Grab riders set to get credit refund

MANILA, Philippines — Ride-hailing app Grab Philippines will start disbursing P19.2 million worth of penalties to its users by month’s end after it was earlier found by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to be violating price and service quality commitments.

Grab said yesterday it would initiate the disbursement by Dec. 31 in compliance with the order of the PCC.

“Those select Grab riders who took a GrabCar ride in Metro Manila from Feb. 10 to May 10, and from May 11 to Aug. 10, may claim their disbursements through the GrabRewards Catalogue, where they will be required, in compliance with the BSP regulations, to complete the basic KYC (Know Your Customer) process prior to redemption,” the ride-hailing firm said.

“Those who have completed the basic KYC process can directly redeem the amount which will be credited on their GrabPay Wallet accounts starting Dec. 31,” it added.

A total computed administrative penalty of P5.05 million will be proportionately distributed to riders who took GrabCar in Metro Manila from Feb. 10 to May 10, according to Grab.

Meanwhile, a total computed administrative penalty of P14.15 million will be proportionately distributed to GrabCar riders who took their rides in Metro Manila from May 11 to Aug. 10.

“As approved and ordered by the PCC, the passenger disbursement is computed from the proportion of the total fare of the passenger incurred within the time period, multiplied by the total fine to be disbursed,” Grab said.

“Select riders with total fares of every P1,200 from Feb. 10 until May 10, 2019, and of every P450 from May 11 until Aug. 10, 2019 will be eligible for P1 to the GrabPay Wallet for each of the relevant periods,” it said.

For the February to May period, Grab said it is looking at around 2.7 million passengers who are eligible for disbursement, while some 2.8 million passengers are seen eligible for the May to August period.

Grab was fined P16.15 million by the PCC this month for violating its price and service quality commitments.

Of the P16.15-million fine, P14.15 million was for Grab’s extraordinary deviation on its pricing commitment and P2 million for exceeding driver cancelations at 7.76 percent instead of the committed five percent.

Grab had earlier said the remaining P2 million of the P16.15-million fine would be paid to the PCC.

Grab was also fined P5.05 million in the third quarter for violating its pricing commitments to PCC.