RIDE-HAILING application Grab Philippines said it started refunding the remaining P6.66 million to affected riders on Friday, after getting clearer instructions from the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
“Now it is clear what we need to do with the remaining P6.66 million. Hopefully, after this, we will be able to resolve the issue and end it,” Grab Philippines Director for Public Affairs Sherielysse R. Bonifacio said in Filipino in a press release.
In a statement, Grab said the rebate can be claimed through in-app GrabRewards catalog. The rebates will expire on July 18 with the unclaimed amounts to be remitted to the Philippine National Treasury based on PCC’s resolution.
Previously, the company said that it has encountered challenges reimbursing the funds to customers who did not have GrabPay wallets or were no longer in the Philippines, particularly for users who used the application for trips taken between 2018 and 2019.
“Some of [the] riders have yet to claim the three-year-old PCC-approved rebate vouchers,” it said.
The company also said that it has been in “constant communication” with the PCC and filed several motions asking for the competition watchdog’s guidance on returning the remaining P6.66-million refund to Grab users.
The amount is a portion of the P25.45-million overall refund the PCC mandated Grab to reimburse, with 73.8% or 18.78 million already returned.
On May 16, the PCC imposed another P9-million fine on the company after the delayed refund to its customers.
The fresh fine is on top of the P63.7 million worth of penalties the watchdog imposed after Grab acquired the local operations of another transport company, Uber, in 2018. — Justine Irish D. Tabile