Competition watchdog orders Grab Philippines to complete refunds

MANILA, Philippines — Antitrust regulators have ordered Grab Philippines to release the remaining P19.3 million refund to customers, saying the ride-hailing company has been slow in disbursing the amount.

In a statement on Monday, the Philippine Competition Commission said only 24.1% of the total refund has been claimed by eligible passengers of Grab as of June 15 last year. The PCC said this is equivalent to P6.15 million out of the total P25.45 million penalty the company has to pay.

From 2018 to 2019, the competition watchdog slapped Grab with back-to-back fines cumulatively worth P63.7 million for “violations of price and service quality commitments” that the company made to regulators when it took over Uber's operations in the Philippines. Grab bought Uber’s Southeast Asia operations in 2018, which prompted antitrust regulators in the region to scrutinize the transaction.

The PCC said the “disbursement” of refund has been “low”. The commission then blamed the “required additional steps” that Grab passengers should complete to claim the refund for the “low uptake”.

“The penalties are in the form of a refund to remind Grab that every pricing or booking violation committed against passengers shall be paid back to passengers. Grab should immediately release the refunds and continue to adhere to its commitments,” PCC Chair Arsenio Balisacan said.

In response to the PCC’s order, Grab said it already disbursed the amount it owes to passengers. The problem, Grab said, is that passengers are not claiming these refunds.

“Grab Philippines has complied with the disbursement order of the PCC, and has disbursed the full administrative fee in a manner consistent with the agreed mechanics with the PCC,” the company said in a statement.

“Following BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) regulations, those who have completed the basic KYC (Know Your Customer) process can directly redeem the amount which was credited on their GrabPay Wallet accounts,” it added.

“Eligible passengers who have not yet completed their basic KYC are required to complete this BSP-mandated process prior to redemption. Grab cannot credit their GrabPay Wallet without completion of basic KYC as this is a regulatory requirement of the BSP.”

The PCC is giving Grab until April 22 to give to passengers the remaining amounts, noting that the refund should be immediately credited via GrabPay Wallet “without requiring any act from the users to claim the amount.”

“The PCC remains steadfast in monitoring Grab’s commitments to temper the firm’s dominance in the ride-hailing market. These measures are in place to prevent Grab from exercising monopolistic behavior due to its unchallenged market power,” Balisacan said.