Uber Flunks the Better Business Bureau Test
bits.blogs.nytimes.com
bits.blogs.nytimes.com
Get a customer complaint? BBB contacts you to pay for membership. Don't want to pay for membership? You must not care about your customers, so you get an F-. Pay for membership and the score immediately goes up to a B.
But with a name like the "Better Business Bureau", it's no wonder that people get suckered into thinking it's a legitimate organization.
More info: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_customer/2010/12/... https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110919/14221016016/criti...
The problem with the BBB is that nobody goes there to report positive experiences. Only jaded customers use it to slam businesses with which they have a vendetta. Everybody other than an aging legacy group uses Yelp or other analogs.
Uber may fight dirty, but their product is outstanding. I'm firmly convinced that when regulators discover how amazing it is they will attempt to either legislate it out of existence or shake them down until their rates are no better than taxis.
Despite their advertising to the contrary, Uber's rates are not always lower than yellow medallion cabs in NYC. For certain trips it may be cheaper, but oftentimes it is just as expensive, if not more[0].
Uber's pricing structure is different from the ones that the medallion cabs use[1], so it's not a one-to-one comparison. This makes it very easy to pick and choose certain trips which would make Uber look cheaper (which they do), and it's also easy to pick and choose trips which make them look more expensive.
In addition, Uber is venture-funded and can easily operate below-cost right now (I would be shocked if they did otherwise).
So it's worth keeping in mind that Uber's rates are arguably already be no better than taxis', depending on the city, depending on the trip, and especially if we assume they had to operate in the black.
[0] This is hard to verify as Uber explicitly prohibits using their API for price comparison, specifically to discourage this. Though there was a project on HN a few weeks back which did do this, and the results were mixed (Uber won sometimes, but not always).
[1] Which are set by the government, not by individual cabbies: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/uber-nyc-taxi-cheaper-pri...
To be honest, I'd use Uber even if it was more expensive than taxis. User experience is leaps and bounds ahead of any taxi I've ever used.
Three things make Uber a far superior product compared to taxis for me:
* no awkwardness/timesuck around payment, I arrive, I walk away
* feedback how long I'll be waiting - when I'm in a hurry, seeing where exactly the car is and how long it's gonna take them to get to me helps calm me down, eases my nerves, even if it doesn't make the car arrive any faster (it *feels* faster though)
* call cab while still getting ready to walk outside, again something that only works because I know how far the car isThat said, I use Uber almost exclusively in Boston/Cambridge.
They posted a correction not long after I complained about this particular post: http://blog.uber.com/DCuberXpricecut It originally said the DC Taxi would cost $20 instead of $14. Pretty far off.
(To be fair the new, lower UberX fares are now usually cheaper than a cab in DC... just not the whopping 51% cheaper they were claiming at one point.)
More recent anecdote: I was interviewing in CA the other day. Airport taxi to Menlo Park: $125. Uber from Menlo Park to Airport: $31.
I've only had surge pricing once, but on iOS it is a separate screen, explaining the process and what multiplier you're charged. I have no sympathy for these people who go through this.
As they've expanded - their driver quality has gotten NOTICEABLY worse across MULTIPLE markets. I wonder how they're going to deal with training as some of the uber drivers poor experience has me rethinking about whether or not to use them.
http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-...
http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/a-court-has-ruled-its-totally...
I'm not claiming this evidence is conclusive (I haven't looked at it closely enough), but it's worth being aware of before making accusations like that.
It doesn't address the fact that Yelp can manipulate reviews however they please, as the court ruled.
Any service that takes any kind of funding from businesses has an obvious conflict of interest (see BBB, Yelp).
Any service that relies on consumers for funding will have limited resources and thus limited scope (see Consumer Reports).
And of course rating businesses on things like customer service and response to complaints is inherently subjective.
For small stuff, you're best off with a quick Google for any major problems, and then just trying for yourself. For big stuff... well, lots more Google.
Checking reviews on Reseller Ratings used to be a decent bet for online shopping, but they seem to have gotten awfully far in bed with the resellers. These days I do virtually all online shopping on Amazon, anyway.
That said, the BBB itself is not an entirely above-board operation, to say the least. I'm no fan of Uber's business tactics - which I consider deeply unethical - but having the BBB complain about its business integrity is the pot calling the kettle black.
Haha, I just found this: Terror Group Gets 'A' Rating From Better Business Bureau?
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-m...
In that sense, yes, they ignore legitimate complaints, because they don't care ;)
That said, I get the impression that the BBB has very little relevance, at least with my peers. I don't think I've ever heard someone recommend patronizing or avoiding any company because of its BBB rating. But this certainly isn't the case for other non-government review agencies or individuals.
With surge pricing, they always show the multiplier at the time of booking.
And it's easy to tap "quote fare" button to see the price. I agree that it should be there all the time, as soon as you select the destination, but that's the thing, lots of my rides do not have destination before I get into the car.
If you want a laugh look for ratings and reviews on home warranty companies.