I've found Lyft to be cheaper than Uber in most cases here. I have a free Lyft pink membership as a benefit from my CSR card plus I get Delta and Hilton points so will probably use them once this pandemic ends and I start using rideshare again. I wish they were in other countries though. One thing I don't like is they aren't as strict on vehicle standards as Uber. I get $15 a month in Uber credits on my Am Ex card and like using Ubereats for those credits and just do pick up so it's two free pizza a month if I do pick up at the pizza place by my condo.

I've never seen the option to revoke the tips on food delivery apps but know you can on instacart. People were giving very generous tips on instacart when Covid first started so drivers would take their orders faster and then revoking the tips and instagram caught on and I think you have tyo tell the reason why and if you do it too often they revoke the account.

A lady in my building who is a very generous tipper has revoked tips a couple times on food delivery by contacting customer service. She prefers to have her food brought right up to her door and we have signs on the entrance door and next to the intercomb system and on the elevator that says masks are required in all public areas and two times has had drivers bring up the food unmasked despite all the signs and she just tells them to leave the food in front of her door when she sees on the intercomb they aren't wearing masks and has requested the tips be revoked both times for that rason and she said it worked.

Nobody cares what you prefer. I don’t want to tip you, and if I did it would not be in advance nor in your favorite form. I choose when and whom to tip, how much, whether, and in what form. You can choose this job or another. [Moderator edit]

By then, I would have been charged a fee. I sat at the airport and listened to music for 30 minutes. It wasn't my first choice, but it hurt him more. I figured that he had shrugged it off and decided to come to me. I never thought that someone out to make money would do that.

Keep trying the cancel button until it asks if you want to cancel (but no longer mentions the fee). If the driver takes a longer than usual time to get to you (~3-5 minutes beyond the pickup time quote) or is driving in the opposite direction for a long enough time (2 minutes), it will let you cancel for free, and won't re-match you with that driver. This is only on Lyft though.

The equivalent Uber scam is where the driver drives for about two minutes, pulls over, and either goes to do something else, or closes the app and drives for another app. Since the driver has made some progress, Uber won't let the rider cancel without a fee for a good 15 minutes, leading most riders to begrudgingly accept the fee if they want a ride at that time.

In my area, the worst offenders of such scams are registered livery vehicle drivers (in my state, their plates begin with LV).

I had a scam a couple years ago in LA. Was going from Universal to West Hollywood which is a short ride. Driver calls and wants to know where I'm going and I told him and he said he was new to LA and didn't know the area and I told him I would be happy to give him directions even though his GPS would get him there fine and he tells me isn't that familiar with LA and isn't comfortable with the ride but would take me if I would give him $10 cash. He ended up not cancelling it and I had to in order to get another ride and had to ask uber for a credit back. I wish Uber had a system that made it easier to eport drivers that pulled that.

Moderator note.
 

As this thread has developed, many posts emphasized issues of tipping, rather than the thread's original issue of cancellation scam behavior in ride services.

The moderator team has separated out those posts mainly about tipping into a consolidated tipping thread in this forum.
The new thread is found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ride...s-drivers.html

Ocn Vw 1K, Senior Moderator.

I used to have issues all the time when I flew in/out of BWI especially at night. I lived in downtown Baltimore City. Most of the Lyft/Uber drivers wanted to get back to DC (same thing, you'd take the bus to the Amtrak/MARC station and a line of cabs all touting "only $20 I'll take you to DC with no stops" because they didn't want to face going to Baltimore in the taxi queue). Frequently would have driver immediately call me and ask me where I was going. Some would flat out ask me to cancel. I would take screen shots including of their phone number calling me to submit with my request to refund cancel charge.

My prior company went to a "no rental car for company meetings" policy a few years back... and partnered with first Uber and then Lyft. Our every other month meetings, we would get a code to use to charge central account. Issue was we would fly into FLL and meetings were usually held at like the Westin at the beach... which is about a 3 mile ride. Many of us would sometimes wait up to 45-60 minutes before finally getting someone, again because they would call and ask where we were going and then 10 minutes later would have little progress then claim they got pulled over or had a flat tire.

I think the drivers need to understand too that many companies, especially those with a direct bill (that Uber and Lyft promote heavily), require any tips to be done in the app. Any tip outside of the app is not eligible for reimbursement. On some trips that can add up to $40-50 of tips. I'd rather not be just completely out of pocket for that.

I think Uber and Lyft need to hold drivers accountable for these scams. Uber and Lyft shouldn't be able to simply say "oh, they're an independent contractor" and wash their hands of the issue. If they get to argue that, then I should be able to argue that I am interacting with, and paying Uber/Lyft, and not the driver, and what their excuse for blaming the driver for not fulfilling Uber/Lyft's end of the business deal is not my concern.

And if you can, always screen record your ride request. If nothing happens, then delete it. If something happens, you will have proof when contacting the rideshare companies. Without proof, their customer service will just lie and say "We couldn't find the ride in question"

A friend of mine drives for DoorDash and used to drive for Uber. He said with the Doordash app it tell how far the trip is and he knows the restaurant he'll pick up at and the mileage to get to where he is delivering to and the app shows the general area he's going to and how much minimum he'll make and he decides to decline or accept it.

Agree Uber needs to hold the driver's more responsible but if they are independent contractors they should know up for front how much they will be making and the length of the drive. A painer isn't going to accept a job without negotiating the price up front bvased on the length of time it takes to complete the job.
When he drove for Uber he said the app would only tell him where the pick up spot was and the passengers rating and wouldn't tell how far the trip was and how much he made.

Uber and lyft need to offer that feature to the drivers.

If I'm not wrong, in the past Uber did show the drop-off point of the customer to drivers; however, there were many complaints that a driver didn't want to drive to a specific suburb, district or didn't take short distance trips on purpose, etc... so that feature was removed some time ago.

Uber drivers still cherry pick rides at the airport by calling the rider to ask where they are going. Uber drivers, when offered a trip, have the option to not accept it and just let it expire, and they can also accept a ride and then change their mind and cancel it before pickup with no penalty. Lyft on the other hand, will assign rides to drivers without their input if the driver is accepting rides. Lyft also holds drivers to an acceptance rate standard. Uber does not.

The problem with Lyft automatically adding trips to the queue is that drivers don't cancel them right away. Lyft has been working on getting more efficient in assigning drivers. So, I get a message saying that the closest driver is completing another trip. I wait for ten minutes or more for them to complete a trip right near me, and then they immediately cancel my trip. I had that happen three times in a row last week. It took me over 40 minutes to get a ride when I paid extra to get the ride within 15 minutes.

I don't understand why Uber or Lyft drivers can't cherry pick since they are Subcontractors, especially since they don't set a price. If I want painting done in my condo and tell a painter who is self employed I want a room painted for $xxx it's totally up to them if they will take the job or not. I think this is the same thing, they aren't being paid by the hour or by the mile driven unlike a cab who gets $xx per mile plus a base fee.

This is a problem that I've been having as well. I've complained to Lyft only for them to not respond to me at all. If I requested a ride and cancelled after 10 minutes, I have to pay a fee. This should be a two way street. If a driver wastes 10 minutes of my time before cancelling, I'd expect a $5 credit.

Although I would prefer to have a bidding system, as the California model has shown, it reflects poorly upon the rideshare company, and frustrates riders, possibly causing the system to break down eventually.

What I'd want is a system where the platform is operated not-for-profit, so possibly a local town/city/state government can handle it, which would probably speed up the background checks, etc. That way, the drivers get more of what the riders pay for the service, and everyone is happy. Maybe even integrate the taxis into the system so that they're not playing giving an unfair advantage to one group or another.

I don't have high hopes of that happening, so in today's reality, both drivers and riders need to watch out for scams enabled by the platform operator.

If you get charged a cancel fee you can just contest it and they will credit you back right away but it's still a pain to deal with requesting the credit and having to wait on another driver.. I know sometimes there are accidents or road work that holds up a driver, but I think if the Uber is more than five or ten minutes late you should get a credit off the ride.

I like the idea of a bidding system. The driver knows up front how much they'll make and there's times when I'm not in a hurry that I don't mind waiting for a cheaper ride while someone that needs an Uber right away can get one if they are willing to pay a premium, and there's times, especially after a flight or if I"m out late and just want to get back to my hotel or home to go to bed ASAP that I'd have no problems paying a few dollars more to get there faster.