Thinking of hitting cancel on that Grab booking? You might want to think again because the ride-hailing app announced yesterday that it will start charging its users a PHP50 (US$0.96) cancelation fee.
Grab Philippines said in a statement yesterday that they’ve updated their ride policy to reduce “unreasonable cancellations” among its drivers and passengers, GMA News reported.
“Grab is mindful that cancellations are frustrating for both the passengers and our drivers. At the same time, we are cognizant of the fact that sometimes, cancellations are necessary during special situations,” said Grab Philippines president Brian Cu.
Grab told CNN Philippines that the new policy will be fully implemented by the end of May. “For the first week, it will be rolled out to the first 10% of our drivers and passengers.”
The updated policy indicates changes which will affect both the passenger and the driver.
For the passenger:
- PHP50 (US$0.96) fee for canceling a ride after 5 minutes of getting assigned a driver. The fee will go to the driver as compensation.
- PHP50 (US$0.96) if the passenger is a no-show at the pickup point within 5 minutes of the driver’s arrival for GrabCar and 3 minutes for GrabShare. The amount will be given to the driver as his compensation.
- Temporary 24-hour account suspension for excessive cancelations. This will happen if a passenger:
- cancels a maximum of two bookings in 1 hour
- cancels a maximum of three bookings in 24 hours
- cancels a maximum of five bookings in 7 days
Meanwhile, when a driver cancels on a passenger, 30 GrabRewards Points will automatically be awarded to the passenger.
For Grab drivers:
- Drivers are penalized if they go below the required completion rate, which is computed based on the driver’s completed bookings, cancellation rates, and ignored jobs.
- Drivers will temporarily be locked out of the platform for excessively ignoring or canceling booking requests.
- Drivers will be suspended and/or eventually banned for low ratings and passenger complaints.
Grab also included situations where the cancelation fees are waived:
- No fee if the passenger cancels within five minutes of getting a driver.
- No fee if the driver isn’t moving towards the pick-up point or is going the wrong direction.
- No fee if the driver takes 15 minutes longer than the first estimated time of arrival.
- No fee if the driver indicates that he has arrived but has not.
If there is a fee that was wrongly charged, Grab said it will refund it within 48 hours when reported on the app’s Help Center.
This is the first time for Grab to charge its users a cancelation and no-show fee.
