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Joe Paxton
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I'm not sure Uber Money was previously redeemable against GB rail tickets. Rather, gift cards added during the booking process used to fill the separate Uber Cash balance, which is also what the credit rebates are allocated to.
Nonetheless, this is welcome. By coincidence Amazon are discounting Uber e-gift cards by 10% again (only until Wednesday) so there's another opportunity to stack that saving with the credit rebate.
Before anyone commits a significant sum on buying Uber gift cards, it'd be wise to get confirmation that they can indeed now (once again?) been redeemed against rail ticket purchases - the current situation does seem a tad uncertain...
That said, I've just seen @Edvid seemingly confirm that it is now possible in this post on the Special Offers Discussion thread. Just a little wary of whether it might be a glitch or an unintended change that could quickly get rolled back...
Mainline421
Member
Uber Cash or Uber Money? The former has always been possible, the latter would often show right up to the payment stage but then wouldn't be applied
It appears as Uber Money. But you have to be careful with it and ensure that it actually deducts from it. I got a Uber e-Gift card from Cadent earlier this year after there was a gas leak and they had to cut my supply off overnight whilst they were repairing it. Despite the credit being in my Uber Money account they actually billed my credit card.
I was under the impression that only 'Uber Cash' can be used for train ticket purchases, not 'Uber Money'. Therefore if a gift card deposits the amount as 'Uber Money' cannot be used for train tickets.
I don't want to purchase a Uber gift card at a discount, only for it to be useless when attempting to purchase train tickets.
I don't want to purchase a Uber gift card at a discount, only for it to be useless when attempting to purchase train tickets.
This used to be the case, but appears to have changed, for some users at least.
Also see reports on Reddit that back this up: https://www.reddit.com/r/uktrains/comments/1nvynhj/using_uber_gift_cards_for_train_tickets/ - eg
For some reason there are two levels of credit rebate for those without Uber One membership. For me it's currently 5% but for a relative of mine it's just 3%.
I bought an outboundary Day Travelcard entirely with Uber Money (funds obtained through a gift card) not half an hour ago, so it works for me. The other day I also used it to buy a very low value ticket that I won't use, both to confirm Uber Money could be used as mentioned in post #299 and to see if Uber automatically refund uncollected ToD bookings when the fare is under £5.
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benk1342
Member
I can also confirm this is working, for me at least.
I bought a £150 Uber gift card in the Amazon sale for £135.
This appeared as “Uber Money”.
I have since used it successfully to buy two train tickets, which were paid for fully with Uber Money (plus some residual Uber Credit from earlier train purchases).
Both purchases also at least appeared to earn me the usual 10% Uber Credit as an Uber One member (though the Uber Credit hasn’t been, well, credited yet).
Thankfully it never occurred to me that it wouldn’t work or I wouldn’t have been so quick to drop £135 on the gift card! I wasn’t aware there was a previous issue with Uber Money vs Uber Cash. I now regret not spending more (but am wary they can change their own rules at any time).
I bought a £150 Uber gift card in the Amazon sale for £135.
This appeared as “Uber Money”.
I have since used it successfully to buy two train tickets, which were paid for fully with Uber Money (plus some residual Uber Credit from earlier train purchases).
Both purchases also at least appeared to earn me the usual 10% Uber Credit as an Uber One member (though the Uber Credit hasn’t been, well, credited yet).
Thankfully it never occurred to me that it wouldn’t work or I wouldn’t have been so quick to drop £135 on the gift card! I wasn’t aware there was a previous issue with Uber Money vs Uber Cash. I now regret not spending more (but am wary they can change their own rules at any time).
At least it's not long till Black Friday when it's likely Amazon will have a similar gift card promo
In the meantime it's possible to buy Uber credit at less than face value via quite a few of the gift card apps (regularly 5 to 8 per cent discount) as well as employers' benefits portals.
In the meantime it's possible to buy Uber credit at less than face value via quite a few of the gift card apps (regularly 5 to 8 per cent discount) as well as employers' benefits portals.
benk1342
Member
Thanks for the tip!
benk1342
Member
The “important info” says it’s not valid for rail tickets. I wonder if that’s out of date info or if it’s a different kind of credit.
Shame this is so complicated.
It's very possible that they are either doing a test, are restricting this to users who they think they can convert to Uber Plus, or that they just messed up a change and it will be reverted tomorrow.
I wouldn't read too much into the fact that it's working for some users at the moment - Uber are always very focused on building the market and wiping out competition. Providing consistency doesn't really factor into it
Someone on Reddit (IIRC) pointed out this text in the Uber help site:
(my emphasis) which suggests that the recent tweaks this past week are deliberate
Joe Paxton
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In addition to Uber Cash and Uber Money, Uber are trialling Uber Dosh, Uber Wonga and Uber Moolah stored value systems which all have varying methods of acquisition, redemption and retention depending upon the user, temporal position (linear or otherwise), locale, access device(s), deemed customer revenue tiering status and other intentional or random whims of Uber TechnologiesInc and its subsidiaries, service providers, partners, competitors and relevant diktats of the Nevada Gaming Commission as applicable. Your home may be at risk from Uber autonomous vehicle related unintentional kintic dissembly. Always read the label. Label location may vary.
The Nevada Gaming Commission are a surprisingly unbiddable and legitimate organisation. They won't be accrediting UberRoubles any time soon, even if they can be exchanged for third class rail travel on alternate Thursdays within a lucky trial group.
Why don't Uber just stop with this ridiculously stupid complicated setup - and just have one type of credit balance - that can be spent how you want.
If Uber Gift Cards were indeed redeemable against train fares, I would certainly purchase them.
Realistically they don't do that because they make about 2% on train fares, so if they offer a 7-10% discount in the long term then they are making a 5-8% loss on every transaction. Honestly the main question is why they feel it's even worth remaining in the UK rail market at all, and ultimately it's not because they want to serve people who successfully manage to get a discount.
It is likely that Uber wants to be a 'one stop' travel app.
They probably hope that people using their app will get a Uber Taxi to the Station, buy a train ticket, then use Uber Taxi services the other end.
Exactly that, or "why not get a car the whole way for a quid more?". What's less clear is how they respond to people who don't end up taking the extras - they're used to markets where they can just invisibly ramp up their percentages, and like to take a 20% plus cut. We'll see how it pans out
That same question has a different answer elsewhere in their FAQs:
You can now use your Uber Money funds on all of our Uber Travel products. This means you can pay for everything from your Uber trips and orders to flights, train journeys and coach trips. Products such as Boat, Lime, Uber One, and car hire can also be purchased using your Uber Money.
Either way it's clear that discounted Uber gift cards are back as a legit method of saving money on rail tickets.
Funnily enough I was offered 20% off a pickup ride from Waterloo yesterday.
Could someone please confirm how I can chase up missing rebates?
I made two journeys (on seperate weeks) to the same location. These have not been credited.
Other journeys made since have been credited.
So clearly they haven't tracked, I have the emails in my inbox for these journeys.
I've checked the emails. There is no where on the email to 'chase missing rebates'. Plus when I click on 'help centre' there is no obvious link to make an enquiry.
Also, have to be careful with Uber. Some journeys do not track, for some reason.
I made two journeys (on seperate weeks) to the same location. These have not been credited.
Other journeys made since have been credited.
So clearly they haven't tracked, I have the emails in my inbox for these journeys.
I've checked the emails. There is no where on the email to 'chase missing rebates'. Plus when I click on 'help centre' there is no obvious link to make an enquiry.
Also, have to be careful with Uber. Some journeys do not track, for some reason.
The "Trains & Coach" help centre, which is accessed through the Uber Travel page rather than the general help centre, should have a write to us link to https://uber.wl.omio.com/app/support/
If the designated limit of 60 days since journey completion hasn't been exhausted (outward leg of a return trip wouldn't count) they may tell you to wait until then.
IMX only one journey didn't track within the (then 10-day) limit, and that was quickly resolved after messaging customer services. That said the duration between journey completion and credit receipt is rather variable.
I just find it strange how some journeys are credited within days.
Yet others take weeks, or do not credit at all.
From my experience, if a journey isn't credited within a week, it is unlikely that it will be.
The journeys I'm still awaiting credits for, I also did earlier in the year. The same problem occured, I did not chase up, and credits were never credited to my account. So lost out there.
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You can still chase them for the missing credits through that link; their 60-day validity commences on the date of issue. Before you do I'd suggest checking if you also had Uber One membership (10% rebate) during those journeys.