With billions of dollars in funding and the single most extensive ride-sharing network on the planet, Uber is an absolute behemoth, and there’s no way a ride-sharing startup like Gett can compete by just copying what Uber does, it needs to do something different. Easily the biggest complaint people have with Uber is surge pricing, which increases prices based on demand. Uber claims this is done to encourage more drivers to join its network, but customers just see this as a way to make rides cost a ton of money on the weekends and during holidays. This is where Gett wants to differentiate itself, as the company’s biggest selling point is that its prices are low, and they never increase based on demand. What’s more, Gett is actually offering to pay people back for their surge-priced Uber ride.
One of the more annoying parts of using Uber is surge pricing, its dynamic pricing feature that kicks in when demand is high. During times of high demand — on weekend nights, on holidays, or during bad weather — Uber enacts surge pricing, which charges a multiplier on every fare during busy times. Uber says that by raising its prices, it encourages its supply — drivers — to get out on the road to keep up with increased demand. Gett, a startup that’s been trying to take on Uber with aggressive advertising campaigns, no surge pricing, and low flat fares, says it has a new way to lure in Uber customers. Starting Tuesday, November 10, the startup will give its NYC customers free ride credits equivalent to what they paid in Uber Surge Price fees. The campaign is called Surge Sucks. Gett, which is available in 57 cities, will let customers sign up on its website and then send their surge-priced ride receipts from Uber to Gett. Then, Gett will give customers ride credit equal to whatever they paid in surge pricing, rounded up to the nearest $5 increment. So, for example, if you had a $95.79 surge price receipt (God help you), it would get rounded up to $100 in Gett credit. Customers will be able to submit up to $100 in surge-priced receipts from Uber or from Lyft. Gett has run similar attention-grabbing campaigns in the past. In London, the company offered champagne delivery, and last year in New York it offered actual tattoos to New York customers.
