Cancellation of a taxi request more than 2 minutes after acceptance will see customers charged up to €10 under new FreeNow Terms and Conditions
Ireland’s most popular taxi booking app, FreeNow, has introduced a range of new fees and charges for customers.
As of 11 January, FreeNow updated its General Terms and Conditions for passengers. Key changes were outlined to customers in an email sent before the turn of the new year, and involved an increase in cancellation fees.
A €10 cancellation fee has been introduced for premium taxi services, and for customers who arrive more than 10 minutes late for Reserve Fleet Driver bookings.
Cancellation fees of €5 for passengers who cancel a transportational service request 2 or more minutes after it was accepted by a driver had been in place since 2020.
This cancellation fee is supported by FreeNow taxi drivers. ‘Dritan’, a FreeNow taxi driver in Dublin City said, “If someone calls a taxi, and a driver drives 2 or 3 km, he gives his time, his fuel. Once the driver arrives and the customer changes their mind, the big question is who’s going to pay the driver?
“If you order a taxi, pay for the taxi. At least pay [a cancellation fee] for the fuel.”
FreeNow’s updated GTCs also saw an increase in its so-called “technology fees”, with customers now facing additional charges of up to €5.
A technology fee of €1 was first rolled out in the Summer of 2022, and these fees, according to FreeNow’s website, go towards making sure that FreeNow can continue to invest in technology improvements that will allow them to extend their product offering for passengers.
Technology fees range from €1 to €5, and are visible to customers prior to payment. They are included in the overall fare, but do not go to the driver. FreeNow also takes 15% of all card and cash payments received by a driver from a customer when the service was booked through the app.
FreeNow, founded in 2009, is Ireland and Europe’s most used taxi app. It has more than 56 million users across over a hundred cities, and sits top of the Maps & Navigation Charts on the Irish Android Play Store.
FreeNow operates out of four cities in Ireland: Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
Seán Jevens
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