They make you feel bad for asking for a refund from their incompetant drivers..

Simple verdict: Uber is more expensive but you'll actually get home and without fines.

I tried to catch a ride-sharing service on a Saturday night, from a train station to my house, about 5km away. I fell for the DiDi trap as it had the cheapest fare. A driver accepted it very promptly and wasn't far away. To my shock though, he somehow managed to mark himself as "waiting" whilst driving 100km/h down a freeway, adjacent to the train station where I was waiting. Just on that note, the train station has one pick up station that is off an exit, the driver did not take this exit. Then a timer started that noted I have 3 minutes to meet the driver at the pickup location or I will be charged a penalty. As he was driving on a freeway, it didn't take long for the driver to be quite a distance away, even though the app was telling me to rush to the pickup spot. As the 3 minute timer ended, the driver had only just made it within ~400metres of being back in my spot. The timer went away and I was then told that I was charged a $7 penalty for not meeting at the pickup location. I immediantly went into the app to dispute this to which the app very quickly confirmed that the penalty would be refunded. What a lovely joke that was.

Fast forward over 3 weeks now, I'm still without the refund, I've spoken to 3 different people from DiDi support who have given me false promises that the refund has been processed. They've also told me multiple times that this refund is a one-off gesture of good will. They have told me that the refund was processed (initially) the night of me lodging the dispute. It's now been 19 business days since then and they have told me it's my banks problem. I did a one-off gesture of goodwill in return for them and played their game, I asked the bank if this was true, to which they laughed and said DiDi is full of it.. my most recent response is that the $7 refund has been re-issued, you guessed it, as a kind gesture. How nice of them.

They seem to be one of those typical companies that would likely be just fine until there is an issue. I am appalled in the support that I have been provided, I can't believe that I'm being made to feel bad for asking for a refund on an item I never should have been charged for.

DiDi has been uninstalled, I will be using Uber from now on when I need ride-sharing services, which is often only 2-3 times a year.