What Might Be Dinging Your Uber Rating
Jennifer Billock May 06, 2019
So you don’t have a perfect rating as an Uber passenger? Join the club. Even the service itself says a perfect 5.0 is nearly impossible. But the reason why your score is low may surprise you—it ranges from everything from smelly food and crumbs to not tipping and slamming the car door on your way out.
In today’s world of ratings and instant gratification, we all want to be the top ranking at whatever we can—and that includes services like Uber. But sometimes, we may glance at our rating to find the surprise that (gasp!) we don’t have a 5.0 ranking.
Without rating comments on Uber, it’s usually difficult to figure out why we weren’t ranked as perfect. Business Insider took some of the mystery out, chatting with 20 different drivers from Uber, Lyft, Via, and other ride-sharing services to determine what makes a crappy passenger the worst in their book.
Here are the top pet peeves.
- Food: Nearly every driver complained about people bringing smelly food into their cars (the odor lingers after you leave, you know) and passengers leaving crumbs in the car after they ate. The drivers have to clean that up after you leave.
- Smoke: It’s rare that someone will pull out a cigarette in a car that isn’t theirs, but vaping remains an issue. Drivers don’t like the smell, and they don’t like people trying to sneak it. If you smell like weed, too, then you’re getting a lower rating.
- Fighting the Route: All of the drivers have a GPS service. You may know your way around town really well, but let them do their job instead of complaining about their route.
- Bad Manners: This includes slamming the door, being a jerk, harassing female drivers, not being ready when the car arrives, not tipping, and using the wrong pick up point.
[Image Source: Shutterstock]
wasn't the part of the original selling point of Uber that the tip was included in the displayed fare ???? that didn't last long did it ?
I always watch the driver give me the rating. It irritates me so much when discover later that my rating went down - meaning they changed it after I got out of the car. It doesn't really matter, but it's just a mind game - I'm always wondering what the heck I did to deserve anything less than a 5. I'm always waiting at the correct spot, I get in and make polite conversation, I'm always friendly, then I usually get on my phone and start my work day with emails. I don't smell, I don't make noise or slam doors, I always say good morning and thank you. And I always tip. It's annoying - especially when you know someone's given you a bad rating and you don't know why. It takes a couple of months of a perfect score to bring it back up 1/100th of a point. I know - I'm a bit psycho to let it eat at me, but I guess it's the process of being judged without knowing why. There was a great Black Mirror episode about people being rated, called "Nosedive".
@jamesteroh "he also gets 1099’d for the app tips and prefers cash tips." So now I'm supposed to help the driver commit tax fraud in order to get a good rating?
@OccupationalHazard So if you had a ride with a dangerous, distracted Uber driver would you still be a 5/5 guy for fear of ruining your perfect rating?
I have to laugh at this. DRIVERS are offend by the smell? Ironic that to earn greater than a 4.0 you have to aide and abet in the driver committing a felony? I offended one driver when I pointed out broken equipment on his vehicle. Picky yes, but it was a spring protruding thru the back seat.