N.C. Attorney General's Office: Uber Halloween complaints keep coming

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After having two Uber drivers cancel on him, Uber customer Gagandeep Bindra found a ride home from Chapel Hill early Saturday - but it cost him $455.03.

Lauren K. Ohnesorge

Staff Writer- Triangle Business Journal

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North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's office has received 13 complaints against ride-share tech company Uber. Of those complaints, 11 happened during the Halloween price surge.

Uber has responded to one of those complaints regarding a summer incident, according to AG spokesperson Noelle Talley. Uber offered a refund in that case.

Read: N.C. Attorney General's office to investigate Uber's Halloween price surge

"Our Consumer Protection Division is continuing to look into these complaints," Talley says.

Gagandeep Bindra, whose $455 bill for a trip from Chapel Hill to Durham on Halloween night caught him by surprise, says he has yet to hear back from Uber after rejecting their initial attempt at a compromise.

William Kelley, whose daughter, a Duke Hospital nurse, was charged more than $400 for a ride, says Uber agreed to a 25 percent discount after she complained.

"I still can't believe they can get away with this," he says.

But Uber has said all along that it's not trying to get away with anything. Instead, it's just following a dynamic pricing model that's laid out on its website, where prices increase due to demand. It's an effort to get more drivers on the road, spokesperson Taylor Bennett has said – not to swindle riders.

Uber expanded its services to the Triad in June.

Bennett's suggestion is to take advantage of an option on the app that alerts you when surge pricing ends.

And that's no longer the only option for dedicated Uber riders. Over the past week, a new, non-Uber app called "SurgeProtector" has surfaced to help Uber customers find locations with lower surge pricing.

Lauren Ohnesorge covers information technology and entrepreneurship.