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Comment by bradgessler | Hacker News Reader

What if I want to opt-out of paying the "Safe Rides Fee", does that mean a car with three wheels will show up piloted by an unsavory character?

This is a really puzzling move by Uber. I would expect for their core brand promise to be safety, not an add-on fee.

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Or, when you get a driver that makes you fear for your life because they are spending more time paying attention to their three GPS devices instead of traffic, do you get a $1 refund for the un"safe" ride?

I highly doubt they do refund that, but that brings up a very good point.

The last time I took an Uber to SFO, the driver stepped out of the Prius without pressing the "Park" button. Maybe I would have gotten my $1 back.

sorry I haven't used uber, what does the driver not pressing the 'park' button do?

The [park] mode of a Prius's transmission is button-activated.

Did they have the parking brake on? Not a big deal if so, though inadvisable.

The fact that it started to roll through the terminal 2 drop-off (with me in the back) would indicate otherwise.

And when the driver demands that I guide his entire journey from my own smartphone, do I get a partial refund for my navigation consulting fee?

If you complain uber will generally refund you

Where are you guys having these bad experiences? I don't use Uber much, but I have used Sidecar in SF about once a week for around two years without a single bad experience, and I would have thought Uber had an even higher standard.

It doesn't look like you can.

Correct. I say that to prove the point that this raises more questions than it answers. Does this mean that Uber black car service isn't safe until this fee is applied there? What about Uber Taxi? Were my rides before this fee safe? Its bizarre.

Given that the black car and taxi services go through other, well, black car and taxi companies, I'd assume that they do this kind of thing themselves.

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