They don't refund, they just credit your account. It didn't count for much after I switched to Lyft entirely.

In general, I find Lyft is wholly more pleasant, both as an app and as a customer.

If you push enough, they will. Once I had an 18 hour layover in Honolulu and I decided to go to the Pearl Harbor memorial (sentimental, I know) and Uber was a mess. I got cancelled on, and I cancelled one...both times I was charged the fee. After a few emails of back and forth they actually refunded my credit card instead of just giving me "Uber credits."

They will put it back on your card if you ask. It's a dark pattern for sure though.

You should not have to ask for a refund if, after reasonable time after the original estimate has passed, the cab has not appeared. Of course, Uber is also free to screw around with the customers to the extent that they will acquiesce to it.

No argument there.

I've also had times where the charge was more than it showed upfront. I think what's going on there is I'm let off and the driver marks it as the location I left, which is a tiny bit away from the original destination, so it recalculates the fee and no longer uses the fixed fee. They should be able to tell if the dropoff location is within say 1000 feet of the expected destination and not charge more.

I've requested a refund multiple times and never been rejected.

Furthermore, when the estimates are more than a couple of minutes off as GP suggests, Uber waives the cancellation fee.

I don't think that's true unless you specifically request it.