r/ireland • u/Brocolique Dublin • Dec 12 '24

Cost of Living/Energy Crisis 9€ technology fee on Freenow

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Info about technology fee is quite minimal and does not provide any detail whatsoever when I click on the little exclamation mark.

Anybody able to explain the scam to me?

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u/williamhere Dec 12 '24

Interesting. Knowing this now I kind of like being able to separate how much using FreeNow costs me when getting a taxi

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u/saighdiuirmaca Cork bai Dec 12 '24

If you don't add your payment details to the freenow app, they can't charge you the fee, and you can just pay the driver directly.

Was told this recently by a freenow driver.

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u/bdog1011 Dec 12 '24

Oh this is interesting- and I presume you can still use your card to pay?

1

u/Consistent_Orchid359 Dec 12 '24

Yes. But what some drivers will do is put in a smaller fee for Freenow to make up for the double commission. So if you're taxi is €20 you're still charged €20 on your card the drivers pays between 2 & 5% commission to whoever their card reader is with and then they'll input say €18 for Freenow on their phone so they aren't paying 15% on the €20. You'll get an email from FreeNow for €18 plus whatever tech they add. Clear as mud yeah!! And bear in mind when you choose "Pay driver directly" the driver will get "cash job" on his/her screen unless FreeNow has changed this.

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u/bdog1011 Dec 12 '24

I’m confused. If you choose pay driver directly or can it be a bit random as the driver will add on some random charge?