Uber Boat by Thames Clippers Arvostelua 

We had a very disappointing experience using the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. We bought a Hop-On Hop-Off ticket expecting to be able to get on and off easily - like a bus. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We arrived at Battersea Power Station Pier at 13:10 for the advertised 13:30 Saturday eastbound service. It did not arrive at 13:30. It did not arrive at 13:40, 13:50 or 14:00 either. This is meant to be a hop-on hop-off service, but waiting around for the best part of an hour on a pier with very young children in 30°C heat was not exactly the effortless sightseeing experience advertised.

The lack of help or information made it worse. When I asked Thames Clippers "customer service" staff at Battersea why the boat was late, no explanation was offered. One member of staff glibly said, "I know why it's late but it wouldn't help you", which was incredibly unhelpful. When I asked when the boat would actually arrive, I was told five minutes repeatedly, but it took a further 20 minutes.

Even when the boat eventually arrived, not everyone waiting could board because there was not enough space. This seems to be a major flaw in selling hop-on hop-off tickets for a service where capacity is clearly limited and queues can build up at busy piers. If you have sold people a sightseeing ticket on the promise that they can hop on and off throughout the day, there needs to be enough capacity to make that realistic.

The timetable was hopelessly inaccurate throughout the day, and the poor communication made the delay much more stressful than it needed to be.

To make matters worse, when we eventually arrived at Greenwich, we were told the boat was not going any further because it was running late. If we wanted to continue, we would need to get off and queue for another boat.

That simply is not what most people would understand by "hop-on hop-off".

We used the Clipper from Canary Wharf to Battersea. Walking down the walkway to the pier, we spotted a young man in an Uber Boat t-shirt leaning on his phone. We asked him which queue to join for Battersea and he simply pointed to the right. The queue lines were a confusing mess with dead ends. Once we found the queue, the staff came over in the most unfriendly way and insisted we pay. We’d used the service many times before, usually paying on board as we boarded the boat, but this time the grumpy face insisted we pay now. Even the staff on board were miserable and rude, berating passengers without a single “please” or “thank you”. In the past the staff have been very friendly, clearly gone down hill since Uber and for the price, we expected better!

We wanted to travel from Holborn to the Tower of London. The quickest way was via tube from Temple but it was a hot day so we thought a slightly longer walk to Emnankment pier followed by a boat ride would be pleasant. We made the mistake of buying tickets first and then getting in the queue. The boat arrived but only a few people were allowed on as it was full. The staff said the next boat would arrive soon and had space so we waited in the heat. When it arrived, there was room for about 10 from a queue of 30-40. We were in the next set of people allowed onto the pier to wait. After 15 more mins a boat arrived but the crewman explained it was full and he could only allow on the same number as got off. We didn't make the cut again. The crewman told us there was another one with space just 5 minutes behind. This was not true, they were every 15 mins and there was very limited space but we finally got on after standing in a hot queue for over an hour. So the trip comprised 60 minutes standing and 17 minutes sail which cost just under £30 for two. Coming back, we took the tube which was a fifth of the cost and took 10 minutes.
The boat ride is fine, but be aware there could be long waits. If in a hurry, take the tube!

At Greenwich Pier the boat to Woolwich came to late, the personal can’t give a plausible answer!
When the boat came we got in and in
North Greenwich our trip ended.
The next boat to Woolwich was delayed! So we need over one hour for our trip! It was terrible and the personal was not able to give us a right answer! Never I take such a boat!

When we had an issue with the tickets we purchased through the uber app (our fault), the customer service team were incredibly quick in getting back to us and offering us a solution. Very impressed and very relived as it could have ruined the whole trip! Would definitely book again!

My wife and I used the Thames Clipper service yesterday as a novelty as having worked in London for many years I’ve never used this service - so the two star review represents the novelty, getting on at Greenwich for a trip down to Waterloo/London Eye - which is a central zone trip.
The boat was on the pontoon so we were rushed down the walkway by a surly assistant to be met by an equally disinterested assistant who rushed us to dab our payment without asking where we were going to which would have ensured the correct charge was deducted (I couldn’t pay for both tickets on one payment either).
Even though we were walking towards the boat, the access was pulled in (we were literally a few feet away and the guy on the boat could see us coming).
We boarded the next clipper and had a fun ride, but upon nearing our destination we were told that it wasn’t stopping at the London Eye and we needed to disembark at Embankment! So, carrying luggage we had to walk the extra kilometre across Embankment bridge - which meant we missed our train from Waterloo to home.
Your staff need to check their attitude and put their phones down - for a premium price, you expect better. Comms were non-existent - we only knew the clipper wasn’t stopping at Waterloo when it arrived at Embankment. The big one is we were overcharged - both of us charged £19.30 all zones single (£38.60 for an incomplete trip!!) when we were within the central zone - neither of us were asked our destination when buying the tickets.
Ok you could argue we should have checked, but when being rushed, we didn’t expect to be ripped off - and having used Uber X cars (and trusting/understanding the charging) we probably took it for granted we’d be fairly charged.
Yep, Caveat Emptor, but a disappointing postscript and I won’t be using you again.

My first and only experience of using Uber Boat was on a Saturday, when I waited 40 minutes after two boats failed to turn up. There were no updates on their website, no electronic service board stating the ETA, and no explanation from other Uber boats travelling the opposite direction. When a boat finally turned up, it was scheduled to terminate at Battersea, instead of going further upstream. And barely a minute later another boat arrived heading in the right direction, but totally skipped landing at our pier (Vauxhall). Clearly Uber is not qualified or capable to run a boat service. Also, it should be owned and run by a British company, or at least a European one, and not another U.S. company that doesn’t give a damn about anyone or anything apart from their bottom line.

Erg onduidelijke info van de medewerkers. En erg duur. Voor een stukje van london brige naar westminster betaal je 9.95 pond. Duur nog geen 10 minuten. Personeel is ook erg onvriendelijk! Er werd verteld dat de Oyster kaart geldig was maar moest toch een apart ticket kopen en ook nog eens voor de kinderen. Dit kleine stukje varen kosten ons dus 30 pond met zijn 4e! En dan ook nog eens zo onbeschoft behandeld worden! Erg jammer!

Totally unreliable unless the first service of the day. Stopped to offload passengers but wouldn’t onboard anyone given how late the boat was running. Made all the passengers wait for the next boat. Severely disappointing.

Good service but it gets very confusing when you get into central London which boat to get we were in Greenwich the notice said east but the boat that came was going west. Also the windows were very dirty not good for sightseeing

Waited to board 11.35 boat to Greenwich, it arrived at 11.30, me 4 attempts to dock at Putney Pier, couldn't manage it and sailed off leaving many expectant passengers gers stranded until the next boat at 12.35. You would expect uber boats to employ people that can actually steer a boat.
Never again.

Great idea - in theory! So many delays however. Today for example I waited an hour at Bankside with no updates from staff and no way of getting a refund.

First time using Uber Boats. Will not be using them again. Nowhere near as convenient as they sell themselves as. Terrible frequency. Timetables hard to decipher, route planner is clear as mud to a newcomer. Maybe it works for regular users but certainly not me. We tried to board an advertised 15:43 from Tower pier to Westminster, only to be told no boat for 50 minutes and then add on 20 minutes travel time. Literally quicker to walk there. We had to give up. Very poorly communicated. People were finding out in dribs and drabs. Feel ripped off to put it politely. Terrible terrible value for money.

Overall would not use again.
Very unprofessional and chaotic staff at The Globe stop, today.
I bought a 3-day ticket, which wasn't cheap and certainly wasn't worth it.
The boats themselves are clean and functioning, but the service is very disorganised, - a panicked atmosphere and shouting staff.

We had a ticketing issue with the app and Ibrahim from customer service chat sorted it in minutes. Amazing customer service, thank you!

Just overall a great service from Patricia… thanks so much we look forward to travelling with your service on the wonderful River Thames. ❤️

Used the clipper yesterday to travel from Westminster to Battersea Power Station. The process was stressful to say the least: got into a queue to go to Battersea, there was one person in front of us. As we got to the front of the queue, we were told that this was no longer a queue as the next boat was going to arrive soon (the boat we wanted to get onto), and that the line we were in was going to become an exit. We then had to go to the back of queue (labelled as going the other way) and missed our boat. We were then directed to tap in - and got shouted at for doing so by another member of staff as the boat wasn’t there! The staff were also being really rude to people wanting to check the duration of their tickets and which direction they wanted to travel.
A twenty minute wait later and we were asked to leave the waiting area into a different space.
For there we had to push through the crowd as they were embarking at the other side.
It was badly organised chaos! I was far from impressed and charged £15 for the privilege.

My three-week-old baby, toddler and I were unfortunately turned away. Despite being seen, the ramp was still raised. Staff on the pier said they couldnt believe their colleagues didn't let us on!

We then experienced a very long wait for the subsequent one, which was also delayed. The ride itself was quite expensive and, overall, rather disappointing.

Patricia, delivered an excellent service. Her patience and ready to assist, my situation was swiftly resolved. Tickets are now booked for my grandchildren and I. Thank you Patricia.
Very happy customer

Many thanks Parminder, you star! 🌟