Women find a substitute driver offline for 1.5 kilometers and spend 109 yuan. Reporter investigation： Billing software can set the payment amount at will
Half a month ago, Ms. Li, who was on a business trip to Jinan, used the chauffeur service. After checking out, she found that she had charged 109 yuan for a 1.5-kilometer trip. Recently, many car owners reported to the New Yellow River reporter that they had been charged high prices when looking for a chauffeur, suspecting that they might have encountered a "black chauffeur".
The reporter visited and investigated and found that most of the suspected "black drivers" wore regular imitation clothes and "squatted" drunk passengers on the scene. They borrowed billing software to set the payment amount at will, and even some billing software did not require identity verification and only charged membership fees.
Citizens spend 109 yuan to find a driver for 1.5 kilometers, which is nearly double the cost of other platforms
On November 9, Ms Li arrived in Jinan from Zibo on a business trip. That night, she had a drink with a friend at a bar on Luoyuan Street. After the show ended at 2am the next day, she called a chauffeur at the scene. "He was wearing platform clothes and said he was driving on behalf of Shi Cheng. I thought it was not far from the hotel where I stayed, so I asked him to send me back to the hotel." After arriving at the destination, the driver said that the weather was cold and he would increase the price, charging 109 yuan, Ms Li said. "I drank a lot at that time, so I paid him the money. The more I thought about it the next day, the more wrong it was."
Ms. Li said that the map from the bar to the hotel showed a distance of 1.5 kilometers, and a well-known driving platform only cost 55 yuan to drive 8 kilometers, and the fee of 109 yuan was too high. "Later, I didn’t find the Shicheng driving platform from the mini program, and I suspected that I encountered a’black driving ‘." Subsequently, the reporter checked the fee of a well-known driving platform, and the starting price from 0:00 to 6:00 was 55 yuan within 8 kilometers. The fee charged by the "driving" that Ms. Li encountered was nearly double that of the platform.
The screenshot of the payment order provided by Ms. Li shows that the recipient of the order is "Shicheng Auto Service", which is a personal account number. The reporter did not check the relevant information of the company through Tianyancha.
Coincidentally, Mr. Zhang, a citizen, also encountered a similar situation. "At the end of the liquor store, I found a chauffeur at the door of the hotel, and the chauffeur showed me with his mobile phone, indicating that he was a regular chauffeur, and the platform automatically billed him. It was not until after payment that I found out that the recipient was the chauffeur himself, not the regular chauffeur platform." Mr. Zhang also said that such "chauffeurs" are specifically aimed at passengers who are half-awake and half-drunk, "which is easier to’start ‘."
Reporter investigation: There are offline driving agents using billing software, and prices can be set at will
Regarding the situation reported by the citizens, the reporter launched an investigation near several hotels in the evening of the past few days. In the Impression Jinan business district, the reporter asked a driver after observation. The driver said that he was cheaper than the regular driving platform. The reporter showed that after arriving near IKEA, the driver’s platform order showed 100 yuan, so he urged the reporter to place an order. The reporter opened a regular driving platform to inquire, and the cost was only 35 yuan. So he asked the driver why the price was so high. The driver immediately locked the screen of his mobile phone and rode in the other direction.
At a barbecue compound on Olympic Sports Middle Road, several chauffeurs in formal attire stopped at the door of the hotel waiting for passengers. When asked by a reporter, the chauffeur said that he could directly transfer money on WeChat without going to the platform at the same price as the platform. "The platform needs to deduct our service fee, or I am a little cheaper than the platform, you can directly transfer it to me." The driver said.
A driver revealed that there are currently driving software on the market that can modify the price at will, and many data can be adjusted by the driver. Among these driving billing software, an app called "driving billing" is quite popular.
Subsequently, the reporter downloaded the "driving pricing" app in the Apple App Store and found that the software does not require identity authentication, as long as you enter your mobile phone number and verification code to log in. On the software, registrants can set their own pricing template, starting price and starting mileage, waiting time charges, return fees, etc. After exceeding the starting mileage, the price per kilometer can also be set by themselves, and all prices can be set from 1 yuan to 151 yuan.
The reporter edited the billing template in the "Driving Price" App. The starting price for the whole day is 151 yuan. The software shows that after starting the order and then ending the order, the driving fee of 151 yuan can be charged.
The driver revealed that in addition to using the software to arbitrarily price, there are also some personal driver drivers who buy driver clothes online to hide people’s eyes and ears. On the Taobao platform, the reporter entered "driver’s vest", and you can see a large number of clothes that are exactly the same as the regular driver’s platform appeared in the search results. The reporter randomly clicked on a store to ask about the driver’s vest. The customer service of the store said that the store’s driver’s vest is the same as the regular driver’s platform, and the font and logo can be changed. It will be shipped within 48 hours.
There are more than ten types of driving billing software, and the starting price limit can be unlocked by software payment.
The reporter learned that at present, the main drivers are registered drivers of various driving platforms and personal drivers who do not have any guarantees and operate independently. Some personal drivers do not want to pay platform fees or share with the platform, so they rely on billing software for pricing. The reporter searched for software related to driving and pricing in the Apple Store and found that there are more than ten downloadable billing software. Some software can be downloaded and used, and some software shows that the network connection is unstable and cannot be used when registering.
The reporter randomly downloaded a software called "Driver", and the software introduction stated that "Driver" is a traffic navigation and billing application. Regardless of the driver or the owner, you can customize the billing template. After starting the service, according to the current billing rules, calculate the mileage and the price corresponding to the mileage in real time. You can set the mileage correction function, estimate the price of the mileage, accurately calculate the positioning, travel trajectory, and one-click navigation. It is a necessary metering tool for driver drivers.
Later, when the reporter changed the starting price of the software to the maximum limit of 120 yuan, the software reminded "The starting price you set has exceeded the current city price too much. In order to avoid disputes with customers, please set it carefully. If you need to unlock, pay 299 yuan to permanently unlock the starting price limit."
In the market, a variety of billing software is used by drivers to slaughter customers, and even become a kind of "convenience". How should the rights and interests of consumers in question be protected? A staff member of the market supervision department told reporters: "’Black driving’ belongs to the chaos of the industry. We mainly supervise the driving company, such as whether the platform clearly labels the price to consumers and whether the billing basis is informed to consumers. ‘Black driving’ is based on personal pricing, or using some billing platforms to charge consumers unreasonable driving fees. It is difficult for market supervision departments to supervise and enforce personal charging behavior."
According to a staff member of Jinan 12345 transportation special seat, driving is an emerging industry. At present, there are no laws and regulations in our country to prevent individuals or units from engaging in driving activities, and there are no laws and regulations to stipulate driving standards, qualifications and qualification restrictions.
Industry insiders say the industry lacks supervision and the market order still needs to be standardized
A person who has been engaged in the driving industry for many years said that the driving industry currently lacks professional standards and the norms of relevant institutions, and is in a state of unsupervised. According to his understanding, "personal driving" in Jinan mostly exists near the Olympic Sports Area and the High-tech Zone. " For example, during peak periods, when orders are issued very intensively, passengers can’t find a chauffeur on the platform. At this time, such’personal chauffeurs’ start to’attract customers’. Most of them are mobile squatting stations, and some drivers wear regular platform clothes, and they can’get back their money ‘by taking an order in one night; there is another situation, the regular platform will deduct 2% of the driver’s service fee. Some drivers are unwilling to go to the platform, and the asking price is the same as the platform price, but when encountering a driver with poor driving skills, it is difficult to find someone to hold accountable for an accident. "
The industry insider cautioned, "The most reliable way is to call the driver through the regular platform. The regular platform has the driver’s information. If there is a safety problem, each driver has insurance, and the owner can find the driver to be held accountable. The driver is bound by the corresponding regulations of the platform and will not ask for the price at will."
The reporter searched and found that from September 20th to October 19th, the Jinan Municipal Transportation Bureau publicly solicited opinions and suggestions from the public through the website of the Jinan Municipal People’s Government on the "Notice on Regulating the Order of the Driving Market (exposure draft) ". One of the solicitation opinions mentioned the threshold for employment and the government’s introduction of pricing standards: There are no special laws and regulations in our country to regulate and restrict the entry threshold for engaging in driving services. At present, it mainly relies on the self-discipline of each driving service operator (platform or enterprise, the same below). Each driving service operator independently determines the recruitment standards and regulations for car drivers according to their own operating conditions. Secondly, according to the "Price Law of the People’s Republic of China" and the "Shandong Province Pricing Catalog", the government pricing project implements directory management. The driving service is not included in the "Shandong Province Pricing Catalog", and the price is subject to market-adjusted prices. The specific price standards are independently formulated by the operator according to their own costs and market supply and demand.
Huang Xiwen, a lawyer at Shandong Zhengdu Law Firm, also reminded consumers that there are currently no unified regulations on surrogate driving across the country. The management of surrogate driving is mainly due to the internal supervision of the company and the self-discipline of the surrogate driver. Therefore, when choosing a surrogate driver, try not to be convenient. You can directly find a surrogate driver at a restaurant, bar, etc. to solicit business. You must check the other party’s driver’s license, confirm the basic information and leave your contact information. It is best to place an order through a regular surrogate driving platform to prevent accidents.
New Yellow River Reporter: Yan Xiaoyu