None of the surge pricing is ever "dropped" on anyone. You are notified it is in effect and even have to verify the current multiplier on your phone to ensure you know what you are committing to. Most people complaining are just upset they had to pay as much as they did, but none of it was done without their knowledge.
It might be acceptable if this screen showed up every time and allowed you to get used to it, but when you use the app for months without it and suddenly there's an extra step, it's going to be way too easy to tap "Ok" without seeing the relatively small "6.25x" up above, especially if you've had a few too many because it's New Year's Eve.
When you're suddenly charging people almost an order of magnitude more than usual, you need to make it more clear than that.
Not that I think this is particularly terrible. They screwed up, but it was not a big deal and I imagine they've improved the notification since. But I don't think it was completely fine.
Those notification screens can't be any clearer. This is just complaining because no one likes to pay 6.25x their normal fare for a cab, but it can't be any more obvious than what those screens showed. Now you have to even manually type the multiplier out to let them know you are really sure.
Since so many people have complained just for complaining sake that they are pissed their cab ride was expensive (that they already acknowledged they understood), Uber added another option to keep the minority of people who would complain anyway from using it as another reason to gripe?
If a huge screen telling you your cab is going to be 6.25x more expensive than normal and you don't understand how that works, there is no other excuse other than your own stupidity.
It looks fine to me. I'm sure it could be better but everything could be better. It's not deceptive in any way. Having an unusual pop-op would make it more obvious not less.
