Medellin Reports

[Vern2020]

You can always switch your Uber to pay cash.

My trip last year in Cali, I had to switch to "pay in cash" because it was a lot easier to get an uber that way. Someone explained to me the drivers preferred cash payment and most wouldn't come pick you up if you had it set for pay by credit card.

[Blitz33]

Hey fellas, theres been a few posts lately about looking for "good" girls in Medellin for a GF,/ relationship. First this is not what this forum is about. Second a tell tale sign she's not. If she has photos at these nice restaurants in Poblado. I like to eat there too but don't go foolin yourselves fellas cause someones paying for those dinners and theyre not usually paying cause theyre interested in her personality. Haha just keep a sane head on your shoulders and don't take it all too seriously. Have fun here.

[Sangnyc21]

I always use inDriver and it's always in cash. You put in the amount your willing to pay and drivers will accept it or offer a counter offer. I have never had a problem with InDriver. Avoid using regular taxis if possible tho, they have counterfeit bills they use to give you your change. Taxistas are scam artists.

You have the option to pay the ride in cash.

[Knowledge]

I had a problem in another country. I had to open a new uber account. Uber blocked me from using the app unless I paid the credit card chargeback. I used a different card and e-mail address to open a new account and it's like it never happened. It wasn't even enough money to justify the inconvenience but I feel it's important to give Uber some incentive to keep tricky drivers in line.

If your credit card charges back from Uber, they may permanently ban you. Consider that.

That said, this is a VERY common and VERY intentional scam in Medellin. It is extremely offensive Uber is being so stupid to pretend they don't know you're reporting the typical Medellin scam. The idiots did it to me in the middle of the day there. I would go to the same mall 5-6 days a week. And he drove around for like 2 hours after and went to parts of the city I never go to. I contacted Uber and said. Just look at the freaking map! I got out of the car at the mall that I have gone to every day almost for the past month. It is obvious fraud.

I think I got a refund and it was all fixed, but sadly I can't say 100% because I don't remember carefully checking.

[Knowledge]

Poblado, especially Parque Lleras, the Poblado metro station and the Domino's Pizza on la 10 are ground zero for ride share and taxi ripoffs. In fact, they are ground zero for gringo ripoffs of every kind. Uber cleverly words its support questions so you have to pay attention to how you report situations like this. What works is to select the driver did not end the trip after he dropped me off selection. From the description of uber's response it sounds like they assumed the original poster was still in the vehicle the entire time.

I've lived here for almost 4 years now. I take taxis everywhere and I don't have any bad experiences to report. Of course if you are getting your taxis at Parque Lleras or close by. Then there might be someone trying to take advantage. Afterall that is the tourist zone where the rich foreigners stay.

Locals use taxis for short trips or the Metro or buses of course. Longer trips (like for example Laureles to Bello) they all seem to use InDriver. As someone pointed out, enter your pick-up and destination and your suggested price. You may get counter-offers. If nothing happens raise your price 1 mil. Easey Peasy.

I think people should know that outside of the Parque Lleras area, taxis are just fine. Of course it would help if you can articulate in Spanish where you want to go. Failing that give him the destination written on a card or piece of paper. I'm pretty friendly with a group of ex-pats that are living here and I haven't heard of any incidents or problems with a taxi.

[Ullo200]

Calle Real and Premier Plaza and various others up in prado area a cpl blocks up the street from hotel nutibara (if you have the cajones to stay in that area LOL).

Thanks for quick reply, I have seen Calle Real but was not sure it was guest friendly, between Calle Real and Premier Plaza which one you think us better (in terms of amenities).

[Surfer500]

Calle Real and Premier Plaza and various others up in prado area a cpl blocks up the street from hotel nutibara (if you have the cajones to stay in that area LOL).

Almost like Halloween late at night around the Veracruz Church area, not a good place to be for anyone who is afraid of their shadow. LOL.

[Gabacho]

Hi,

Can someone please help me finding a guest friendly hotel near Plaza Botero, I know about hotel nutibara looking for more suggestions, thanks in advance.

Calle Real and Premier Plaza and various others up in prado area a cpl blocks up the street from hotel nutibara (if you have the cajones to stay in that area LOL).

[Gabacho]

I had a situation with Uber on my trip that I just returned from. I used Uber a bunch of times while I was there, both for rides for me and rides for chicas to and from. I generally prefer to use Uber when it's available. It seems like a safer option to me than Indriver although I have no data points to back that up. Indriver generally seems to have more drivers available and for about the same cost. I don't ever take taxis except for the guys that I have met personally, usually through recommendations. But I digress.

Back to the Uber story. I went to Lleras just one time on this past trip and to get home ordered an Uber with two stops, first to drop my friend off and then on to drop me off. The total was around 21 k pesos. There was an upcharge because of demand even though he was actually sitting across the street on Calle 10 when I ordered it. No problem. He took my friend home and then he took me home. I closed the app and went to bed. I found the problem when I woke up around 11 the next morning. The Uber receipt in my email said the trip cost was over 150 k and that the trip had ended 3. 5 hours after he had actually dropped me off. I looked up the route and it showed this crazy trip all over Medellin. You could actually see that he drove by my apartment twice.

I sent a message to Uber explaining the situation thinking obviously this is a mistake and they will just issue the credit. I received a reply in Spanish which basically said that if I did not like the route the driver was taking I should have told him to take a different route. Furthermore it said the amount of credit I was requesting was above some limit that they have. I replied once again that this was either a big error on Uber's part or intentional fraud on the part of the driver. I received a reply back almost immediately with the exact same verbiage as the first response, only this time in English.

So I called my credit card company and they said once it posts I need to call back and they will dispute it for me. I'm hopeful it will be credited then. But I guess I need to do more than just watch my receipts and make sure every trip shows as ended when I arrive at my destination. Has anybody else ever had an experience like this?

Oh and I forgot to mention actually better yet than InDriver is to just use the good old public transit. One of the main reasons I chose medellin over Bogota to rent and apartment and live her when I'm not working was the metro system. The metro, tranvia, metro cable and integrated busses can get you just about anywhere you need to go and for a fraction of the cost. Current price is only 2880 pesos for using both lines of the metro and the attached metro cables and then you can pay a discounted prices of 1800 if you need to transfer to a bus after using the metro. And I have never not one time had a bus driver or metro station give me back counterfeit money or any other kind of scams. Also there are lots of police and cameras throughout the metro system and it is safe and for the most part reliable (although linea K metro cable was down for a cpl hours this evening but that is not the norm).

[Gabacho]

I had a situation with Uber on my trip that I just returned from. I used Uber a bunch of times while I was there, both for rides for me and rides for chicas to and from. I generally prefer to use Uber when it's available. It seems like a safer option to me than Indriver although I have no data points to back that up. Indriver generally seems to have more drivers available and for about the same cost. I don't ever take taxis except for the guys that I have met personally, usually through recommendations. But I digress.

Back to the Uber story. I went to Lleras just one time on this past trip and to get home ordered an Uber with two stops, first to drop my friend off and then on to drop me off. The total was around 21 k pesos. There was an upcharge because of demand even though he was actually sitting across the street on Calle 10 when I ordered it. No problem. He took my friend home and then he took me home. I closed the app and went to bed. I found the problem when I woke up around 11 the next morning. The Uber receipt in my email said the trip cost was over 150 k and that the trip had ended 3. 5 hours after he had actually dropped me off. I looked up the route and it showed this crazy trip all over Medellin. You could actually see that he drove by my apartment twice.

I sent a message to Uber explaining the situation thinking obviously this is a mistake and they will just issue the credit. I received a reply in Spanish which basically said that if I did not like the route the driver was taking I should have told him to take a different route. Furthermore it said the amount of credit I was requesting was above some limit that they have. I replied once again that this was either a big error on Uber's part or intentional fraud on the part of the driver. I received a reply back almost immediately with the exact same verbiage as the first response, only this time in English.

So I called my credit card company and they said once it posts I need to call back and they will dispute it for me. I'm hopeful it will be credited then. But I guess I need to do more than just watch my receipts and make sure every trip shows as ended when I arrive at my destination. Has anybody else ever had an experience like this?

I always use inDriver and it's always in cash. You put in the amount your willing to pay and drivers will accept it or offer a counter offer. I have never had a problem with InDriver. Avoid using regular taxis if possible tho, they have counterfeit bills they use to give you your change. Taxistas are scam artists.

[Villainy]

I have been to Medellin 3 times. I take Uber everywhere and I have them pick up chicas. I would never trust chicas bringing a "driver" to my Airbnb. The rides I take on Uber are like. 41 cents tu 5 dollars.

I don't trust cabs or any other apps out there at all.

I've lived here for almost 4 years now. I take taxis everywhere and I don't have any bad experiences to report. Of course if you are getting your taxis at Parque Lleras or close by. Then there might be someone trying to take advantage. Afterall that is the tourist zone where the rich foreigners stay.

Locals use taxis for short trips or the Metro or buses of course. Longer trips (like for example Laureles to Bello) they all seem to use InDriver. As someone pointed out, enter your pick-up and destination and your suggested price. You may get counter-offers. If nothing happens raise your price 1 mil. Easey Peasy.

I think people should know that outside of the Parque Lleras area, taxis are just fine. Of course it would help if you can articulate in Spanish where you want to go. Failing that give him the destination written on a card or piece of paper. I'm pretty friendly with a group of ex-pats that are living here and I haven't heard of any incidents or problems with a taxi.

[The Tall Man]

Wow! HELP. That was my first introduction to mongering back in like 2004 or so. My goodness. I swear if that place was open today I don't think I would have even ventured into Colombia.

The atompshere, the vibe, the energy the shear SIZE of it. I loved how it felt like a real club and it was like even though all the girls were working you still felt like there wasn't this hard sell from the girls.

I think I banged to this day the most beauitful girl there ever, but my goodness she was on a next level in terms of understanding men and how to manipulate them. I was way too young to even understand but damn.

Soo so sooo many good fucks there, There will never be anything like it again at the size that was. I think it was even taughted as "the largest club in south america" it just so happend to have working girls there.

If you look in my profile you can see reports of it in the rio fourm somehwere. Props for the reminder.

The Tall Man is in your court with regards to HELP disco in Rio, been there a few times in the early 2000's and what memories of the chicas, the dancing, the energy and hey it's Rio after all.

Enough said!

TTM.

[Surfer500]

Hi,

Can someone please help me finding a guest friendly hotel near Plaza Botero, I know about hotel nutibara looking for more suggestions, thanks in advance.

Unfortunately there are no guest friendly hotels in and around the area you described.

[KeviKev68]

I've had this Uber scam tried on me a few times in Medellin. Like a lot of scams it only seems to be popular in Medellin. Monitor your trips closely. If you don't get a Uber receipt email within a couple of minutes after the end of your ride, use the app to check your status. If the ride shows still open, cancel the ride. The cancellation will have the effect of stopping the drag on ride. You'll end up paying for the original part of the ride but not the tag on.

I have been to Medellin 3 times. I take Uber everywhere and I have them pick up chicas. I would never trust chicas bringing a "driver" to my Airbnb. The rides I take on Uber are like. 41 cents tu 5 dollars.

I don't trust cabs or any other apps out there at all.

[Mr Enternational]

If you don't get a Uber receipt email within a couple of minutes after the end of your ride, use the app to check your status. If the ride shows still open, cancel the ride. The cancellation will have the effect of stopping the drag on ride. You'll end up paying for the original part of the ride but not the tag on.

You can always switch your Uber to pay cash.