Goodbye, Uber

I signed up with Uber just three days ago. It worked just fine for two trips on August 9th. And it worked fine for one trip on August 10th. This was a trip I had arranged for a friend of mine to get her to her doctor appointment.

When she called me after her appointment so I could arrange for her trip back, I got the message "Request Failed. Your payment method is invalid. Please update your billing settings."

Nothing had changed in my billing settings. The first call was to my bank to see if the Uber charges had tripped some security action. They hadnt. Nor had any charges been declined. The bank told me this was typically a sign of a merchant error.

So I try Uber Help.

I received a response that said one of the following issues is preventing the fare charges from going through:

-Incorrect billing information (likely zip code or expiration date)
-insufficient funds
-Your card may not be set up to approve recurring transactions and/or international transactions (this will require a call to your card-issuer to resolve)

I contacted my bank again and was again assured there were no problems on my end.

I had several back and forths with Uber, each time a different person parroting the same things over and over and telling me to use a different payment method.

There was no need for me to do so as the problem was not on my end. This same card works just fine with a variety of services and every other transaction I use it for.

When it became clear that Uber had no interest whatsoever in figuring out what the problem on their end was kept insisting that I use some other payment method, I deleted my Uber account and have since signed up with Lyft.

Steve Eddy, Sacramento CA about Uber, v3.257.2