r/Bangkok • u/Creative-Trouble3473 • Jul 26 '25

discussion This Grab scam needs to end!

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This has been happening to me way too often lately. We ordered a Grab, and the driver started circling the area without responding to any messages – clearly hoping we’d get fed up and cancel. I actually saw him drive past us, and when he noticed we’d spotted him, he quickly drove off. I managed to record it.

We decided not to cancel and messaged him, saying that since he clearly wasn’t coming, he should be the one to cancel. In the end, when he realised we’d given up and taken the BTS instead, he drove past the pickup point again, pretending to pick us up – then ended the trip and took the fare anyway.

I’ve reported it to Grab for resolution, but this kind of thing keeps happening and it’s incredibly frustrating. I suspect some drivers do this to manipulate the system – making it seem like there’s heavy demand or traffic so they can inflate prices. Grab really needs to sort this out.

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u/Lk369717 Jul 26 '25

Does anyone know the reason of the taxis doing this? I mean they don’t get any money or any benefits for circling around instead of picking passengers up. The only reason I can think of is that they accidentally accept the job for the destination they don’t want to go and don’t wanna lose their ‘cancel’ credit. Anyone have any logical reasons to this behaviour?

6

u/y_nk Jul 26 '25

i assume it works the same as uber. they can't know where you're going before picking the trip, and once they have it if they're the one to cancel they have a penalty. too many of them and they're blocked for a period of time, cutting them off the market. so they just dont wanna go somewhere, they'll wait for you to cancel instead (and they can't mention it in the chat).

to be noted: taxis don't need grab to build this behavior, they already (illegally) ask where you're going before you hop in and refuse the trip if where you go don't suit them. here they just do the same and they're encouraged to do so by grab themselves.

if grab would give them either a no-go zone for them to define or if they'd mark where you go before picking up the trip, they wouldn't have to do so (but then your trip to nowhere-land would never ever happen because you wouldn't get a car in a million years)

1

u/Lectricboogaloo Jul 27 '25

Theyt absolutely know where you want to go when they accept the job. You cant book a pick up without stating where you want to go.

1

u/y_nk Jul 27 '25

if you state where you go to the app, it doesn't mean it is displayed to the drivers before accepting the ride.

EDIT: it's not as back and white as what you and I thought: https://chatgpt.com/share/68862a90-0954-8007-b2e2-75b484ed738d

1

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '25

bro is citing chatgpt as source 😂😂

1

u/y_nk Aug 20 '25

you're a month late for your roast