Margherita Orsini booked trips bla car. An unpleasant story with Bla-Bla-Car (2 photos). What happens when the free period expires?
In recent years, services that allow you to take travel companions when traveling by personal car from one city to another and thus recoup fuel costs have grown greatly in popularity in Russia. And “Bla Bla Car” is certainly the leader here. But here’s what’s remarkable: as the site’s popularity grows, the scammers’ tricks are also improving. Who is deceiving us and why, and how to protect ourselves from it - under the cut.
"Bla Bla Car" is intended, on the one hand, for those who want to get from point A to point B and are looking for a car in which they can make such a trip as a passenger. On the other hand, for drivers who have free seats on a personal or business trip and can take passengers with them.
But in lately"Bla bla car" occupied the so-called. "bombs", i.e. people professionally engaged in transporting passengers from city A to city B. Yes, yes, intercity taxi drivers are mastering modern technologies. :-)
Today I will allow myself to give a couple of tips specifically to drivers, i.e. for those who want to find real travel companions. Passengers should also be careful when using a bla bla car, but more on that next time.
So what's going on. You post your trip on Bla Bla Car. And after some time, you receive an SMS on your phone saying that the passenger wants to book a seat. And this is where the fun begins...
What do the bombers do? Very simple! They reserve seats in your car and don’t go.
After all, their goal is to fill their car with passengers, not yours. Therefore, if there is no left in yours free seats, then real fellow travelers will try to book seats with them.
The method is simple, but it is unlikely that an ordinary driver who occasionally uses the services of a “bla bla car” will notice the catch the first time.
I'll describe it in more detail. Bombers buy many, many SIM cards. For each SIM card they register account passenger on the "bla bla car" website. Photos for profiles are stupidly taken from the Internet or they don’t bother themselves with it at all... Then, when your trip appears on the site, they book seats on behalf of such non-existent travel companions.
Then there may be different scenarios.
a) the “bombila” can reserve a seat and remain stupidly silent until the very start of the trip. When you call him to clarify the details of the meeting, his phone may be switched off, or he simply will not pick up;
b) “bombila” can send you an SMS like “my phone doesn’t work for calls, but I’m definitely on my way, there are two of us”;
c) the “bombila” may even call you back (extremely rarely) and start asking what kind of car you have, what its number is, what color it is, etc. etc. Thus, he will find out whether you are a competitor or a professional carrier.
Let me emphasize: they use option “c” extremely rarely, because the conversation on your phone can be recorded, and who knows, you might not want to find it later (by phone number) and “thank” it for such behavior? Usually they either remain silent or limit themselves to innocent SMS messages.
How to deal with this? Nothing complicated.
First. When you post your trip, select the booking with confirmation option. Those. When a passenger tries to reserve a seat in your car, you will receive a corresponding SMS and you will have the opportunity to confirm or reject the reservation. You will be able to view the passenger’s profile, from which it will be possible to draw some conclusions (number of trips made, presence of a photograph, rating, number of reviews received and written, etc.).
And second. After confirming your booking, real passengers in 99% of cases will call you back as soon as possible. After all, their goal is to get from city A to city B. To get there safely and comfortably. Immediately after confirmation, the system will send them your phone number via SMS, and they will call and confirm the meeting place, finish place, time, volume of their luggage, etc. etc. If the passenger does not call back within an hour after confirming the booking, then with a very high probability it is a “bomb” in disguise. And you can safely cancel such a reservation and make room for a real travel companion.
And yes, it wouldn’t hurt to file a complaint against such a pseudo-passenger either. The service provides a corresponding button for this.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Perhaps a profile without a photo is a beginner. Perhaps the lack of a call from him is the result of him being in at the moment out of range or in a movie theater / at the dentist / in a temple. But the percentage of such exceptions is extremely low. In addition, a real passenger who is outraged by the cancellation of a booking, as a last resort, can call you after the cancellation. After all, he already has your phone number. But the “bombila” won’t do that...
At first glance, everything is simple. But it is a fact that the bombers ruined the service. I say this as a person who started using Bla Bla Car at the dawn of its appearance in our country and has the opportunity to compare how it works now. Nowadays it is much more difficult to find real travel companions. And it’s harder for passengers to weed out the minibus drivers...
But the market does not stand still. “Beep Car” has appeared, which offers everything the same + something else. Let's see if the industry will find ways to eliminate the flaws described above.
Enter the route into the search form and find passing car in your direction it will be as easy as paying for housing and communal services. The list includes: the date of the trip, the model of the proposed car, the number of seats in the cabin and the price of the trip to your locality. Click "More details" and expand your search if the suggested results do not suit you.
Designate the place from where you need to get there. You will be taken to a city, village, resort, in a word, wherever you want - safe, inexpensive, fast, convenient!
How to find a passing car
Hiking throughout Russia and Europe is more popular than ever! Eat great option find a passing car in the new form for searching for a trip on BlaBlaCar. It’s a matter of minutes, and the benefits are up to 75% savings on travel! Introducing new search, which will find drivers near you, wherever you are, and provide drivers with reliable travel companions.
Enter the place from where you want to leave into the search bar. No more needed look for trips in the next big city! You will be taken to a city, village, resort, in a word, wherever you want. The main thing is that it is inexpensive - prices are lower. Even a small village is on someone's path. And now we can find this person, and he will give you a ride when he passes by.
Completely updated BlaBlaCar official website! Who doesn’t know, this is the largest service on planet Earth for finding a car companion. The site's services are used by more than 45 million people in 23 countries on all continents. Russian users - more than 10 million thrifty citizens who are looking for a cheap trip to travel.
Finding a ride with the new ride search is easy
Find a passing car inexpensively
In the Russian version of BlaBlaCar, car owners notify fellow travelers about their trip, and fellow travelers search and find the desired route for little money. Strictly speaking, the costs of fellow travelers come down to paying for gasoline. This saves money for both the driver and the passing passenger. Of course, such trips are much more economical than, for example, if you went by train or bus. Therefore, spend a little time and find a passing car – best option organizing your route, or a trip to your home.
Average prices for passing cars:
- Moscow-St. Petersburg 700 rubles;
- Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod 800 rubles;
- Ekaterinburg-Chelyabinsk – 350 rubles.
Travel is full of important decisions - how, which country or city to visit, how much to spend, and whether to take out insurance. And finally, make the important purchases of tickets to get to your paradise. The whole preparation of your route consists of a large set of little things that, for example, can make the trip easier and less stressful. The Russian Travel Club always gives simple but smart advice. With us, your journey and your vacation will be happy.
Passenger experiences and reviews
Read the passengers' experiences in the comments below, but here, for example, good experience passengers from the Blabla website itself who use the service. Her name is Oksana and she advises, first of all, to pay attention to the “experience rating” and reviews of other users.
“The first thing I look at is the file and reviews on the user’s profile. Then I contact, check if the price is right for me (since in reality they often quote a price higher than on the website), I ask for a direct phone number. And then the driver sends me the make and color of the car, and I pass this data on to my family and friends, just in case,” says Oksana Sh.
Find a passing car for your next trip
Do you have more options for your next trip? Add to your bookmarks BlaBlaCar in BlaBlaBus! The benefits are clear: greater flexibility on long and short trips for you and an even stronger shared mobility community for us all!
Best bus rides
Of course we love and will stay with our beloved companion. This will not change, but there is still an additional travel option. BlaBlaCar and BlaBlaBus offered the community completely new benefits and services.
What are these? Look:
More flexible mobility options for your next trip For drivers: many passengers discover BlaBlaCar through BlaBlaBus - and your trips will double. Not ready to take the driver's seat? Get on the bus! There is simply a larger selection of buses on the website: lower prices!
BlaBlaCar is a modern service that allows you to successfully use the services of not only buses, trains and minibuses, but also private cars. In each case, the opportunity to mark high level functionality of the service, where you can find travel companions and agree on a successful move to the desired destination.
Features of the BlaBlaCar service
Does BlaBlaCar allow you to find a ride without registering? Certainly! The possibility of using services in three variations is guaranteed, each of which is aimed at maximum convenience of the target audience:
- web service;
- mobile application for the most common operating system Android;
- functional program for iOS.
The main advantage is the intuitive and unified procedure for finding the right car for further travel in the direction of interest. If necessary, you will be able to find a trip without registration on the BlaBlaCar service in the shortest possible time!
Each driver must indicate the exact parameters of the route that is planned. At the same time, BlaBlaCar allows you to successfully study all available information about the route, after which interested people report their desire to hit the road.
Drivers, as already mentioned, must indicate detailed route parameters. At the same time, passengers indicate their points of departure and arrival in order to successfully find an interesting option for their trip.
Despite the fact that BlaBlaCar is available without registration, only the registration procedure allows you to successfully confirm personal data and guarantee a high level of security.
The BlaBlaCar system is built on a certain degree of trust, so registered customers receive privileges. To do this, it is recommended to complete lightning-fast registration indicating current and reliable information:
- photo;
- telephone number;
- address email;
- social profiles.
Moderation of the provided data is mandatory. Checking the technical service allows you to understand what you can still count on in the future and whether you can successfully plan your trip.
Attention! It is interesting to note that you can find a car without registering with BlaBlaCar, use the available services and help other people successfully organize their trip. After a car trip, the driver and fellow travelers leave reviews about each other to build the reputation of each user of the service.
Primary interaction does not require the driver to have contact with potential travel companions. If you wish, you can reject the offer of a person who is not initially trustworthy. If you still become interested, you need to call first and discuss important nuances in a telephone conversation. Phone numbers can only be exchanged with the mutual consent of the driver and fellow travelers.
Advice! Of course, with the help of BlaBlaCar you can find travel companions without registration without any problems. At the same time, every woman understands the special risks for herself on such trips. In this regard, the creators of the service offer a special “Women Only” mode, which excludes the selection of male drivers or passengers. Such a trip should provide only the most pleasant impressions of yourself.
Instructions for finding a trip
How to find a trip in BlaBlaCar without registration? In fact, the search stage pleases with maximum ease. To do this you need to provide the following information:
- cities of departure and arrival;
- route features;
- departure - arrival time;
- price.
It should be noted that there are hints in the service, thanks to which the names of settlements can immediately be written correctly. If desired, search results can be reduced by specifying a specific travel date and optimal time interval.
In the BlaBlaCar system, searching for travel companions without registration follows the same pattern as for registered service clients.
BlaBlaCar mobile application
The service developers allow you to download BlaBlaCar on Android for free without registration. This mobile program, first of all, will be appreciated by those who are actively planning their trips, because it offers the opportunity to search and propose a trip. In the first case, you need to be a passenger, and in the second, you need to be a driver.
Finding travel companions without registering with BlaBlaCar is a reality of the 21st century, because the service is perfected to 100% and has been working successfully for a long time, meeting the expectations of many users.
Differences and advantages of the Blablacar service from a taxi
Choosing a travel companion - each user, be it a driver with his own car or a travel companion, on the site each user has his own page associated with their accounts in social networks. Before traveling, it is important to get to know the person you are planning to travel with. Here you can also see comments from users who have already traveled with a driver or travel companion.
Women are given a choice – criterion – For women only. Perhaps someone will be more comfortable with a female driver.
Notifications about upcoming trips are implemented in order to receive an alert when a driver or fellow traveler appears along the intended route.
Registration
There are two ways to register. If you have a VKontakte or Facebook page, registration will take a few seconds. You can also register using email address.
Comfortable mobile applications, you don’t need to monitor offers only on the computer. And the order itself is just a few clicks away. Links to install the application for mobile devices. Android and iOS
In case of user dissatisfaction, the response of the service moderators is immediate, all controversial issues and wishes are resolved. The site administration strives for everyone to have a good reputation, both passengers and drivers.
How to find a car or trip on the Bla Bla Car website
You need to go to the website blablacar.ru and to select a trip on the site you will need to fill out information about where and from where you need to go. After filling out a simple form, trips will be available to you on the specified day.
IMPORTANT!!!
Immediately before the trip, contact the driver and clarify all the details about the upcoming trip, find out all the nuances and details. To do this, it is convenient to use internal correspondence. Site users earn rankings on the site. This ensures reputation and demand for the service. So be sure to leave a comment after traveling together.
Looking for a trip step by step guide.
- Fill out the search form on the main page,
- Choose only those who have at least one extra space in the car,
- Contact the driver (correspondence can be either public or through private messages).
- Book now! Make sure that the driver confirms your reservation very quickly, because... After sending your request, he will receive an SMS.
- You also have the opportunity to set a deadline within which the driver must respond. If you do not receive a response as soon as possible, your reservation request will be automatically cancelled. Pay in cash or by bank transfer after your trip. The service does not provide for online payment, so do not be fooled by requests for advance payment from the driver.
- Pay for the trip only after arriving at the place. The service does not provide for online payment and do not give in to the driver’s persuasion.
Advantages of ordering a transfer in advance
- The driver will deliver you without delay, you only need to inform the points where you are ordering the transfer from and to.
- You can order a car at any time before your trip; advance and emergency orders are accepted.
- The cost of a taxi transfer from the Airport is constant and does not depend on specific addresses within the city limits.
- A varied selection of minibuses of varying capacities.
- You will be greeted by cars of any category: Volkswagen Golf or Ford Focus, comfortable Mercedes E or Toyota Camry, premium cars Audi A7, BMW 7 and others.