Grab’s late cancellation and no-show fees to curb intentional abuse, aimed at 0.5% errant passengers

Grab’s late cancellation and no-show fees to curb intentional abuse, aimed at 0.5% errant passengers

Grab recently announced that it will begin charging passengers a late cancellation and no-show fee. The late cancellation fee will be charged to passengers who cancel a ride after five minutes of being assigned a driver, while the no-show fee will be for cases where the driver cancels the ride after five minutes of him/her waiting at the meeting point (or three minutes for GrabShare), should he/she choose to do so.

The fees range from RM3 to RM5, depending on service. This change to Grab’s cancellation policy starts on March 25, which is next Monday.

Since the announcement earlier this week, there have been no shortage of feedback from consumers and netizens. Most of it wasn’t very positive, but Grab is confident that the vast majority of users will not be affected by this policy update. The company called for a media briefing this morning to clarify some misconceptions and to address concerns that users might have.

Grab’s late cancellation and no-show fees to curb intentional abuse, aimed at 0.5% errant passengers

According to Grab’s head of operations Rashid Shukor, the move is to curb intentional abuse of cancellation, which is bad for its community and eventually passengers. He said that the move is for the “improvement of behavior of a small but errant minority, which will also improve ride availability for all of us.” The minority in question amounts to just 0.5% of nationwide Grab bookings in a day, and most users – described as honest and respectful – will never be affected by the move.

“The vast majority within our community are honest, respectful users. Unfortunately, we have noticed some repeated patterns of intentional late cancellations and no-shows. Therefore, to protect our genuine users, we have to be tough against the small minority of intentional abusers,” Grab said in a statement.

“Grab will not derive any profits from these fees. Instead, all fees go towards compensating affected driver-partners,” the company reiterated.

Grab’s late cancellation and no-show fees to curb intentional abuse, aimed at 0.5% errant passengers

At the briefing, Grab said that there are safeguards to avoid genuine cases being dragged into the net, so to speak. There are algorithms that can detect genuine cancellations, due to cases such as when the driver is late, or if the driver’s location is not right. No fee is incurred in such cancellation cases.

Also, a passenger’s intent is checked at several instances, so there won’t be anyone accidentally cancelling. The late cancellation fee will be waived if the driver doesn’t arrive within 10 minutes after the original ETA, and you cancel.

“Through advanced machine learning, we are able to monitor real-time data to check for genuine circumstances, such as unforeseen delays in the driver’s arrival,” Grab says, adding that it will keep an open feedback channel via the in-app Help Centre. If a genuine mistake has been made, Grab will reimburse the fee within two working days.

Grab’s late cancellation and no-show fees to curb intentional abuse, aimed at 0.5% errant passengers

In addition, everyone’s “first strike” (where you are liable for the penalty) will be waived, with a reminder from Grab that the move is an infraction. A yellow card, if you will.

Compared to late cancellations, no-shows are a bigger problem, Grab says, as the driver would have essentially wasted his time and fuel for nothing, literally.

The no-show fee will be charged to you if the driver cancels after waiting for more than five minutes at the agreed location (three minutes for GrabShare, as there are other riders involved), and the passenger fails to respond via calls or chat. Bear in mind that this is not automatic and the driver is likely to continue waiting without cancelling. If he/she chooses to not cancel, there will be no penalty.

Click to enlarge

So how do you pay the late cancellation and no-show fees if you kena? For cashless payments (cards or GrabPay), it’s a simple deduction (refunds are similarly straightforward). For cash riders, the fee will be added on to your next Grab ride. Grab would have already paid your original driver the fee, and the next ride’s driver is merely collecting it back for Grab, from you. 100% of late cancellation and no-show fees go to the driver. Refunds for cash customers will come in the form of a promo code.

Grab is describing this policy as education for errant passengers. To my question on why aren’t these “bad apples” simply banned from the platform after a few strikes, Rashid says that Grab is taking a “rehabilitative stance, to have them improve instead of restricting them from transport, which is a very harsh measure.”

Although 0.5% sounds small, Grab says that such cases affect thousands of drivers a day, which affects the whole system and other passengers as well. So far, this policy change has been made in Singapore and Malaysia, but it will be rolled out regionally in phases.

Click to enlarge

As for drivers cancelling passengers or asking us to cancel, Grab will deal with them internally, as they have always done.

“Similar to our passengers, the vast majority of our driver=partners are also honest, respectful and hardworking. Today, we already have strict measures in place to take action against unfair cancellations by a minority of driver-partners who give the whole community a bad name. Those who repeatedly ask passengers to cancel could result in a suspension or even a permanent ban,” Grab said.

Once again, the penalty is for cancelling after five minutes of getting a driver (if he has responded and is moving in your direction) or for not showing up five minutes after he has arrived (or three minutes for GrabShare). The latter is only if he decides to cancel and not to continue waiting. Your first strike will be waived. Fair enough, or not? Tell us what you think.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • kaizen on Mar 22, 2019 at 7:01 pm

    Grab and bomba both received many prank calls

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 1
    • Kadir Ramlan on Mar 23, 2019 at 3:06 pm

      This is because parents have 6 to 12 kids each. So, they have no time or ability to look after or guide their children well.

      Pity Bomba and Polis 999. Everyday get hundreds of prank calls.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 7
    • Mohd Mansor bin Hj Yeop on Mar 24, 2019 at 11:01 am

      Whatever it is, lucky we got Grab now compared to those lazy abang abangs who used to drive old dirty teksis

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
      • Rahman on Apr 02, 2022 at 11:59 pm

        I have had instances whereby taxis now driving for Grab still behaves like the old Abang teksi and cancel me last minute after i had been waiting for more than 5 mins. I will always report to Grab and they have taken measures to my satisfaction but till now i am still always apprehensive when i get a Grab taxi

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • How about Grab compensating customers when drivers cancel? It is only fair.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 32 Thumb down 1
    • Nana Adwoa on Mar 23, 2019 at 11:16 am

      I totally agree. We should be compensated as well.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
    • Woot Woot on Mar 24, 2019 at 11:50 am

      I’ve been forced by the drivers in many instances to cancel the orders.
      In two instances, the drivers said the destinations were far from their homes and they were looking for the last trip.
      There were cases where the drivers turned aggressive when I refused to cancel the orders.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
  • 4G63T DSM on Mar 22, 2019 at 8:15 pm

    Cool. Then credit us the same if a driver cancels on us, shall you?

    How about, riders cancel after having to wait too long?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 1
    • Moose on Mar 28, 2019 at 6:18 pm

      While I agree with you on that suggestion, I think that for a drivers point of view, that may not be fair for them. For instance, there might be troubles on the road or along the way such as giving ways for ambulance then missed the green light or accident along the road while en route to the customers. Having accepted the job, drivers will straightaway go to customers and if those mentioned situations happened to the drivers, it will be such a waste of time and money for the driver. No jobs, no income and then having his credit deducted. It is totally unfair. Sometimes customers did not really put themselves into drivers’ shoes. Customers need not worried as Grab will monitor the road and drivers’ movement. They will act accordingly and in most cases, driver is more susceptible for suspensions and bans from Grab. There is no denying that there are small minority of drivers who do ask customers to cancel and this is not a good ethics. Dealing with human behavior and a computer system is not easy, there are loopholes and need deeper looks into it. Hopefully things will get better in future cheers p/s: I’m a driver btw :-)

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
      • Rahman on Apr 03, 2022 at 12:01 am

        I have had instances whereby taxis now driving for Grab still behaves like the old Abang teksi and cancel me last minute after i had been waiting for more than 5 mins. I will always report to Grab and they have taken measures to my satisfaction but till now i am still always apprehensive when i get a Grab taxi

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Gabiny on Mar 22, 2019 at 8:41 pm

    Still avoiding the question of errant drivers purposely not showing up after 5 minutes. 0.5% is enough to affect the remaining 99.5%? .

    no competition is bad

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 0
  • MakanMakan on Mar 22, 2019 at 8:50 pm

    Am I reading this right? Grab decided to punish their entire user base just to stamp out 0.5 percent of errant users. Talk about killing a fly with a cannon.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 1
    • How does it affect the rest of users who hail and use the service? NOTHING!
      So does it matter to the rest of users? NO!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
    • Neverknow on Mar 24, 2019 at 8:40 am

      You read it right but perhaps not understand it clearly. It only affects passenger who deliberately cancel and no show. For genuine case, passenger can always communicate with driver if he/she needs more time. Most drivers are OK.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • Muhammad Irwan Bin Abdullah on Mar 23, 2019 at 12:14 am

    What if a driver waits for more than 5 minutes at another location which the passenger ask him to wait but later the passenger doesn’t show up or even doesn’t want to cancel it? So the driver was force to cancel it instead of just wasting his time and petrol. But later on had nothing but a 1.5% cancellation rate which is unfair. Thank you.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • RicoT on Mar 23, 2019 at 6:30 am

    What about drivers who call and ask passengers to cancel booking? They don’t want to pick them up due to traffic jam, laziness, etc. After cancelling, the same driver accepted the job again and repeat the process. So Grab, is there a way to address this problem?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 0
    • spock1976 (Member) on Mar 23, 2019 at 8:32 pm

      I get this a lot. I was told that it happens cos the driver is on auto-accept – dont know if its true. They shd get rid of this function.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
      • FD25R on Mar 25, 2019 at 1:39 pm

        If you don’t have the autofunction then you will get less drivers to pick you up because of your location etc.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Amran on Mar 23, 2019 at 7:03 am

    Good

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Do we get a rebate if its the other way round???

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Rosman Shafie on Mar 23, 2019 at 3:15 pm

    My Car apps is the best right now ,the rules are more pratical and consumer friendly

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • I was supposed to wait for 8mins for the grab which is still so far away stuck in jam. After 15 mins still stuck at the same place. If he is stucked then why accept it and make customer wait.. obviously i had to cancel after ridiculously waiting for 20min. from 8 to 20min come on.. want me to wait for an hour at night going back from work? Cancel laaa then.. penalty laaa easy money maybe drivers intentionally do that.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 7
    • Moose on Mar 28, 2019 at 6:29 pm

      Lol.. Try put yourself in the drivers’ shoe once in a while. There are other vehicles on the road, not just the driver. Sometimes unavoidable things do happen. For instance, driver giving way for ambulance and consequently, he missed the green light. Or there is an accident happen to cars in front of him and he is stuck behind the cars since it is only 1 lane road. There are other cimcumstances also. Riders should also understand the dilemma of the driver. No driver wants to do that intentionally to his rider as it is their source of income. No ride, no income for them. You think he simply want to be late? One more thing, if your location is heavily crowded with cars, few drivers will accept your job request as they don’t want to stuck in traffic jam wasting their time for a mere 5 bucks ride. Be grateful that there is a driver still want to accept your ride request. If you don’t want to use ehailing services, fell free to take a bus or find nearby taxis. Much easier isn’t it?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • many times the driver ask to cancel, saying they latela, forgot la…

    Just use EZcab, much better and cheaper

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • TunSM on Mar 24, 2019 at 5:03 pm

    For rider, Better you wait lama-lama kalau tak nak kena fee RM3-RM5. For driver, better sampai 10 minit kalau tak mahu kena suspend/ban

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Zulfahmi Fadillah on Mar 24, 2019 at 7:20 pm

    I want govt to intervene this. Grab has not give anykind of study shiwing what they alleged. This is ridiculous.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Ollie on Mar 25, 2019 at 1:06 pm

    This is what is known as an a-hole rule. If you’re not an a-hole, you wouldn’t be affected. Drivers do cancel on occasion when Grab offers a ridiculously low fare like rm5 to get stuck in traffic. You must be pretty slow in the brain if you think drivers trying to earn money would cancel a ride for no reason.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • anonymous on Mar 26, 2019 at 9:57 am

    slide away from the topic. Do you guys have any idea about doing grab car as a part-time for now, is it worth it?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Semi-Value (Member) on Mar 26, 2019 at 10:29 am

    what about abuse from irresponsible drivers?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • I had a bad experience with a grab driver once. When I booked the grab, the driver was five minutes away to my place, so I waited, but the driver was driving further and further away. I thought, ok maybe the driver missed the entrance or something. Later I received a message from the driver, the driver asked me to wait, he said he will reach in ten more minutes. Ok, I waited. Ten minutes passed, the driver is still moving further away which is so weird? Then the driver messaged me again ask me to wait AGAIN. End up the message I received was the driver told me he wanted to go toilet, and ask me to cancel the order…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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