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Uber Drivers Stiff Passengers After Finding Out Final Destination

27K views 146 replies 62 participants last post by  Logistician82 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Uber-Drivers-Stiff-Passengers-After-Finding-Out-Final-Destination-408432315.html
Uber Drivers Stiff Passengers After Finding Out Final Destination
Driver practice of avoiding passengers is against Uber policy
NBC Washington Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016 By Adam Tuss

Uber passengers at Washington-area airports said some ride-share drivers are refusing to pick them up, because they don't want to take the travelers where they want to go.
An Uber driver is never supposed to know the destination until the trip has started. But some drivers are said to be calling passengers in advance and finding out where the passengers want to go, which is against Uber policy.

If the driver thinks the trip isn't worth their time, because they think the trip is too short, too long or they just don't want to go to the destination, the drivers won't pick up the passengers, the passengers said.
"I just wanted to get home," Uber customer Landon Geurkink said. "We had just been traveling for a couple hours in the air. It was cold out."

Geurkink said he had to go through five separate Uber drivers before one finally picked him up at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. He said the drivers thought his relatively short trip to downtown D.C. wasn't worth the trip after calling him to find out his destination.
"He's, like, I just wanted to know where you are headed? I just said, 'Oh, downtown D.C.,'" Geurkirk said. "Another minute later, he canceled."

Other drivers may have manipulated the Uber app or used a separate app to figure out the final destination and then decided they didn't want the trip. Some Uber drivers said they knew all about this technique, and some admitted they have ended trip requests based on destination.
"I know that I have canceled drives before that I thought were too long," one driver said.

Uber released a statement about the practice.
"Ridesharing apps are changing a transportation status quo that has been unequal for generations, making it easier and more affordable for people to get around, no matter where they live and where they're going."

Per Uber's deactivation policy, each city has a maximum cancellation rate, based on the average cancellation rate in that area, after which point a driver may be barred from using the app.
Uber riders can rate their driver and provide anonymous feedback about their trip. Uber said they do take feedback seriously.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said they are looking into the practice of the Uber drivers avoiding some trips.
 
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#2 ·
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...-Finding-Out-Final-Destination-408432315.html

Uber passengers at Washington-area airports said some ride-share drivers are refusing to pick them up, because they don't want to take the travelers where they want to go.
An Uber driver is never supposed to know the destination until the trip has started. But some drivers are said to be calling passengers in advance and finding out where the passengers want to go, which is against Uber policy.

If the driver thinks the trip isn't worth their time, because they think the trip is too short, too long or they just don't want to go to the destination, the drivers won't pick up the passengers, the passengers said.
"I just wanted to get home," Uber customer Landon Geurkink said. "We had just been traveling for a couple hours in the air. It was cold out."

Geurkink said he had to go through five separate Uber drivers before one finally picked him up at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. He said the drivers thought his relatively short trip to downtown D.C. wasn't worth the trip after calling him to find out his destination.
"He's, like, I just wanted to know where you are headed? I just said, 'Oh, downtown D.C.,'" Geurkirk said. "Another minute later, he canceled."

Other drivers may have manipulated the Uber app or used a separate app to figure out the final destination and then decided they didn't want the trip. Some Uber drivers said they knew all about this technique, and some admitted they have ended trip requests based on destination.
"I know that I have canceled drives before that I thought were too long," one driver said.

Uber released a statement about the practice.
"Ridesharing apps are changing a transportation status quo that has been unequal for generations, making it easier and more affordable for people to get around, no matter where they live and where they're going."

Per Uber's deactivation policy, each city has a maximum cancellation rate, based on the average cancellation rate in that area, after which point a driver may be barred from using the app.
Uber riders can rate their driver and provide anonymous feedback about their trip. Uber said they do take feedback seriously.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said they are looking into the practice of the Uber drivers avoiding some trips.
Time for Uber to pay fairly !
 
#5 · (Edited)
if passenger gets a call with the destination question tell the driver an expensive location. Driver will be salivating and burn rubber to get to you.
with passenger in car Driver Starts Trip and sees an address down the road. Then pax updates driver:
"sorry Mr Meathead Driver, just got an emergency call, change of plans, I'm going 2 miles down the road, take me now or I scream for Airport Law Enforcement and You wake up tomorrow in a Cell on Guantanamo Bey Cuba"

 
#8 ·
This "hustle" doesn't pay enough to go anywhere at anytime. I can understand the issue at airports as discussed - I just don't pick up at the airports. But, I've refused to go to the airport at particular times of day. I tell passengers if you are really time crunched like trying to catch a flight - be smart, text your driver and tell them where you're going. Better to have them cancel right away then wait for them to arrive and cancel to your face. It's just lost time in the request process.
 
#92 ·
I drove a taxi for 10 years, both in L.A & San Diego Airports, and we were not allowed to turn any customer away that approached our taxi. But, some do, of course. Thing is, if it was a short ride, we got a slip that allowed us to go to the front of the line on return to the airport, as I recall. That being said, raising a rate comparable to what Taxis charge would go a long ways to prevent cherry picking. Anther thing, as an Uber driver, I find that I wait a shorter time for a ride than the guys in the taxi lines.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I had a rider call me right after I accepted and told me he was going for a 2.5 hour trip. I said I couldn't do it (needed to be a 2+ surge or XL to make it worth it - it was no surge at X).

He cancelled and I'm sure found a driver that would be willing. That's the best way of doing it.
Sometimes pax hope that the driver would be too "nice" to cancel once they get in the car.

They haven't met me...

Once you take enough out of the way trips -- to destinations you KNOW you will not be getting a return fare -- you begin to learn the hard way that Uber doesn't care about our expenses when they slash rates from $1.20 to $0.75/mile while increasing the no. of drivers. Hence, I too do NOT care about kicking you out of my vehicle -- and choosing "do not charge rider" -- if I think the fare isn't worth it.

Because 95% of the time, the pax will NOT tip even if they know they took you to a remote destination.
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
I like PAX to be happy. I know some have undesirable trip, but that is what I signed up for
Please show me where in our contracts it states we are "required" to take trips that would be undesirable. Because last I checked, even Uber knows not every trip is optimal or profitable.

Here is proof...
 
#17 ·
So let me get this straight...

You are accusing me of taking my sweet time to write a fictitious email that I received from Uber support in order to convince other drivers Uber is okay with drivers canceling trips based on how far the destination this?

Interesting....

Next time a pax requests a ride and you find out it's a 300 mile one way trip to a remote area, tell yourself you HAVE to take it because Uber is your boss and it's in the contract.
Those two points at the bottom go against everything we've seen and heard from Uber. There is NO identifying information in that email. The format looks ridiculous. And you expect us to believe it's legit ?
 
#18 ·
You are free to believe what you want. In regards to your "format" statement, apparently you aren't familiar with the ubiquitous Microsoft Outlook mail application. And did you not see the Uber Support part at the top? Or did I make up the name too?

Tell you what buddy, email Uber support yourself from the driver app and ask if you can cancel a ride that you feel is "too far" or "not profitable" and get back to me.

This should be interesting...
 
#21 ·
This is what my standard weekly earnings looks like.

I look forward to seeing yours.
Aaaah I see... You were just looking for an excuse to flex your muscles -- or in this case gloat about your earnings. Congrats buddy.

Unfortunately I can't compete with that seeing as I drive on the side and have a real job. Also, am curious since we are on the topic of earnings, what city do you drive in and what Uber platform? Are we going to ignore that you had $270 in Promotions (before we talk gas $$) so you are really looking at around $15-18/hr.

Am happy you find joy driving 40-50hrs a week (we both know your "online" hours don't reflect how long you really were on the road).

Uber On...
 
#25 ·
I know what a job is, kind of in a general sense, not necessarily able to define it for the dictionary. But I have all my life heard people say "real job". What does it mean, versus just "job"? I've always "had a job", or "don't have a job". I mean, I would say I "have a [noun]" if I have one. And while my [noun] is real, I've never said "I have a real [noun]". I mean, it's a [noun], and there are fake [noun]s sometimes, I guess, but it doesn't need saying when you refer to [noun]s, that they are real [noun]s. What does it mean when someone says "real job"? Saying "real [noun]" implies that usually that sort of noun is fake, so one must emphasize you have a real [noun]. Like in 1984 where the public had synthetic coffee, so when the sexy girl had real coffee, a difficult to acquire rarity, it was worth mentioning "wow, you have real coffee", rather than just "you have coffee", cuz saying "coffee" usually meant that synthetic crap to most people. So in those cases it is natural to say "I have a real [noun]. I notice also that "real job" is usually said by snobby pricks in some instance where they want to convince others that they are superior to them they said it to. Is that what's happening?*

I remember in 2014 a cab driver drove slowly by me, rolled his window down, and said "get a real job, *****". I didn't understand. I understood why he was angry, tho at me is misplaced anger. But I didn't understand the real part of real job. Like, you have a job, or you don't have a job. What is the real part?

*I don't get why he posted his statements either, but having promotions is part of the deal. I couldn't get by without them. if you don't care to compete, why bother?
 
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#23 ·
People paying for the cheapest personal transportation ever are suffering great injustice cuz they are sooooo inconvenienced. o_O:rolleyes:o_O:rolleyes:o_O:rolleyes:o_O:(
 
#24 ·
You are free to believe what you want. In regards to your "format" statement, apparently you aren't familiar with the ubiquitous Microsoft Outlook mail application. And did you not see the Uber Support part at the top? Or did I make up the name too?

Tell you what buddy, email Uber support yourself from the driver app and ask if you can cancel a ride that you feel is "too far" or "not profitable" and get back to me.

This should be interesting...
Why would you need to email support to see if you can cancel a ride. You can just cancel the ride on the spot. There's a place for it in the app. I do it all the time. Uber promotes this behavior. They offer a single number of trips that I must complete to get a bonus between F-Su. There is little way to make that number if I leave the city I work, causing me to complete only 1 trip in like 1.5 hours. Uber knows this, yet they've done it like this all year in my market. You can't complete 60 trips F-Su if you're willing to take every pax as far as they want to go. Uber drivers have no obligation to make sure everyone gets the ultra convenience they delusionally expect for the lowest prices ever. It's bad enough the fare isn't worth where they're going and back again anyways, much less making yourself work that many more hours to get the bonus that makes driving worthwhile in the first place. I don't want to be homeless or have $0 in the bank for when something bad happens. If my car needs money put into it to run one day, and I have none, I go from having an income, to not just like that. So, I think maintaining a roof and the ability to keep my asset running are more importatnt than inconvenicneing people who are using a way too cheap service. If they want more reliable more convenitent transportation, there are higher cost options, just like before Uber& Lyft existed.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Finally, someone that gets it.

I personally don't think you need to email support either but Mr. uberdriverfornow was questioning the veracity of my email conversation with Uber Support. I too learned the hard way that Uber often offers promotions knowing there is no real way to meet the requirements if you do every single trip (unless you are lucky not to get an out of the way trip).

This is one of the MANY reasons I stopped doing UberPool. I used to only accept Pool rides when there were promotions (e.g accept at least 80% of your requests to earn $18/hr), but the Pool trips would often take me ridiculous distances out of the "hotspots." I would then have to log off and rush back to the main area. I got tired and quit accepting Pool pax altogether. Plus they would never tip anyway.

I once had an UberPool ride where I had picked up a pax and got matched with another rider going to the airport. When we arrived to pick up the second Pool pax, they asked if I would allow their friend who was also heading to the airport come along. The problem was the first pax already had two large suit cases in my trunk and the second one had two on their person.

Told them that their friend would have to request another ride as I don't allow any suitcase in the interior of the vehicle for liability reasons. They are the cheapest of the cheap :cool:
 
#124 ·
They already have this. They're called taxis.
That $2.40 per mile includes "dead miles."

Considering the little to zero out of pocket cost to drive for Uber, you're paid plenty fair. The problem is Uber drivers were silly enough to think flooding the streets with thousands of other "partners" was a smart thing to do because it showed those $$ greedy cabs how things should be done.

Uber drivers made their bed. ;-)
What is your definition of fair?
 
#35 ·
What app is the article referring to that allows.us to see the destination?
There have been several posts on UPnet where the writer makes a vague reference to having hacked the app which makes it possible to see the destination. I haven't seen any proof or screen shots though.
 
#36 ·
This is what my standard weekly earnings looks like.

I look forward to seeing yours.
It's horrifying to think you believe that is a good pre expense income....$2 surge from $1000 fares hahaha. I love cherry picking and average less than 50 % acceptance and 18 % cancel and I use uber for what it's best suited to, part time
Font Screenshot Technology Rectangle Number
Font Screenshot Technology Rectangle Number
 
#40 · (Edited)
It's horrifying to think you believe that is a good pre expense income....$2 surge from $1000 fares hahaha. I love cherry picking and average less than 50 % acceptance and 18 % cancel and I use uber for what it's best suited to, part time View attachment 86728 View attachment 86729
Sure, if I only drove during busy events I can make a small amount of money like that during surge times but my goal is to make a decent living doing Uber, making atleast $1000 a week, working 40 hours. There are weeks I work 37 hours and make $1300 dollars. The important thing is making a decent living, not working during a few surge hours making only $200 for the week. That's being inefficient. But if you're happy making only $200 a week, more power to you. I'm not.
 
#41 ·
My car gets atleast 30mpg's. Even in the rare instances I get a request to go 10 miles, it's costing me about 75 cents to go that distance. Even if it's a min ride, I'm still making a few dollars on that trip, plus the trip itself counts towards the weekly bonus. It's a win-win.

But, yeah, if you're only working a few hours part time, being inefficient because of that, then, yeah, it's not smart to go that distance since it isn't going to be as profitable for you since you won't be doing enough trips to profit from the weekly bonus.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Wow you're absolutely rich! A whopping $8.76 a trip before gas and expenses! Uber loves stupid people who can't do math, you're one of them.
Because of the amount of trips I do each week it's easy to make ATLEAST $20 an hour after gas doing Uber. It doesn't matter how much money I'm making per trip since I'm doing so many trips per week INCLUDING bonuses. I have no other expenses other than gas and oil changes that I do myself since my car is practically maintenance free.
 
#64 ·
Yeah because gas and oil changes are the only expenses you have with a vehicle.o_O I'm never going to hate on someone who is out there working hard, this is not an easy job nor is it for everyone, but please don't come on here spouting off how great the money is when you include bonuses or referrals in your pay and thousands of us on here have watched rates cut time and time again.
In all honesty for that amount of trips you should be grossing close to 2k. But hey if 1985 cab rates using your own gas and car works for you, knock yourself out, who am I to judge.
 
#39 ·
I don't mind making a man eat his words every now and then -- so here's more evidence. I have blurred out every date and identifying info because for all I know, you work for Uber cooperate. This is the response email from Uber Support after I complained about receiving a "high cancellation rate" email when I had a low cancellation rate.

I expect an apology or an admission of false accusation (if you are man enough to do that).



Of course you're not going to get an apology from me. My original post was "do you really expect us to believe that email was legit" because you didn't post anything detailed. Just a random screenshot in ridiculous format with none of the identifying information you posted in this post.
 
#48 ·
So now you see why your previous statement I quoted below sounded ridiculous earlier? All I did was post the important part of the email that I wanted others to focus on. The format is the SAME. Look at it yourself.

It's the same font, same wording, same layout (from who, to whom, e.t.c). In you whining, I was even able to post more of the original email to further emphasize that Uber is OKAY WITH DRIVERS CANCELING RIDES BASED ON A PAX DESTINATION.

The key is to not over do it...

Get it yet?

Those two points at the bottom go against everything we've seen and heard from Uber. There is NO identifying information in that email. The format looks ridiculous. And you expect us to believe it's legit ?
 
#42 ·
Ur used to underpaid work? The service is too cheap to be "accept the ping, follow through". That makes you a sucker in some areas.
Whether or not I'm used to being underpaid, when I enter into an agreement with a rider by accepting their ping I will do my best to do the honorable thing. Does it bite me in the a$$? Sometimes. Am I a sucker? Well, I guess I am by your definition. But that bothers me less than it would were I to break my word for a dollar.
 
#43 ·
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...-Finding-Out-Final-Destination-408432315.html

----------------------------------

Uber passengers at Washington-area airports said some ride-share drivers are refusing to pick them up, because they don't want to take the travelers where they want to go.
An Uber driver is never supposed to know the destination until the trip has started. But some drivers are said to be calling passengers in advance and finding out where the passengers want to go, which is against Uber policy.

If the driver thinks the trip isn't worth their time, because they think the trip is too short, too long or they just don't want to go to the destination, the drivers won't pick up the passengers, the passengers said.
"I just wanted to get home," Uber customer Landon Geurkink said. "We had just been traveling for a couple hours in the air. It was cold out."

Geurkink said he had to go through five separate Uber drivers before one finally picked him up at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. He said the drivers thought his relatively short trip to downtown D.C. wasn't worth the trip after calling him to find out his destination.
"He's, like, I just wanted to know where you are headed? I just said, 'Oh, downtown D.C.,'" Geurkirk said. "Another minute later, he canceled."

Other drivers may have manipulated the Uber app or used a separate app to figure out the final destination and then decided they didn't want the trip. Some Uber drivers said they knew all about this technique, and some admitted they have ended trip requests based on destination.
"I know that I have canceled drives before that I thought were too long," one driver said.

Uber released a statement about the practice.
"Ridesharing apps are changing a transportation status quo that has been unequal for generations, making it easier and more affordable for people to get around, no matter where they live and where they're going."

Per Uber's deactivation policy, each city has a maximum cancellation rate, based on the average cancellation rate in that area, after which point a driver may be barred from using the app.
Uber riders can rate their driver and provide anonymous feedback about their trip. Uber said they do take feedback seriously.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said they are looking into the practice of the Uber drivers avoiding some trips.
Glad I'm a free ride service....
 
#49 · (Edited)
I'm still arguing with Uber on the Airport Fee being added to my Gross Earnings when I never see that fee as money earned. I only see Mileage and Minutes, then the typical Uber Fee. $4 Surcharge each trip have added up substantially, which I had incurred just over $1500 in just Airport Fees in 2016 that I never see.
 
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