One could argue that Uber and Lyft drivers have to make their money somehow and shenanigans like this are a way to make ends meet...there's a reason for today's work stoppages. Blame the ridiculously low pay and not necessarily the drivers when things like this happen.

I know, I know...they signed up knowing the deal. Well, could it be that the companies didn't tell them the whole story?

No company tells you the whole story. When I went to work for Enterprise Rent-a-Car they told me it was a fun job where I'd drive cool cars and hang out with other freshly out of college people. It wasn't until the third day of training that I found out your entire career was pegged to selling the insurance. It wouldn't have been an excuse to start committing fraud.

I used to drive for Uber, at no time was I told I would make a lot of money. I don't think anyone is told that. What you're doing is rationalizing why it's okay to steal.

Enterprise must be very happy with me then. I always add supplemental liability insurance as I (a) don't have my own auto insurance and (b) suck at driving.

Reminds me of ebay - was great when it started, but over time the product denigrated as it shifted from consumer driven product (i.e. online garage sale by and for consumers) to Chinese sellers of worthless crap.

Uber/lyft started with a great concept - replace taxis with a better product for consumers - but now only concerned about trying to make a profit rather than fairly compensating service providers or providing a good product to consumers.

Just one anecdote but when I visited DC a year ago I used lyft/uber almost exclusively and was pleased with the service. On my trip last month I used taxis exclusively and was very happy with the service and price. Uber/lyft are heavily dependent on 5 metro areas which will make them vulnerable when better options emerge.

My last UberX from lower Manhattan to EWR airport was so expensive, I could've used a formal black car service like Dial7 for the same price even after tip.

But I'll still use Uber. The convenience cannot be beat. One app worldwide.

Service has definitely declined over the years, but remains acceptable.

You can't be serious.

Don't bother. Uber doesn't care. Lyft does, or at least they claim to.

Had a driver with three phones and all three services running, Lyft Uber and Juno actively looking for his next ride before the end of mine. Don't know if he accepted more than one or not and we were still 5 or more minutes out from my destination depending on traffic lights it could have been almost 10.

Neither do I. If I am assigned a drive that is >5 minutes away, I cancel immediately and try the other service. I don't have time to waste because the algorhythm decides not to assign the closest driver or a farther one snags it.

Maybe I'm just playing Devil's Advocate to prod folks into realizing that Uber/Lyft are seriously screwing their drivers, and that such shenanigans are a symptom of that.

Interesting that this thread popped up (I haven't followed this forum until recently). I was just in Las Vegas, going from the Waldorf to the Airport and requested an Uber. ETA was 5 minutes, the driver was just up the Strip, dropping someone off at Aria and then heading to me. I should have realized that it's not particularly easy to get from the Aria porte cochere down to the Waldorf valet (I think you have to go out on the strip, and then hang a sharp right into the back entrance). GPS wasn't sending me a reliable signal of the driver's position either. I called the driver after it looked like he passed by on the "upper roadway" out of the complex (probably 8-10 minutes after the request), told him I was waiting at the Waldoft, and he mumbled something like "oh, no, this is crazy". Then he cancelled me, and I got an alert about Uber charging me a cancellation fee! I was furious! (mostly at Uber). But I guess I know now this is "a thing."

(At that point we just tried to go with a taxi, but those are few and far between at the W-A as they don't seem to queue there, so we just had what I presume was the house car (an Escalade) take us for $25, 2x the Uber price.

Of course it seems that anytime you dispute a cancellation fee, they automatically credit it back to your Uber Cash, but I wanted to really complain, and the only way I could find on the app to do it was through the "problem with a service animal" form. :D I demanded they pay ME a $5 cancellation fee, and of course the response was "we don't do that." :rolleyes:
Then I was going to fight for a refund of the fee to my credit card (as opposed to an account credit), but then I realized I was going to pay for the ride with excess Uber Cash anyway and so my CC wasn't actually charged.

In any event, while I don't think I've ever had an issue with a "scamming" driver (I think this one was reasonably frustrated about how to get to the pickup area, though he probably shouldn't have selected "charge customer cancellation fee"), I do have problems with pickup locations ALL the time. I attribute it to drivers not paying attention to their app (they seem to just go to the pin, and don't actually read the address or location name, and the pin can sometimes be off). As a result, I *rarely* use Uber, especially in New York. I'll use it in other cities where there isn't good taxi service (In Las Vegas it's arguable whether the taxi service is "good" lol), and I'll use my $15 amex credit per month, but it's really a frustrating experience more often than not.

Here's a new one.

On Uber, if you're matched with a driver, who then drives for a bit and then cancels your ride, and if you cancel on the new driver they pair you with, they will charge you the cancellation fee as if you waited the entire time from when you requested the ride. They'll also charge the fee if all of this happens within the 2 minute grace period too. (on a related note, the 2 minute grace period is not published anymore, the generic cancellation screen just says "You MAY be chaged a fee.") I've had this happen to me again today which was the third time in total, and it's infuriating.

I think this is a bug, but there's no way to report this bug, because their customer service is trash. I attempted to report the bug and received a copy-paste of the cancellation policy instead.

This level of ineptitude/negligence should be illegal.