price, and then a driver contacts you to pay more?
For an Expat like myself that doesn’t drive, I often depend on rideshare, and when I gotta go, I don’t have time to negotiate prices. If my ride is confirmed at RD 200 pesos, why does the driver contact me to bump it up?
They will even go as far as cancelling your ride while you’ve been waiting if you don’t agree to give in. Most of the time, I only pay using my credit card and I don’t have pesos. They want passengers that are paying in pesos or cash so that they can bump up your price a bit or significantly.
And this is not only being experienced by foreigners; locals taking Ubers are getting the exact same treatment. In fact, my lady (who is Dominican) has had them negotiate the higher prices on her far more than it’s happened to me.
Price hike the family
My family flew in recently to visit us again. They stayed at a resort about a 20-minute drive from where we live. Since there were quite a few family members, they called two Ubers. It totally slipped my mind that an Uber driver might just try to hustle them.
Usually, that is why you go with Uber, to avoid any mixup with what you pay. The app showed the price at around RD 200 pesos for the 20-minute ride. Sounds good, sounds about right, but those assigned drivers had their own plan in mind.
One driver called to up the price to $20 (USD) or so and made the excuse that gas was high and he wasn’t familiar with the drop-off area. The second driver was even worse; this guy showed up and then asked for a little more than double the ride fee.
There was no way to avoid this, as it has sadly become the norm in the Dominican Republic. It doesn’t matter if you’re a local Dominican or a foreigner, but being at a resort definitely made them a target.
Those drivers never got the business, and I called the taxi company instead. The taxi cost a little bit more than the Uber, but with no games at all.
The taxi option
Personally, I’m weighing the option of using taxis exclusively for now on, while I look into finding a personal driver.
I understand how convenient and simple Uber can be for someone just arriving in a new country. I get it, it’s easy and for those in that situation, it’s still worth it.
But it isn’t the same for those of us living here in the Dominican Republic. For a slightly higher cost, a taxi is the better choice.
As I mentioned before, this inconvenience isn’t limited to tourists and foreigners; locals across the country are fed up. They even created a Facebook page to air out their frustrations with drivers attempting to overcharge.
It’s interesting that Uber hasn’t yet done what most believe would solve the problem: eliminating the cash option. I’ve heard that the problems really started once cash became an option.
It’s the same everywhere, drivers contacting you for more pay, or even having the audacity to show up and demand more.
Hopefully this will be resolved
The back-and-forth price negotiations aren’t what Uber is about.
I would assume that Uber has heard about all of this going on, which makes me surprised that nothing has happened to improve the experience for both the passengers and drivers.
In the Uber drivers defense, if they feel that they are not getting enough money, there’s a better way to go about it.
It’s not the passenger’s fault or issue if you want a raise. I understand charging a “Gringo tax” (a bit more) to the foreigners, but to bump up the prices on your own local Dominicans isn’t cool.
The more this goes on, the more people will move on to other options.
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