Sudden drop in Uber rating
 

My Uber passenger rating had been between 4.79 and 4.81 for quite a while (12+ months). Then recently, in a 4 week period, it has moved down to 4.72. I noticed a big drop all of a sudden (to 4.76) and then a gradual lowering. My travel patterns, and behavior, have remained the same (IMHO).

Has anyone else seen similar? Has uber changed how they compute your average? Given the approx 1800 rides I've taken, I'm not even sure how this change is mathematically possible.

I don't think Uber has ever said how this "average" is computed. We don't know if it is weighted or some such. Uber says a driver's rating is "based on an average," not explicitly a straightforward arithmetic mean, of only the last 500 trips.

Personally, I've been at the same passenger rating, give or take a hundredth of a point, ever since I've started checking. So I can't personally corroborate your experience, but it matters not -- a passenger's rating is damn near useless. I know people rated 3.xx stars and even people rated 5.00 stars (all of whom are women, gee I wonder why...); their Uber experiences are identical.

As an occasional weekend driver, I would disagree with this. If a rider has a rating less than 4.5, I don't pick them up. It's rare but it's a sure indication that they're consistently a problem. Every time I've picked someone up with a rating <4.5 I've regretted it almost instantly.

So if drivers are not accepting your trip request, it will get bumped further and further away from you, and your wait time will increase.

This could become a problem. I know from experience that a number of UberPool drivers in NYC give 3 or 4 stars to all Pool riders, as a matter of course. That has had an impact on my rating.

Have you traveled in different cities? Drivers in different cities often rate consistently at a different level.

Have you used different Uber products (e.g., more POOL? less BLACK?). This can impact your rating.

You're right - girls (especially attractive ones) will end up with a higher rating than guys.

But drivers do care if your rating is in the 3.xx range. I know of many drivers who will not accept rides from passengers rated below a certain level because it means the passenger often makes drivers wait etc. That level is far below the 4.7 the OP is mentioning, so they have nothing to worry about.

Agreed fully.

In NYC, I've heard from several drivers that a passenger who does not tip is automatically gets a lower rating. Which brings us back to the whole Uber/tipping argument that I will steer clear of.

This is why I only use Lyft now. Lyft driver doesn't know if you tip or not because you could tip in app and they won't see the total tip until the next day. So they are rating you without any influence on the tip. And also you are tipping them really base on merit.

An Uber driver will know immediately after the ride if you tip or not because it has to be in cash. So it became more like a bribing system. If you tip well, you will get 5 stars... if you don't then it is up to the driver....

Isn't that what tipping has always been? Why do you think servers are nice to you in a restaurant? Surely not because they actually like you...they just want your money.

Well ideally it's supposed to be a gratuity for great service. If a driver does the bare minimum of just driving me from A to B with no communication and no proactive trying to get through traffic they get what the system quotes. But when I get a driver that engages me and tries to provide a better service I like to tip. I like Uber for the network & the 2x Amex MR points but I like Lyft's platform for the tipping option as I don't always have tip money on me. Especially after a night out.

I noticed a ranking drop after my trip to LA where I used Uber Pool often because it was often ridiculously cheaper than UberX. But now I'm back up to 4.9.

But what of those of us who don't want a driver that engages us? ;)

Engage can come in many different forms. From the long conversation (which I generally wish to avoid) to things like asking route preference, cabin temp, if I wanted a water or to charge a phone. I had a driver the other day that asked if I wanted music, news or no music. The simple things can make for a much more comfortable ride.
I've also had drivers turn off or decrease volume of the radio when they notice I got a call. That helped and was worthy of a tip to me.

This is garbage. My rating with Uber used to be consistently between 4.80 and 4.88. Then I took a trip to SE Asia, where I used Uber everywhere I could. My rating now is 4.22. I didn't do anything terrible to earn that lower rating. What I did was travel to a region of the world where drivers use a 3 and a 4 as acceptable ratings far more often than in North America; where anything less than a 5 is unacceptable.

So because I travelled outside my little bubble now I have to wait longer and longer for a car? I may not even get picked up at all because drivers are snobs that consider anything less than 4.5 as not worth their time?

I don't use Uber much (only 18 rides before said trip) and when I took a trip to LA and used Uber a few times, I noticed my rating fall dramatically from 5.00 to almost 4.5. So I did the math and found I was getting 3 stars almost every time; I tried tipping once and got 5 stars. Then I started checking my rating after every ride and doing the math and if I got only 3 stars and didn't tip, I would rate the driver 1 star. I suggest you all do the same if you take few enough Uber rides to be able to tell what the driver rated you from your rating before and after the ride to try and weed out those drivers who give everyone 3 or 4 stars for not tipping.

It's a safe assumption that most veteran Uber drivers will rate you down if you don't tip now. They are incredibly frustrated as a group over Kalanick's insistence on preventing in app tipping and continued price cuts.

Uber newbie here. I have taken a few rides with Uber. How do I check my user rating?

--Jon

Open the app. Click on the three lines in the upper left corner and below your name is your rating