$14 ride costs $42? Grab prices surge even after technical glitch causes GrabPay credits to disappear from customer’s accounts

Both Grab customers and drivers were affected by a technical issue on the ride-hailing mobile application this morning, after a glitch caused GrabPay credits in the GrabPay mobile wallet payment system to disappear from customer’s accounts.

Interestingly, prices continued to surge on the app even despite the glitch. As the Downtown Line was also hit by a signal fault, causing delays during the morning peak hours, some netizens questioned whether the company is capitalising on the opportunity to hike fares.

Netizens were frustrated and alarmed by the glitch. Facebook user Marr Sakiynah R Giri wrote, “Hello grab! I already put money in my credits last night and now i can’t get to work!”

Another Facebook user noted that ride prices had surged to “unusually high” figures and asked: “My wallet credits are all gone! Is this supposed to be normal? S$42 instead of the usual S$14. Is Grab capitalising on such an opportunity?”

Drivers have also been affected. Facebook user Ng Soo Horng shared in a Facebook community page for GrabHitch drivers: “I had more than S$90 in my GrabHitch driver’s wallet last night. I did not cash out. Today becomes S$0 with no past transactions found. Ride history remains though”.

What's up with @GrabSG app this morning? Couldn't use my Grab pay and when I tried to re enter card details, errors galore. I was forced to use uber.

— Ifrah Ashiblie (@DayturaDream) February 28, 2018

Other Grab drivers have also told reporters and shared on social media that they have been having difficulties getting passengers this morning. One unnamed driver told a reporter that he was on the road for three hours, since 6am, and was only able to get a passenger around 9am today.

Grab notified customers on the app that they are “experiencing a technical issue and may only be able to accept cash rides right now,” during the rush hour this morning. They later said in a Facebook post that their engineers are investigating the issue and that they “expect to be back up in 30 minutes”.

In a subsequent post around 9.20am, Grab apologised to users for the inconvenience and updated: “You can now book rides using cash and GrabPay linked cards. We are still working on GrabPay Credits and Rewards…Rest assured your balances will reappear in app once we do!”

They later updated that all services have resumed, around 10am.