App-based taxi aggregators have been taking Indians for a ride for a long time. But now, questions are being raised about their business practices, including dark patterns like ‘bait and switch’ as well as ‘forced action’, with a new survey revealing that most users in India seem to be facing these dubious practices from many of the tech-based cab aggregators.
Such practices are rampant even as the central government ordered an investigation into an alleged differential pricing scam by some of them.
“Zero tolerance for consumer exploitation,” thundered union consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday, after a newspaper investigation revealed that taxi apps charged higher fares on iPhones for the same distance compared to Android devices.
“This prima facie looks like unfair trade practice where the cab-aggregators are alleged to be using differential pricing based on the factors mentioned in the article. If so, this is a blatant disregard to consumer’s right to know,” said Joshi, who has since ordered the Department of Consumer Affairs to conduct a detailed investigation.
Meanwhile, a LocalCircles survey on Saturday morning revealed the extent of dark pattern usage, with 8 in 10 app taxi users surveyed reporting that they had faced practices like bait-and-switch (where a user is shown an attractively low fare to make the booking, after which the fare goes up) or force action (when a booking is confirmed, but the driver doesn’t turn up, forcing the customer to cancel, rebook, and if not corrected, even pay a cancellation fee).
Dark patterns are tech-fuelled traps customers are lured into on e-commerce website interfaces and other online sites, including apps. Last year, the Indian government issued a set of guidelines prohibiting such usage. Internationally, too, dark patterns are considered a burgeoning nuisance, with hefty penalties being increasingly imposed on tech giants who indulge in it—the latest being Fortnite, the popular game from Epic Games, which was forced to cough up hundreds of millions of dollars to users for fooling them into making unwanted purchases while playing the game.
The LocalCircles survey covered 33,000 responses across 269 districts pan-India and has some startling revelations. Forty-two per cent of users surveyed said they experienced hidden charges (other than taxes), which were not disclosed upfront but were added when the ride concluded.
Cancellation of rides is one of the most common incidents, with as many as 84 per cent of users surveyed saying they had experienced it. Meanwhile, 78 per cent of app-based taxi users surveyed say that they have experienced bait-and-switch approaches by platforms where the waiting time that is shown to them before they start booking a ride is significantly less than the actual time it takes for the driver to reach them.
“It appears that government notification and warning of dark patterns is not sufficient as consumers remain vulnerable,” said a statement issued by LocalCircles, calling on the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to enforce rules against dark patterns taking customers for a ride and as reported by consumers in its study.