When something like that happens to me, I pay with a credit card and dispute it afterwards. At the very least, the driver gets hit with a $15 charge for the dispute, regardless of whether he wins. At best, I win the dispute and get my money back.

Edit: also, if there are enough charge-backs/disputes on the driver/company's merchant account, they'll get dropped or have higher rates.

So why not ask for a receipt with start and end location and total price paid?

You then file a complaint with the relevant authorities, which in turn will hit the cheating cabbie; hard.

My brother was a taxi dispatcher (granted, not in America, which seems the total hell hole when it comes to taxi service) and there where drivers trying to pull such shit on unsuspecting tourists (circling around for 250$ for a tour, which should have been 40, max) and I can guarantee you that this cabbie did not have a happy encounter after the passenger filed a complaint.

That process takes a dramatically longer amount of time than one email to Uber's support. A lot of times it isn't worth the hassle.

Just so I get that straight:

People opposed to regulations because they're stringent and apparently protect a monopoly don't bother with the exact same regulators that enforce their rights because it takes too much time to file a complaint?

OK, whatever...

I'm not sure I follow what you're saying, mind explaining this bit:

"

People opposed to regulations because they're stringent and apparently protect a monopoly don't bother with the exact same regulators that enforce their rights because it takes too much time to file a complaint? "