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Uber, the smartphone-based hail-a-ride service, often claims it is cheaper than a ride in a taxi. It looks as if some Uber customers do not agree.

The company received an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau earlier this year, the lowest possible rating given by the organization.

The grade is based on, among other criteria, more than 90 Uber customer complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau over the last three years, most of them centering on Uber’s so-called surge pricing.

Uber has failed to respond to many of the complaints in a timely manner, which influenced one of the Better Business Bureau’s grading criteria. A transportation interest group affiliated with the taxi industry alerted media to the rating on Thursday

Customers still feel misinformed about how they are charged for their rides, according to complaints at the bureau’s website, and say they are not able to receive adequate customer service when they try to complain about their fares.

With its surge pricing, Uber’s temporarily increases fare prices anywhere from one and a half to 10 times the normal cost of taking an Uber ride, based on the demand for drivers. When many people in a particular area request Uber at the same time, for example, the price of rides in that area goes up.

“I never knew about surcharges until after the fact and was unaware, confused and uninformed,” one customer wrote on the bureau’s site.

Uber has a long, tricky history of its surge pricing. When Manhattan was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, for example, many people complained that Uber was using a natural disaster to price gouge its customers.

“BBB recommends that consumers always read a company’s terms and conditions before rendering the company’s product or service,” the organization wrote on its website.

The Better Business Bureau, which was founded in 1912, is not a government agency, nor does it have regulatory or enforcement power. It was started primarily to protect against abuse of advertising by companies, as well as to alert the public about potential fraud.

Uber has repeatedly defended its surge pricing practice, saying that it is the company’s way of keeping enough drivers on the road when demand for the service outweighs the supply.

“Uber’s direct channel for two-way feedback is regularly reviewed and acted on to ensure a high-quality experience,” an Uber spokeswoman said in a statement. “The fact is that consumers in 220 cities around the world have made their opinion known by taking millions of rides with Uber.”

In recent years, Better Business Bureau ratings have been increasingly marginalized with the rise of online local review services like Yelp and Foursquare. Moreover, some branches of the Better Business Bureau were accused of participating in “pay-to-play” schemes, in which businesses would receive better grades in exchange for a paid accreditation status.

Uber’s grades are polarized across other review sites. In San Francisco, Uber has a score of 3.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp, an above-average grade composed mostly of either one-star or five-star reviews. In New York, Uber has a one-star rating on Yelp.

It is worth noting that Lyft, Uber’s largest competitor in the hail-a-ride market, has also been given an “F” grade by the Better Business Bureau, though the company has received only five complaints through the site in the last three years. Lyft’s San Francisco listing has a three-star rating from Yelp, while its New York branch maintains a two-star Yelp rating.

And to be sure, the taxi and limousine industry — Uber’s other competitors in the hail-a-ride space — has not fared well in the court of public opinion. In 2013, San Francisco taxi organizations saw upward of 1,700 service complaints about driver behavior and the state of taxi cabs, according to The Bay Citizen.

Uber has taken steps to notify customers about fare increases before they agree to them. When surge pricing is in effect, for instance, customers must enter a confirmation in the app that they accept the increased fare before taking the ride.

Lyft employs similar pricing models and warnings in its smartphone app.