The Central Client Safety Authority (CCPA) on Wednesday issued a discover to ride-hailing app Uber over its advance tipping characteristic, which prompts customers to pay tricks to drivers earlier than reserving rides, Union Client Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi introduced on X.
“The apply of ‘Advance Tip’ is deeply regarding. Forcing or nudging customers to pay a tip upfront, for quicker service is unethical and exploitative. Such actions fall below unfair commerce practices,” the minister wrote. “Tip is given as a token of appreciation not as a matter of proper, after the service. Taking cognisance of this, I had requested CCPA to look into it and immediately CCPA has issued a discover to @Uber on this regard, in search of rationalization from the platform. Equity, transparency and accountability have to be upheld in all buyer interactions.”
Ahead tipping, additionally known as pre-tipping or upfront tipping, is a characteristic in ride-hailing apps the place passengers are prompted so as to add a tip for the motive force on the time of reserving a experience, earlier than the journey is confirmed or accomplished. Not like conventional tipping, which happens after the service based mostly on the standard of the expertise, ahead tipping is designed to incentivise drivers to simply accept a experience by providing a further cost upfront.
The motion comes based mostly on complaints addressed to the minister by a number of customers. Many customers flagged the best way aggregators are in search of “suggestions earlier than journeys”, which works unchallenged by transport departments throughout states.
Satya Arikutharam, an city mobility knowledgeable, instructed indianexpress.com, “The buyer is held to ransom and fairly often is pressured to tip simply to get a experience. Drivers are additionally now changing into unprofessional because of this apply and are accepting solely journeys that supply them suggestions.”
Namma Yatri, the Bengaluru-based auto-hailing app launched in November 2022, was among the many first to introduce advance tipping in India’s ride-hailing ecosystem.
The platform, which operates on a zero-commission mannequin the place drivers maintain 100 per cent of their base fares, carried out tipping as a further characteristic on its app. By late 2023, Rapido had additionally included tipping into its service.
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In the meantime, Uber launched advance tipping solely final month, being the final among the many ride-hailing companies to undertake this characteristic. Nevertheless, the app launched post-service tipping globally again in 2017.
In line with an business supply, providing drivers suggestions upfront has grow to be an business norm with totally different names. “Some platforms that didn’t pay 5 per cent GST claimed that they’ve a SaaS (software program as a service) mannequin and acquired drivers to earn extra by suggestions. To keep away from an unfair benefit, all gamers moved to this mannequin finally,” the supply mentioned.
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