Bolt - no arrival, but a cancellation fee

Let me start by saying I have always had good experiences up til now from Bolt. However, on Saturday I ordered a vehicle and was told the driver was five minutes away. FIFTEEN minutes later, the app was still claiming the driver was five minutes away, and the map on the app showed his car several blocks away, and not moving.

I contacted the driver twice, but had no reply, after which I decided to cancel and reorder, only for Bolt to CHARGE ME a cancellation fee, despite their driver failing to turn up 15 minutes after I was told it would be five minutes!

Needless to say, despite their charges being slightly more, I ordered an Uber the next time around, and received perfect service, and no additional charges. I can certainly say that from now on, I'll rather pay a little more for a ride that arrives, than be forced to pay money for a service that doesn't even bother to turn up, and yet insists that I foot the bill for their drivers' failures.

They say it only takes one bad experience to lose a customer forever, and I can safely say that is true, as Bolt has undoubtedly lost someone who was not merely a customer, but until Saturday, an evangelist for the business -- and you've lost me for good for the sake of making an extra R19 on your cancellation fee.

If that is your business model, Bolt, don't make too many plans for the future....