Reply to I am a DC uberX driver since 2013 and have SEEN IT ALL...so please, AMA

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "I am a DC uberX driver since 2013 and have SEEN IT ALL...so please, AMA"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was using uber in another city to get to the airport and almost missed my flight because a driver who accepted my ride a give minutes away kept driving away from my starting location,  until the time on my phone said 10 minutes away. The app also said something about finishing a nearby trip,  which it didn't say at first.  There weren't a lot of other options (no lyft and other drivers were marked as slightly further away) so I didn't cancel,  but my driver kept getting very close and then driving away so that almost 25 minutes passed before I got on my way.

When he finally arrived, the driver apologized and said something about previous customer leaving a bag in the car (was hard to tell exactly,  thick accent).

So in the future, os it best to cancel as soon as I can see the driver move in the wrong direction?   What's the deal with "finishing a nearby trip"?[/quote]

I'd like to know about this too. Had a similar experience where the driver kept driving away from me. I just canceled since I had to be at the airport and couldn't wait all day.[/quote]

Some drivers simply aren't good at this.  Zero common sense.  They don't/can't compute the fact that passengers request rides because they need them right then and there.

The "finishing a nearby trip" is a new efficiency feature.  Long ago, a driver was locked into the ride they were on and once they completed it they were then available for a new ride request.  Since the average driver arrival time is around 3-5 minutes anyways, uber optimized the app so that if a driver on a ride is closing in on a destination and the ride will end close enough to where a new request comes from, they will get the ping IF there's not another closer driver who's free and available.  I love getting these because it means there's zero downtime between rides.  What happened was his previous passenger left a bag in the car, realized it, then called him soon after he was on the way to you and asked him to return it (which the driver did). But the problem is that once the driver dropped off his previous passenger he was then on your clock, not the former's.  The previous passenger will get their bag back eventually, but it shouldn't have been in 10 minutes.

As soon as you notice the driver heading an unreasonable distance away (e.g. 5 minutes becomes 10 minutes), call him or immediately cancel.  If you get hit with a cancellation charge (riders get charged $5 if they cancel 5 minutes after requesting the ride) let uber know you had a time-sensitive trip so you cancelled on a lollygagging driver and request a refund on the $5 charge.  Lastly, complain, complain, complain to uber thru the app in an attempt to squeeze some free ride credits out of the inconvenience.  They're losing millions of dollars of month, so you might as well get your cut too.

Tip for other drivers out there:  Glance in the back seat after EVERY rider exits.  I've handed back dozens of iPhones, doggie bags, and backpacks just as the rider stepped away from the car.  Doing them a quick solid like that is an easy 5-star because you just saved both parties a bunch of time, hassle, and worry.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics