What's your Uber experience?

Booked a short trip ($9 something) in Adelaide CBD. Uber map has consistently shown the wrong way to my pick-up point (through a car park!) previously so I gave the driver precise SMS instructions x 4. Driver chose to ignore me and went to the wrong street three times driving around and around expecting a different outcome each time. Two minute wait sit for ride became 11 minutes. Driver didn’t pick up my calls. Then I got charged a $5.62 wait fee.
Lodge a complaint. They are pretty quick to refund.
 
Lodge a complaint. They are pretty quick to refund.
Tried to do that via the Uber app and got nowhere fast. I'd never been overcharged before nor questioned the final fare but when I tried to get a refund through the app, there was no option to chat to or send a message to an actual person. Using "Help" within the trip details you are presented a series of lists (review my fare>wait time fees>explanation of wait time fees and then that's the end of it; I tried different combinations to try to get contact with a human with no luck). I'm not sure if I'm doing it properly then if you think it's easy via the app. In the end I just asked Amex to refund the unwarranted charge.
 
Tried to do that via the Uber app and got nowhere fast. I'd never been overcharged before nor questioned the final fare but when I tried to get a refund through the app, there was no option to chat to or send a message to an actual person. Using "Help" within the trip details you are presented a series of lists (review my fare>wait time fees>explanation of wait time fees and then that's the end of it; I tried different combinations to try to get contact with a human with no luck). I'm not sure if I'm doing it properly then if you think it's easy via the app. In the end I just asked Amex to refund the unwarranted charge.
I think you have done what I would have. :(
 
So I don't use Uber all that often and before my last ride had a 4.3 star rating after 6 rides - I had a 1 star ride in that which I think was completely justified as I spilled take-out in the drivers car (and it wasn't just a piece of pizza).

Now I know 4.3 isn't a good rating, but I'm confident of getting it back up there (no more food in Ubers for me, just from point A to B). So after jumping completing my most recent Uber in NYC, I see my rating dropped down to 3.86 stars, what!!

I was trying to rack my brain, I was courteous, helped him with our luggage, tipped, the only issue was that he went to a spot across the road to pick me up. He says that is where the app indicated, but I was 100% confident I put the hotel name into the app and that is what I confirmed - regardless it added only a couple of minutes on a 50 minute trip.

So he gave me 1 star because of this, and I am filthy. I've now gone back into the app and changed his rating from the original 5 star down to 1, and I am trung to find a way to question this but can't seem to find it on the app. Am I acting completely irrational here? My rating was already not great to begin with (justifiably so), but this rediculous trip rating now means my rating is at a point where I'll be lucky to get a ride with anyone and that is why I am so angry.
 
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Except in times of surge, i doubt drivers reject you due to rating - the more you ride the more it evens out. Mine goes up and down from 4.8 to 4.95 - I catch about 10 ubers a week, so sometimes I must get less than 5 stars, probably when Im too tired to chat (or that one time I got mad at the driver for not paying attention and entering tunnel thus taking me 15 minutes out of my way plus an unecesary toll - which i had refuneded) but i dont let it bother me.

I do like the new uber rewards though - only signed up for the rewards 3 weeks ago (it was kinda hidden in the app and silly me was waiing for an email), and was already given 30% off all rides for 5 days last week, and then got my first 200 QFFs this week.
 
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Interesting experience with Uber at MEL a few months ago. Initially it picked up my location as the viewing area over the other side of the runway (slightly further than terminal) - fare was $36. Moved it to terminal and went up to $55. My partner (sitting in Singapore) went onto app and booked for me at $36. Hmmm.

Fast forward to about a month ago, again on Uber, which wasn’t cheapest but we had a cash back offer through Amex, driver didn’t move. He contacted us and wanted to know where we wanted to go. We didn’t reply. He didn’t move. 5 mins passed and he was still at the Uber driver waiting area. Eventually we told him and he asked as to cancel. We did and booked Didi and vowed never to go back to Uber.
 
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Recently took Uber from LAX to a local hotel. Had a positive service experience. Charges were reasonable
 
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Fast forward to about a month ago, again on Uber, which wasn’t cheapest but we had a cash back offer through Amex, driver didn’t move. He contacted us and wanted to know where we wanted to go. We didn’t reply. He didn’t move. 5 mins passed and he was still at the Uber driver waiting area. Eventually we told him and he asked as to cancel. We did and booked Didi and vowed never to go back to Uber.


Would recommend lying to them re: where you are going. What are they going to do? Complain to you when you get in? Give you 1 star? Who cares! Everyone knows why they do it and the games they are playing. Just give them a low rating and immediately inform Uber of their behaviour.

Or if you happened to be in no rush simply wait them out. They will eventually come and pick you up.
 
Would recommend lying to them re: where you are going. What are they going to do? Complain to you when you get in? Give you 1 star? Who cares! Everyone knows why they do it and the games they are playing. Just give them a low rating and immediately inform Uber of their behaviour.

Or if you happened to be in no rush simply wait them out. They will eventually come and pick you up.

Why reward a platform and an a##h#%# driver, better to book with Didi. I’d rather not endure a grumpy driver. That’s why I avoid taxis on this “short” $35 fare.
 
Because the same a##h#%# drivers are on DiDi as well! :p You are not escaping them.
Maybe so - maybe not - yes basically all drivers are using Poober, DiDi and Ola - but DiDi at least gives drivers full trip details in terms of destination where Poober does not (so I am informed) hence way less game playing by drivers with DiDi I would expect.
 
Less game playing visible to the rider. Full trip details will mean they will still pick and choose but you won’t know about it. Of course trying to choose fares is simply counterproductive when trying to maximise the small amount of money they make. Accept everything and you will make more.
 
Maybe so - maybe not - yes basically all drivers are using Poober, DiDi and Ola - but DiDi at least gives drivers full trip details in terms of destination where Poober does not (so I am informed) hence way less game playing by drivers with DiDi I would expect.

Exactly. The DiDi driver that picked up did so from around Gladstone Park, not the waiting area at the airport. The waiting area Didi's probably didn't bother accepting, but someone out and about did. He arrived no slower than those in the waiting area, no ridiculous game playing, no taxi driver attitude and was happy for the short 25 minute fare, because probably hadn't been waiting for however long they wait in the hope of that $100+ fare.

I'm with you on Poober, Cruiser. I like the name.
 
The more I think about, these sort of games shouldn't be an issue. They are taxi games. When you're paying 30% of your fare to a faceless corporation whose engine and analytics are supposedly extremely powerful, there should damn well be an elegant software solution that mitigates the reason for drivers to play games with their pax in their first place. What's the point of all this technology if you end up with and old fashioned taxi style outcome, from a passenger point of view?
 
The more I think about, these sort of games shouldn't be an issue. They are taxi games. When you're paying 30% of your fare to a faceless corporation whose engine and analytics are supposedly extremely powerful, there should damn well be an elegant software solution that mitigates the reason for drivers to play games with their pax in their first place. What's the point of all this technology if you end up with and old fashioned taxi style outcome, from a passenger point of view?

I like what you said in your post. A year or 2 ago if anyone said something bad about Uber then everyone would be against the poster... how bad taxis are ect... now uber is become just as bad.

What happened to the water, mints ect... that they used offer. Sometimes Uber isn’t even cheaper then a taxi (with no surge pricing).

Also just read that Uber founder sold 90% of his shares.
Uber co-founder sells 90 pct of shares
 
We were picked up in a WRX Subaru. The driver explained that the vehicle was his young son’s vehicle but had lost his licence for 2 years and had been fined $5000 for speeding. I thought about that and figured I had been correct getting both my sons into Toyota Prius vehicles when they started driving.
 

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