Sinful inflated charges for an obsolete service

I got charged R297 for a ride that should have cost at least R52. I took a ride from my home to the springs to collect water, a distance of approximately 6.7km going, fare was +- R60 discounted to R30, and upon return the same trip, i.e from the springs to home, 6.2km allegedly cost R297 because of a category I chose and wait time. I waited 18 minutes for a Priority category ride the quote was R52-R297. The description for Priority category was it would explore the various rides and select the first available category. Since 7 October I have dealt with nine different Bolt Support agents all spewing out a variety of reasons for the refusal to adjust the fare and refund the excess charge. Two agents questioned me about who chose the route; why the driver opted to ignore the app route, if I told him. Two suggested that I selected the Hourly Ride category, which is basically a chauffeur service for an hour, of which the fare just happened to be R297.

The Priority category is alleged to have been s****ped in August 2025 yet in October it was still in use. Both rides were Priority, Bolt "awarded" the first ride as other rides were unavailable. The estimate for the return ride for a Bolt Ride was R52 and R60 for a Comfort Ride. These were the two rides I had tried to book for more than 10 minutes until I decided to use the Priority option since the ride before was also Priority and the fare was affordable.

Ten agents later (another just rep**** while typing this review) and a request for the matter to escalated to someone more senior has been completely ignored and the last agents maintained that the fare was calculated correctly according the category. Despite the fact that the receipt for this ride indicates Priority and not Hourly Ride. What a display of incompetence. If you tell the same lie enough times, eventually it will be believed as the truth, except the truth is all of them refused to acknowledge the a service that was sc****d was used and cost me almost half of my weeks allowance for water that was free, a fare that was inflated by 500%. What a disgusting mockery and a sin. Shame on you Bolt South Africa!!! I will be taking this to the National Consumer Commission