Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 10. Question: 66-day asking price 40,000 multiple, how to generate a "sky-high bill" for online car-hailing?
Gao Yiwei, Lu Huadong, Xinhua News Agency "China Network" reporter
Mr. Zhao, who lives in Chongqing, called an online car-hailing more than two months ago, but received an online car-hailing bill on February 8 this year: the journey was 3.1 kilometers, but it took more than 66 days, and the fare 40,000. How did this "sky-high bill" come about? The reporter launched an investigation.
"Zombie order" becomes "weird bill"
At around 22:00 on November 13, 2016, Mr. Zhao used the "Yidao" taxi app at Chongqing North Railway Station to call the driver, Master Tan, for an online taxi. After a long time, Mr. Zhao did not wait for the bus to arrive, so he called the driver; Master Tan said that he had received a person and went to the destination. "The driver picked up the wrong person, but asked me to cancel the order." Mr. Zhao did not agree, believing that the problem with the order was not his fault, and Master Tan did not pick up Mr. Zhao again that night.
Afterwards, Mr. Zhao complained about the situation to the customer service of Yidao. While waiting for Yidao’s reply, Mr. Zhao would sometimes use the "Yidao" software to book a car online. Half a month later, Mr. Zhao received the result of Yidao’s handling of Master Tan: a fine of 500 yuan and a period of study.
However, throughout the process, the order has not been cancelled. It was not until December 3, 2016 that Mr. Zhao received a message reminding him that the order on November 13, 2016 had been started by the driver, Master Tan.
"I didn’t care at the time, after all, there was a problem with this order, and the driver, Master Tan, was also punished," Mr. Zhao said. However, on the morning of February 8 this year, Mr. Zhao received the news that the trip was over. He opened "Easy to" and was taken aback. The driver, Master Tan, completed this "trip" for a total of 3.1 kilometers, which took 1,598 hours and 13 minutes (from 19:03 on December 3, 2016 to 9:16 on February 8, 2017). The total cost was 40,838.66 yuan.
This "bizarre bill" generated by the initial pricing of the "zombie order" unexpectedly lasted for 66 days. In addition to the previous pre-deposit of 230.05 yuan, Mr. Zhao still had to pay 40608.61 yuan.
Naturally, Mr. Zhao would not approve of the fare. "From the first complaint to now, why did this happen? Why didn’t Yidao find out in time when there was an abnormal fee?" But he was also a little worried that if he didn’t pay the fee, it would affect his personal credit.
Pan Yue, a staff member of Yidao, said that at that time, the passenger insisted on not canceling the order, and also told the customer service not to cancel, insisting that the driver cancel; and the driver did not cancel, and then unilaterally started the trip, resulting in additional costs for the passenger. At present, Yidao has properly handled the bill, and the passenger has no loss and is recognized; the driver in question has maliciously swiped the order, and the platform has cancelled the cooperation with the driver.
The reporter dialed the driver’s phone number, Master Tan. After connecting, the reporter identified himself, and the other party directly hung up the phone.
Who is to blame for "sky-high fares"?
- Why can an online ride-hailing driver pick up other passengers without canceling the order? In this regard, an industry insider in the online ride-hailing platform industry revealed that under normal circumstances, if a passenger does not cancel the order, the driver cannot take another order. He speculated that the driver may have a "one-car multi-platform" situation.
- Why did the bill last for 66 days? The industry insider said that many online car-hailing software does not have a "circuit breaker" mechanism or program that "terminates when it reaches a full amount of yuan and terminates when it runs for as many days." "This requires the back-end managers of the online car-hailing platform to monitor the platform bills in real time, screen out abnormal bills, review them one by one, and actively contact drivers and passengers to understand the specific situation."
- Do passengers have to pay for online ride-hailing? Zhong Yuan, a doctor of economic law at Wuhan University Law School, believes that the premise for passengers to pay the fare is that the passenger transportation contract is established and the other party has fulfilled the obligation to deliver the passengers to the destination safely. However, because the driver cannot come, the passenger refuses to cancel the order. There is a dispute between the two parties, and the order is not actually generated. Therefore, the passenger transportation relationship between the two parties has not been established, and the passenger does not need to pay the fare.
- Is the online ride-hailing platform responsible? Liu Junhai, director of the Institute of Commercial Law at Renmin University of China, believes that the driver is selected by the online ride-hailing platform and has the responsibility of management constraints, and the online ride-hailing platform also collects a certain share of the commission. Since it benefits from it, it has corresponding responsibilities and obligations. "The online ride-hailing driver performs part of the behavior on the agency platform, and the platform should also bear the consequences, rather than skimming the responsibility."
On October 25, 2016, the China Consumers Association released the "2016 Online Car-hailing Service Experience Report". The online car-hailing service has problems in security, communication, orders, invoices, etc. Among them, the proportion of orders that cannot be cancelled accounted for 68.2% of the overall experience. However, in terms of the platform’s explanation of orders that cannot be cancelled, the experiencer scored 56.0 points for its reasonableness, which was relatively low.
Online car-hailing management should be better
For the various problems of the current online car-hailing platform, many industry insiders believe that the online car-hailing platform should pay attention to user experience, improve service capabilities, make up for loopholes, strengthen professional staffing, formulate more perfect online car-hailing driver management methods, innovate early warning mechanisms, strengthen the formation of intervention mechanisms, and improve complaint handling capabilities.
Gu Dasong, executive deputy director of the Transportation Rule of Law and Development Research Center at Southeast University, suggested that when granting licenses to online ride-hailing platforms, localities can sign more detailed agreements, including some requirements that are not stipulated in the law but are based on public interests, to strengthen the management of online ride-hailing drivers. This is not an extrajudicial obligation, but to better manage and regulate the healthy development of the online ride-hailing industry.
Cao Zhefu, a lawyer at Tianjin Zhongmei Law Firm, suggested that online ride-hailing platforms establish a more complete handling mechanism for "cancelled orders" and "abnormal orders".
So, how can passengers solve the problem of online car-hailing at present? Gu Dasong suggested that if passengers encounter unfair charges in the process of taking online car-hailing, passengers can first complain to the online car-hailing platform and wait for the platform to deal with it; if passengers are not satisfied with the handling result, they can also complain to the higher supervision department. The online car-hailing supervision department can promptly disclose the complaint information and handling results of each platform to the whole society through the media and websites. "The pressure to disclose the complaint information to the platform is also greater."
Cao Zhefu suggested that when passengers refuse to book a car online, they should keep the evidence of their refusal, so as to explain the situation in the event of a dispute later. Pan Xiang, a partner of Beijing Anjie (Shenzhen) Law Firm, believes that passengers should raise their awareness of rights protection. In such situations, they can complain to the relevant regulatory authorities; if there is property damage, they can also sue in court. (Participate in writing: leaves)
