Bolt Surcharge fee rip-off

For a taxi service, I understand the competitive market out there to encourage drivers to drive and customers to use Bolt South Africa. The most cringeworthy aspect of my experience comes from being quoted R82 for a ride at apparent peak hour 8.33 am from Kloof Nek Road to Observatory, and being issued with a lovely invoice for R234, final total. They explained they MAY charge you a surcharge fee, this equated to 2.8x the price initially quoted at R82.

I cannot support a business that thinks they can leverage your money and use words like "may"and "probably" to safeguard them from ethical logical principles to ensure customer retention. If I MAY have known my total could be R234, I would never have chosen the ride.

At this rate, I would not recommend Bolt to anyone, at least Uber provides you with the maximum total it can be, upfront. Not a disguised upfront total with the potential to skyrocket due to factors they deem fair value. My trip was against traffic coming into the CBD, had no delays and took less than 20 minutes to complete. Much rather negotiate with the local taxi drivers on a fixed fee.

Bolt, you're pathetic as a transport provider.