Uber Driver App, Customer service and Rider Complaints

Drivers Advice, Experiences
#21

Here’s one: Ever have a pax report you as under the influence out of spite?

Man gets into my car in the valley here in LA, has a 25 minute ride over the hill to Silver Lake, ie hipster central, LA. It is 5:55 on a Tuesday, ie middle of rush hour. I have on, as I often due, super soothing, spa-like Native American flute music, at low volume. Pax even mentions how soothing it is, about one minute before he decides to take a phone call——

**Side note: someone will accuse me of having a “god complex” for this. Go **** yourself if that’s how you think. It’s my car, I’m providing the service, I’m being paid a fraction of what it should cost, and only 1 in every five pax is likely to tip at all. Generally, I find the more entitled a person asks, the less likely they are to tip. So here’s my policy on phone calls, which are super annoying to me while I’m driving. It’s rideSHARE not Private-Chauffeur-while-I-treat-your-car-like-my-office… if you’re in a Lyft line/uber pool, then basically forget it. You were too cheap to pay the extra $2-3 for a private ride, you’re even less likely to tip, and whether or not there is another pax in the car with you (once had a pax take 10 calls in an 8 minute ride even WITH other pax in car!!) it’s a shared ride and its presumptuous to treat the space like it’s solely your own. If you have a regular Lyft/uberX or better, then I’ll tolerate a call, but I still find it annoying. There are of course exceptions- emergencies, logistical necessities- but most calls are the most inane bs like asking mommy what she had for breakfast.

**back to my story: gentleman takes the phone call. It is private ride so I say nothing although I note there’s 20 min left in ride and I’m about to go through heavy traffic for this Winner for probably $10-11 dollars. Shortly into his convo, there is an ebb in volume one of the flute sounds from my music, and he asks me to turn it down. I turn it down and say of course, but feel compelled to ask him if he’s planning on being on the phone for the whole trip? I’m trying to be super polite about it as I know that I can get feisty and come off as an Ahole myself sometimes. He says “what?” and seems Almost incredulous I would even ask. I explain “I find phone calls super distracting while I drive.” He immediately goes to, “pull over.” Which of course I do, as I add, “I was going to add if it’s important I understand, maybe you could just keep it short.” As he gets out he says very haughtily, “yea, it is super important.” Ok, wtv, the guy was offended I’d even dare to express a presence about what goes into my ears while I’m trying to perform a service for him… he wants out though, by all means. I write a little review to go along with my 3 rating of him (to ensure I’ll never see him again). And I see him writing on his phone at the same time— he had gotten off that all-important phone call, btw— so whatever, I finish and start to drive away, only to find…

MY ACCOUNT IS ON HOLD WHILE LYFT TRUST & SAFETY INVESTIGATE A POTENTIAL VIOLATION OF TOS… this completely entitled pos has decided to lie to Lyft and say I was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, which is obviously untrue. I got shut down for the rest of the night while they figured out from the 8000 rides I’d given prior that he was lying.

Spite. Malice. Entitlement. All over a phone call that I didn’t even say he couldn’t have, I merely asked if he wouldn’t mind keeping it short if possible.

Your thoughts?

#22

Under no circumstances should a person lie!!!

In Chattanooga TN we are seeing way to many Drivers being knocked off the platform because riders are saying that Drivers are under the influence! (Free Ride) :rage:

You may not agree with what he did but read the community guidelines!!! TOS!!!

Understand that how you say/approach something can escalate a situation or defuse it.

For some to say you agree with what the rider did is to say you want someone to do that to you!!!

That lying is ok, no! As long as you have that mentality you don’t need to be here either…

Wake up, people!
Stand up for yourself!
Stand together!
Walk the fine line!
Think before you speak to a rider!

I’m not saying I agree with everything you said/did! (Original post)

If the rider didn’t like the ride, he still should not have lied under no circumstances!!!

#23

Okay, so I was thinking. You posted this because you wanted an idea for a solution, or to rant - but both can come of it at the end of the day. My idea as far as avoiding false claims and bullshit riders is: stick closer to a more urban environment because people actually need this service sometimes and do not have the option of jumping out on the highway and acting like entitled assholes (like that guy seems to have done to you). By restricting your services to clients who actually need your service, you would minimize the chance of false claims because: they NEED your service. This person took you for granted. You also took the fact that he NEEDED your service for granted when you asked him to have a quick phone call.

#24

As a general practice, I give five stars to passengers, but there have been times when I have given 4.

Yesterday was the first time I gave 1 star. I had a passenger who exhibited major creep factor. He had zero concepts of personal space and acted like he was trying to pick me up. The idiot didn’t book a legit round-trip and said that he was going to be “right back” and asked that I wait for him. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for him), I got pinged for another ride, and I got the fuck out of Dodge.

Later on, I picked up a couple from Stony Brook Medical to take them back to Ronkonkoma (about a 25-minute trip) and saying that they were obnoxious would be paying them a compliment. The first thing the woman asks is if “it’s possible” for them to have a smoke and I told them no. They follow with blasting their music on their phone and the woman singing along (very badly at that). To make it more interesting, they smelled; I’m not talking BO but clearly, something they must’ve smoked (making my eyes itch and water) They wanted to hit a drive-thru, but nothing was open along the way, so I let them hit a 7-11. The one thing that saved them from a 1-Star rating and getting an upgrade to 2 stars was when the guy spotted me a $20 for taking them to 7-11.

#25

The first time that I’ve had a dog in my car. Now my car is destroyed and nasty smelling, mud in my seat. The policy is we cannot refuse a rider with a service animal, but we can’t ask personal questions either. So how are we supposed to know whether it’s a real service animal or not!
I picked them up and dropped them off! That’s when I realized it is in my back seat. The rider did not let me go all the way to his drop-off destination. I was stopped at a red light so he thought he would go ahead and get out right then. I did not have time to inspect the vehicle, and I had to end of the trip and rated him.

This is why I wish Uber would do like Lyft and allow us to rate the passenger at a later time. That way when we realize that our car has been damaged or is dirty. We can give an accurate rating on the rider.

#26

Dear Uber Drivers,
This is Okai from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I’m a teacher and doing my PhD research.
Multiple number of my friends currently drive for Uber and I listen their expectations, problems, loves and hates. I’m also personally interested but Uber has not started in my country yet.
Listening friends’ comments drove me to choose Uber as my research topic. So, I’m trying to understand what are the major motivations, complains, expectations of Uber drivers. To accomplish this, I prepared a survey and would like to share it here with you.
Uber driver survey
I kindly ask your 5 min. to complete Uber driver survey. There are no personal questions, I just need to know your experiences as a driver.
I’m going to share the results here so that scientifically pros and cons will be confirmed.

Thanks.

Okai Ozbal
PhD student
IBU, Management Dep.
Sarajevo

#27

Anyone who says they’ll give you a tip in the app or offers a tip in order for you to break the rules NEVER tips. Cancel the ride and get the cancellation fee.

#28

It’s been a thing since the 90s as far as I’ve seen, white girls with white guys. Last I heard was white girls with black men. Now equal opp…

#29

My problem is about taking 6 passengers for the price of 1. So I changed my ride preference to UberX instead of IberXL. It makes no sence putting all that weight on my minivan. Uber should charge more if more than 3 people get inside someone’s vehicle.

#30

Lyft is the worst $2.65 for a 7 mnts ride. Uber paid me $3.25 for the same distance.

#31

Tell us what happened

#32

This same shit just happened to me today and it’s really just not right how they do this to us drivers. We don’t have any say in how these passengers behave in OUR vehicles. I could imagine UBER/LYFT being this strict if they provided us vehicles but they DONT.

#33

I have been driving in South Africa for 3.5 years.
We just say we can’t do it as it is illegal and insurance won’t cover us in an accident.
Sometimes we either stay there waiting to tell the next driver not to pick up or sometimes take a picture of the car reg and send it to Uber.
They can’t rate you if you haven’t started the trip. Over here we have “too many people” as a cancellation reason.

#34

Not Complaining, hopefully Uber will get to read this and see if they can changes to their charges for a minimum charge. I feel any ride that is minimum has to be $5.00, I feel very discouraged to turn on the app these days, For the past 4 days of the week, all I have been getting is $2.50 rides. I drive primary as UberLux but when I turn the UberX , those are the rides that I get … Customers are nice but when they do not tip, it becomes a steal for them versus if it $5.00 minimum, I feel it is a fare value and I do believe all the Uber Drivers will accept the calls. The second part Uber Pool is one of the worst, if you accept UberPool and there is one rider and most of the times it is one rider, I can imagine instead of $2.50, you will get $1.50.

The other thing that can be improved on Uber App, to give a better guidance for the transporters to understand where Luxury Rides are taken place more often and same goes for UberX and others. Uber Transporter should have a choice of putting his favorite rides so he or she be chosen for that ride, For example I like long rides but always get short rides. Uber Apps need to be tailored a whole lot to make it more of an AI , I feel the way app behaves, the dispatching is not using AI at all, there is some manual intervention involved in how the rides are being pushed to each transporter. I have had different approaches to prove. I feel Uber is not transparent at all , if so they have bring Uber Transporters to their Green hub and give them a demo either on the screen or live to make them understand how Uber does the dispatching. Imagine this , Uber transporter , you have about 4 waiting in one area proximity of .5 miles , a rider who is about 1 mile away from all four requests a ride, now how does Uber decide who to give the ride to? and there are so many other questions that needs to be answered and shown other wise , you will lose transporters like me down the road. Money matters but I am more concerned about the overall process that is experienced as a Uber Transporter versus Uber Rider
Oh the other thing Uber Rider A books in a call for Rider B whom the Uber Transporter has no clue off , There should be a prompt within the Uber Ride asking if the rider is for them or someone else if so Include their name and their photo if possible . The second aspect , When Uber Rider requests for a ride, it is always good to ask how many passengers including them so the Uber Transporters does have to ride all the way to the location and find out that he or she is not able to accommodate them. Uber Transporter need more information about the Rider for the safety of the Uber Transporter.
As a transporter , if I transport a female who is below the age , I wait for that person to enter into their location or their before I leave. I can imagine the complications that can arise and the headache that cause to the Uber Transporter as well. Uber can assure all kind of things, but when the situation arises , it is the Uber Transporter who needs to run around for all this nonsense. Oh not that I do not wait for others to get into their home or location before leaving, but I am emphasizing on earlier subject so it gets noticed

Hope all the above will be considered to the best and a feedback.

#35

I haven’t been making much off my rides recently. I checked a few rides what I got and what passenger paid and what Uber got. I have been seeing that on the short rides Uber is making more than I am.

Uber should never make more than the driver on a ride. I think something needs to be changed. Either Uber takes less or give drivers more.

I feel like I am being used.

1 Like
#36

Can you write computer code? That’s what I thought. Why not quit Uber and go back to being a brain surgeon?

#37

Are you a driver or do you work at uber? Why should uber make more than the driver? I have expenses to keep ubering. Answer in a manner that adds to your intelligece.

#38

I am an Uber driver. If Uber is making a killing, than go buy some stock and become an owner.

It’s no more complicated than this … quit driving if your expenses are too high. Uber doesn’t owe you anything. You agreed to a set payment when you signed up to drive. Honor that and stop worrying about what someone else is making.

I’m sure with your attitude of entitlement there are many occupations which you are well qualified. There’s McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and many janitorial duties that would love to have you.

This is the USA … no one owes you anything. Go earn it yourself, you big baby.

#39

I had the same thing happen. The guy needed cash so he gave me a $40 tip, and I gave him $30 in return. I netted $10 tip on an $8.52 ride. I didn’t give him the $30 until I closed out the ride and saw the $40 tip. Once he gives the tip it’s gone. There’s no taking it back. It worked out well for me.

#40

Uber wont be making a killing in the future. The way they treat there drivers wont last long
So no stock for me