Why is Uber in HK so useless

[lachlanw]

I have used Uber in other cities and found it to be brilliant but am about to give up on them here. We all accept that sometimes things can go wrong, but with Uber in HK it's every 2nd or 3rd time. Recent experiences:
- 3 cars in a row unable to navigate to Chater Road in Central. That's hardly the backblocks of HK;
- they seem to charge your credit card irrespective of whether the cancellation is their fault or not, and you then have to complain before you can get reimbursed;
- many drivers seem to trick the system and indicate they will pick you up before they have finished their last trip, so they miss the timeframes significantly;
- the estimated pick up times are wildly inaccurate;
- many drivers don't have a clue about navigation yet all have GPS devices.
On the plus side though, the cars are usually very clean.
They need to seriously lift their game if they are to survive, especially because it's priced as a premium product here. Any others finding the same thing or have i just had bad luck?

[Char Siu King]

Because they are uneducated idiots? Just a guess.

[TeachHK]

I've used Uber a number of times across Asia. Generally I've found in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia they are far better than local taxis.
No need to say where you want to go/ language difficulties, no real worries about being ripped off, the cars are generally fairly modern and clean. Overall, I've had good experiences.

I've never used them in HK as there is very poor ability when I have looked. Usually, it's much easier to just hail a cab on the street.

[emx]

Take one of these then:

[Seagulls!]

Is it really priced as a "premium product" here? Although I only use Uber X, I'm really impressed with the cars I've taken and the price is pretty much identical?

[rickyross]

I use UBER almost daily and never encountered any problems. maybe speaking chinese helps.

language shouldn't be a factor when utilizing the services of a multinational company in asia's world city

[alexdown]

Is it really priced as a "premium product" here? Although I only use Uber X, I'm really impressed with the cars I've taken and the price is pretty much identical?

My anecdotal experience is that it's usually 80/100% more than a red taxi, even if you don't consider price surges.
Plus, there's never a car in sight.
Plus, they seem to think it's ok *to stop somewhere else from where you are then calling u to go to them, rather than the other way around*!!! Ffs

[alexdown]

I use UBER almost daily and never encountered any problems. maybe speaking chinese helps.

The app tells then where to pick u up and where to go.

There should be no need for any interaction.

[mrgoodkat]

Uber drivers can't trick the system to accept your fare before they've finished a trip. The fares are automatically assigned by Uber and drivers don't see your destination until the trip has started so they won't refuse the fare.

Never had a problem with Uber in HK so far.

[jaykay]

My Uber experiences have been fine although have only ever used from Kowloon.