I wanted to share a recent misadventure with Uber on Saturday morning. I was up in Boston for work and took Uber (as I often do) to get from my hotel to my company's office. It's normally a 3/4 mile, $5-6 ride that takes about 5 minutes.

In this case, a 4 minute estimated arrival time took more than 15 minutes, and the journey was over 11 miles and took 33 minutes, and was "only" that short because I started navigating via my Apple Maps after he went out of the city to the north, looped around and went out of the city to the south.

It's not that the driver got lost that frustrates me, rather it is Uber's unwillingness to concede anything -- their only response was to adjust the fare to what it would have been had the ride been a more direct route.

For the record, I was traveling on business, and frankly could have submitted the original $24 ride charge and nobody would have blinked. But my philosophy is that I don't do anything with company money that I wouldn't do with my own money under the same circumstances. So even if Uber gave me a free ride as compensation, I would have used it to go back to the airport today and save my company the cost of the ride to get back to the airport. So I had no thoughts of any personal gain here -- this is purely a principles issue.

The following are my comments from the Uber app after rating the driver "1 Star" (and for the record, out of ~40 rides, I only ever rated a driver below 4 stars on one other occasion, as he missed a major exit and doubled my fare -- he got rated 3 stars), and the email discourse that ensued. What strikes me the most is that Uber is really clueless about customer service, or what many on Flyer Talk refer to as service recovery:

My Uber App Comments, when I gave this driver a 1 star rating

Absolutely Awful. Got lost finding my hotel (took 15 mins to arrive) and took me on a 30+ minute wild goose chase to go about 3/4 of a mile. Phone in one hand with GPS, clearly does not know where he is going in Boston.

Rep (Uber)

Hi HT,
Thanks for reaching out! Sorry to hear about this issue with your trip. I can see how this was a frustrating experience. No worries, though! I’m happy to make it right.
Please let us know the exact starting and ending point of the trip so that we can do the necessary steps to resolve this concern.
Looking forward to your reply.
Best,
Rep
help.uber.com


High Technology

Hi Rep,
I started at the W Hotel in Boston (on Stuart St) and ended at xxx High St in Boston. It's a 3/4 mile, 5 minute, $6 trip.
Instead of 4 minutes to pick me up, the wait was about 15 minutes as he drove round and round trying to find my hotel. He then took me out of the city, back in, missed the exit, looped back around and I finally started telling him where to go. That was 33 minutes per my receipt. He either does not belong driving in Boston or should be terminated immediately.
So I was a half hour late to meet other people at my office (I am on a business trip). Needless to say, the meeting started without me and they had to back-track and catch me up.
Uber really let me down this morning. Saying that I am extremely annoyed and disappointed would be a tremendous understatement.
High Technology
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>

Rep (Uber)

Hi HT,
So sorry to hear that you weren’t happy with the route and fare for this trip. I understand that your time is valuable and that you depend on Uber for a reliable and efficient ride. Happy to resolve this for you.
I checked the trip details and you're right, the driver could have used a more optimal route. No worries though as I’ve adjusted the fare to $6.46 which is our estimate for what this fare should have been. The difference will take a business few days to settle on your account.
Thanks for bringing up this issue with your trip and driver so that I can follow up appropriately and make sure that your next ride is better.
If I can help with anything else related to this trip, just let me know.
Best,
Rep
help.uber.com




High Technology

Wow, I am completely dumbfounded by this response.
Saying the driver could have taken a more "optimal route" when they took me on an 11.45 mile drive instead of something that should have been less than a mile is incredibly frustrating. Then resolving this by adjusting the fare to something akin to what it would normally be for this trip is frankly insulting from a customer relations perspective given the circumstances and the amount of time that was wasted.

Please escalate this email to your customer relations department. I work in a client oriented business myself, and on the rare occasions we make a mistake we do not compound it by insulting the customer any further. Rather, we make a concession to the customer that is commensurate with the inconvenience that we caused.
—

Rep (Uber)

Hi HT,
Terribly sorry to hear about the trouble that you have faced during this trip. This is Rep #2 stepping in for Rep #1 and I am here to assist you.
Rest assured that your concern had already been forwarded to Driver Operations, and they will be getting in touch with your driver and remind him the standards that Uber is trying to implement for your satisfaction and other riders as well.

Unfortunately, a refund would mean a loss of profit on the driver's end. Please understand that the driver still deserves some compensation for the time, effort, and fuel that he spent in order to help you reach your destination.
(emphasis added)
Though the changes may not happen overnight, these feedback will surely help us in keeping our standards high. If you have any other questions related to this issue, just let me know. I'm here to help.
Best,
Rep #1
help.uber.com