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Comment by brandonbloom | Hacker News Reader

I'm only a little surprised that nobody has suggested this, but: If the driver does something shady, just get out of the car. Immediately. Don't even give them the opportunity to apologize for it.

I've had drivers call ahead to ask where I'm going. I just hang up on them, cancel the ride, then order another ride. While I'm in the car with a new driver, I report the incident using the in-app system and, on many occasions, they even grant me a credit!

Similarly, I've had on at least two occasions where the drivers did obviously stupid, unsafe things within the first 30 seconds of a ride. I ask them to pull over, and I just quietly get out of the car, report the incident, walk away, and order another driver.

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Never used Uber, what's the problem with someone knowing where you're going? Doesn't the app tell the driver before they pick you up? (Well I guess not, or they wouldn't call you...)

The destination shows up when the ride starts (i.e. you get in the car). Calling beforehand is a an indication that the driver might want to cancel the ride if the destination is "inconvenient" (e.g. from city center to a remote suburb).

Or to a "bad neighborhood"

I don't know why you're using quote, there are legitimately dangerous neighborhoods that someone may not want to drive to at 2:30 AM. Granted, if that's the case, then they shouldn't be Ubering at 2:30 AM, but it's still a legitimate concern.

At least in my experience, "bad neighborhood" more often than not simply means "black people live there."

At least in my experience, there are plenty of nice neighborhoods of mixed ethnicity and absolute shit neighborhoods regardless of ethnicity.

This is a big problem with taxi drivers is australia. At 2am you'll be lucky to get a taxi home, because they change over at 3, so they don't like to go 10 minutes in the opposite direction.

I'm glad there is the Uber alternative!

It turned into a safety issue too with stories about women being stranded because the fare was 'too low' or 'in the wrong direction' for the driver

Uber is of course a ridesharing service, so it's reasonable for the driver to confirm that you're going the same way they are, to prevent a detour. /s

The app doesn't tell them so they can't cancel based on less desirable destinations.

Uber drivers have called me and said that they want to go to the airport, not anywhere within the city, and then driven in circles, &c.

The risk that they cancel you/reject the ride if they think you aren't going far enough, going too far, going somewhere they are unlikely to get a fare, going into a bad part of town, etc. Uber wants to provide service to where you want to go, not where it is most profitable for the driver to go.

I've had this problem numerous times at LAX: driver will call then cancel when i tell them i'm not going downtown ($50) and instead to the west side ($15). I waited on the curb for an hour while 7 drivers canceled on me one after another.

Uber will often give you a credit when you report this but they don't seem to be actually fixing the problem.

The problem here is your cancel reflects poorly on you in Uber's rating system.

But otherwise you're absolutely right. I have taken rides from two people who've called, asking for my destination, and I refuse to tell them. It hasn't caused me any problems in those two instances.

If you have a really shady experience. You report it directly to Uber. Let them know that you think the driver may have adversely rated you, and I feel like customer service will roll it back if it's that important to you. but to be honest, an single experience will get averaged out in the wash.

> your cancel reflects poorly on you in Uber's rating system

This is simply not true. I just checked: My rating is 4.73. I've probably taken a few hundred rides with Uber. I assume they adjust ratings for bad experiences, especially if you're a regular rider.

By the way: It's not that hard to get consistent 5 stars as a passenger. Be respectful of the driver and follow these steps: 1) Say something like "Hi, are you looking for Brandon? That's me. Good evening. How's it going?" 2) Suffer less than 20 seconds of smalltalk 3) Go about playing with your phone or talking with your co-passengers quietly. 4) Say "This is my stop right there by the red car on the right. Thanks a lot, you have a good night!" - If you're an extrovert, you'd do this anyway (assuming you're not an asshole) and if you're an introvert, it's a good opportunity to exercise your smalltalk with low stakes.

> This is simply not true

How could you possibly know this?

4.7 is low. 4.6 is where drivers get fired. At 4.5 a lot of drivers won't pick you up.

At least according to this, 4.7 is quite typical for passengers:

http://valleywag.gawker.com/we-asked-you-for-your-uber-score...

I recently read several discussions from uber drivers about passenger ratings.

Many drivers will rate passengers 4 or below if they don't tip. And many drivers skip passengers 4.5 or below, some start skipping passengers at 4.6. I posted some quotes from the discussion below.

I don't think it's about averages, it's about perception. Drivers know that they get fired at 4.6, and they know that most passengers and drivers give 5 star ratings regardless.

That's a broken rating system. Why would 4.7 (a 94% score) be middling percentile? And I thought school grade and work title inflation was bad...

It's the nature of surveys. People know that a sub-100% rating in most surveys is bad - troubleshooting sub-perfect ratings shows up all over the place from restaurants to call centers. So happy people give perfect ratings - 5 stars in this case - for the most part.

Drivers have to rate riders before they get their next ride, so every rider gets rated by every driver they pair with.

Lyft states (at least they did) openly that a 3 star rating or below will ensure that the driver and rider are not paired again, and will prompt for a text entry explaining what went wrong.

I don't disagree that the rating system is broken. But it is what it is and it's not likely to change soon.

This is why if you have a car salesman you like it's important to give them a perfect rating, including the areas where they're not even mentioned, as the entire survey reflects solely on them. If the question asked how your experience with the Finance Manager was, and you give it a 9/10, it could cost your salesman thousands in bonuses, and have no negative impact on the FM at all.

Passenger and driver ratings having the same distribution is an extraordinarily bizarre assumption.

Quotes from uber drivers discussing:

> I picked up a 4.5 tonight and guess what is was a 4.5 type of ride. 2 stars bucko

> 4.5 or below are usually problem passengers in my market

> Usually I'll pass on anyone lower than a 4.5.

> I check the score and if they are below a 4.6 I text and inform them that THEY need to cancel and request another driver.

> 4.6 and below? Sorry about your luck. Let the next Uber driver pick up your $2.40 non tipping ass.

> I'm hesitant about anything 4.6 or below (depending on if it's a slow night and other factors).

> i'm usually skeptical of rides under 4.8, but accept trips at a base of 4.5 in the mornings. most of those folks i've chalked up to being bad drunks, and decent during the day.

> If I'm knackered I'll reject a 4.5 or 4.6 as I'm too tired to put up with potential crap.

> I skip anyone below a 4.5 unless it's really slow and I'm desperate.

Rate inflation is real...

Where did you see this?

> I check the score and if they are below a 4.6 I text and inform them that THEY need to cancel and request another driver.

I'm amazed that doesn't backfire. Skeptical, in fact.

This has happened to me so many times, lost like $5 each time.

And you haven't reported it and gotten a refund?

No I usually kick the curb really hard and then get mad at myself for nearly breaking a toe. Rinse and repeat. I should though.

I would just let that ride sit and open up another app. I'm fine if the driver doesn't want to take me as a passenger, but I'm not going to take a finacial penalty to support their preferences

is this a black mirror episode quotes?

> I check the score and if they are below a 4.6 I text and inform them that THEY need to cancel and request another driver.

My response would be:

"Nah, you can cancel. I can always walk back inside the bar and grab a few more drinks, while you can't operate your source of income until you cancel."

If my rider rating goes down I will just create a new account. Never cared about it.

Wow that eerily reminds me of the s02e01 of black mirror.

No way am I gonna optimize my behavior to get some higher 'rating'.

What in this list would you do differently? I'm probably a weirdo with insufficient empathy, but I have a hard time imagining how a civilized person would behave otherwise.

I get into the car, surf the web and never talk to the driver. Occasionally if driver starts a discussion I give short answers so it stops quickly. My rating is fine and I enjoy no human interaction

You never say anything at all? I mean, like, you open the door, sit down, when he stops where you're supposed to be you just get out and don't acknowledge the driver at all?

Sure I don't chat with taxi drivers unless I feel like it but you at least say 'hi' and 'thanks' when you get in and out, or not?

Of course i say hi & thanks, these are "handshake" words I use automatically interacting with anyone. But no smalltalk, and outside the US, drivers are often silent too

Oh OK, yeah that's how I interpreted the GP as well, so then I still wonder how the steps described aren't the default or even just blindingly obvious to the point that doing anything else is weird. I mean I can see when someone is drunk and is annoying, but apart from that.

Obviously you don't have to follow that script verbatim. It's just a manner of behaving like a civilized person.

Edit: that said, the quotes from Steeeve below do start to sound pretty Black Mirror

*S03E01

https://newsroom.uber.com/updated-cancellation-policy/

It looks like you get charged $10 for canceling now, after 5 minutes of having a driver assigned.

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