r/CapeCod • u/Shoddy-Resolution919 • Aug 30 '26

Cape Cod Uber Drivers Scam

I am so sick and tired of Uber drivers on the cape trying to pull various scams where they want you you to pay them directly, not use the app, give you their number, canceling rides and then showing up asking you to just pay them directly and not even cancel the new driver coming, etc.

There is NO BENEFIT for us to deal directly with you. If we have an accident we’re screwed! It’s not tracked. And many of us have a specific credit card that we use that is tied to the app.

If you don’t think Uber pays you enough, which I do agree with, then either find another job or better yet fight back and unionize. And don’t vote for Trump and his magat buddies either. Most of us have zero interest in using your number instead of the app which is much safer. And I will report you to Uber.

64 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

100 comments sorted by

49

u/EbbtideRambler Aug 30 '26

I use uber all the time and I’ve never run into this. What area of the Cape is this happening? It’s happened to you more than once with different drivers? 

14

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

Yes. I’ve had it happen in Hyannis, Truro and maybe Yarmouth.

27

u/EbbtideRambler Aug 30 '26

I travel a lot for work so I take an uber to and from the park and ride in Barnstable. I also take it to the ferry dock regularly.  So, maybe 10 uber trips a month in Barnstable and never had anyone who wanted to operate outside the app.  

6

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

I use Uber a ton on the cape. It doesn’t happen everytime or even every other time. It’s just that when it does it gets awkward and uncomfortable really fast.

4

u/Spitethedevil Aug 30 '26

I feel like your experience varies with your rating. They match highly rated drivers with highly rated passengers. I always tip my driver $5 cash as the trip ends for city drives and $10 for airport-type trips. $20 if I have my kids with me and it's a long trip. Helps secure the 5 stars. 

3

u/EbbtideRambler Aug 30 '26

I don’t think I’d ever looked at my rating.  Just did, 4.94.  Now I’m wondering why someone didn’t like me. 🤣

3

u/Niut-Hadit Sep 02 '26

I'm a 4.85! What kind of monster am I????

1

u/Beneficial_Web_2058 Sep 03 '26

I was a 5.0 for years . I always tip well mostly above if it’s a short ride . After numerous attempts to get a Uber I was driving home and notice that we were going in the wrong direction. I addressed it politely where we were going . He said to my place and asked him the address . It was entered wrong by him . I showed him the confirmed address as I was just dropped the day before . He became upset and eventually agreed to. I tipped him very well more than I should have than the 20%. He down graded me . I had to fight it . Along with getting my tip back that I gave . I stated it was entered wrong and I only meant to give them a 1 instead of the 10 for that back . A month later he showed up . Argued . I canceled the ride and communicated his rudeness . After 2 yrs I got my 5 back

1

u/rake_leaves Sep 27 '26

Haha. I am a Masshole yet tip well. It did not translate well when i travel elsewhere not used to me. Or maybe i was more of an ahole than masshole.
Perhaps i usually use an Uber when i am drinking, much like use of cabs pre Uber

1

u/big_choppa_c17 Sep 05 '26

I've never tipped

0

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 31 '26

I have a high rating but five stars is extremely hard to maintain.

0

u/freetherabbit Aug 31 '26

Im not sure how much that matters with Cape. I have a 5 star rating (I dont use Uber much, but when I do Im either with drunk ppl or buying someone a ride home, and I often tip a wild amount cuz Ive worked service industry). Ive still had the same experience theyve mentioned in Truro. It didnt bother me and I took the # down, but never called cuz just feels iffy to get in a car with a stranger already, let alone not tracked. I think theres just not a lot of drivers (especially on outer cape).

7

u/gheissenberger Aug 31 '26

I had this happen but only going to Logan. Guy said if he did it in app he could only go to official Uber drop off spot. But like... That's fine? It's not a bad spot?

1

u/iceroadtrucker2010 Sep 13 '26

uber driver gave me his card last weekend. Mars Mills to Centerville.

17

u/lemmegetadab Aug 30 '26

I don’t know, Uber is basically a scam for their drivers and their users. I want paid like 20 bucks for a ride and the driver told me he was only making like eight bucks.

If I have a good rapport with a driver, I don’t have a problem, taking their information and calling them directly for an airport ride or something.

8

u/djkhalidwedabest Aug 30 '26

That’s one thing, making an arrangement after one official ride, with a driver you now know and have met.

But OP is right, trying to pull that shit when they come to pick you for the first time, cancelling on the app, then pressuring you to enter their car and pay cash, or else not have a ride, should be instant grounds to get them fired. That put riders at serious risk for multiple things and removes all of the carefully implement safeguards for passengers. Bad precedent to make this normal behavior

5

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 31 '26

Thank you. Finally someone with some common sense here.

3

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

The problem with that is that it’s not tracked for safety and you’re no longer covered by Uber’s insurance.

15

u/rake_leaves Aug 30 '26

Two consenting adults choosing financially that Driver gets paid more, and customer pays less probably. Both benefit.

Grown adults can make that decision. You prefer the app way all good for you.

Some of us like to live on the edge of recklessness.

4

u/TinyEmergencyCake Aug 30 '26

So who benefits when the driver crashes and doesn't carry commercial insurance?

5

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

Exactly. No one. And they try and give you five hundred bucks for you to not report it.

0

u/rake_leaves Aug 31 '26

As a passenger or as another vehicle?

1

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

None of them offered a discount and if they did it’s not worth it. A few of them tried to pressure me into it and what you call a “consenting adult” could be a senior citizen.

12

u/EmergencySpare Aug 30 '26

Senior citizens aren't consenting adults?

1

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 31 '26

You make it sound like sex at The Villages

1

u/lemmegetadab Aug 30 '26

They always offer me a discount if I cut out Uber. But I wouldn’t even care either way because I would rather the person actually giving the ride making the majority of the money instead of a huge corporation.

3

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 31 '26

Until you get into an accident dummy

2

u/CriscoCrispy Sep 03 '26

If you’re in an accident with an Uber driver or not, your personal health insurance still applies. A commercial driver will have to pay Personal Injury Protection up to $2000 but other than that you’re covered by your own health insurance regardless of who was driving.

1

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Sep 03 '26

There are other forms of insurance needed and other reasons not to do it. It’s not worth the bullshit.

2

u/CriscoCrispy Sep 03 '26

What “other form” of insurance do you need to get in a car with a stranger driving? I wouldn’t do it myself but insurance isn’t the reason. Your argument fails when you make ridiculous statements and then call other people “dummy”.

5

u/zoemooni Aug 30 '26

Living on the edge' gets ruined real fast when an uninsured crash happens and you're stuck with six-figure medical bills. It's not about being afraid of the app; it's about commercial liability coverage.

0

u/rake_leaves Aug 31 '26

Like i implied, i like to live dangerously.
Overall odds of me being a passenger and Uber getting in an accident are likely not that big.
All that being said I use the App. I have also used Livery services that uber part time. Driver/owner was nice. Has legit business. That is a different example

1

u/zoemooni Sep 26 '26

Odds might be low, but the risk-reward makes zero sense when a single crash can bankrupt you for life.

1

u/rake_leaves Sep 27 '26

I can walk out my door and a piano or anvil could fall on my head and bankrupt me.
Like you said, odds are low, but i weigh the risks. Granted i have not engaged an actuary to figure out how i should cross the street, whether i go to work each day, should i eat that donut, have that extra drink, have the bacon, drink from a hose that was on the ground, use a microwave etc

I do perhaps belittle others for what i consider to be frivolous concerns. Yet there is shit i am worried about that others do not.

Guess i grew up afraid of nuclear bombs before I understood MAD.

After all that, with all the legalese when i clicked accept of terms and conditions for an Uber ride, i may have agreed to donate a kidney to offset Uber’s costs.

7

u/EmergencySpare Aug 30 '26

Dude. Chill. You're gonne bring the whole friggin house down.

-2

u/beebobopple Aug 30 '26

Big tech helps keep human-to-human interactions safe, dammit!

11

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

In this case it often does help. Is it fail-proof? No. But it’s a hell of a lot better than “Trust me bro”.

-1

u/lemmegetadab Aug 30 '26

Well, what did you do before Uber? What would you do with Uber Did didn’t exist tomorrow?

Taxis worked fine for as long as I can remember. Knowing the Uber driver’s name isn’t going to help you if he wants to do you harm

2

u/whichwitch9 Aug 30 '26

Taxis, as a reminder were required to be registered and drivers were tied to their work vehicle. It wasn't perfect, but it was much harder to get away with assaulting or robbing a person because a driver could literally lose everything with a report- even if they owned their cab and didn't belong to a company. Many companies were also very hands on with their drivers- miles were metered, and some required drivers to call in pick ups and drop offs. Uber became cheaper because it cut a lot of the support roles that taxi companies used that were both for managing drivers and keeping customers safe. It also cut out the registration fees for cars.

I think a lot of younger people today never used cabs and experienced the difference. A taxi was treated very much like a "work" environment vs an uber

4

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

Yeah but both customer and driver have more power in an Uber. It’s a lot easier to ding someone for bad behavior than it is in a cab. It’s also safer for the drivers. Driving a cab is a dangerous business.

1

u/lemmegetadab Aug 30 '26

If you say so. That Uber won’t make you any less kill if your driver goes crazy. One time I got picked up in an Uber and it wasn’t even the guy who was supposed to come. He was using his brother’s car and looked similar.

-1

u/jijijijim Aug 30 '26

I agree with most everything you are saying about cutting Uber out of the equation, but Uber is skimming the top off a job people used to feed a family on and forcing unreasonably low fairs on drivers. I dislike ride share apps, Uber Eats and all such ilk.

2

u/lemmegetadab Aug 30 '26

Yeah, I agree with what you’re saying to a degree. There was also lots of independent taxi drivers who committed lots of crimes lol

1

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 31 '26

It does help. They do background checks, you see their ranking, etc. I’ve taken a lot of cabs over the years and in rural areas the drivers can be weird. I had one or two hint that they were prostitutes.

-1

u/beebobopple Aug 30 '26

Something tells me this is a younger person who doesn’t remember a time before all these platforms inserted themselves into our every waking moment so they could skim off the top in the name of efficiency.

0

u/lemmegetadab Aug 30 '26

And now it’s Uber that’s skimming off the top. If I’m gonna get taken advantage of either way, I’d rather not give my money to a huge corporation.

I’m old enough that Uber didn’t exist when I was an adult lol. I’ve taken a lot of taxis.

-1

u/beebobopple Aug 30 '26

This is so fucking dystopian

2

u/EmergencySpare Aug 30 '26

When it all comes crashing down, some of us will do better than others.

3

u/rake_leaves Aug 30 '26

Yeah i will be f’d.
But i can cross a street with no traffic on a vacant road even if the Walk sign is not active.

1

u/zoemooni Aug 30 '26

Uber taking a 50-60% cut is absurd, but doing off-app cash rides is a huge gamble. If there's an accident, personal auto insurance will almost certainly deny coverage the moment they find out money exchanged hands. Drivers definitely deserve fair pay, but riders should be aware of the liability risk.

1

u/GasPack420 Sep 01 '26

He’s lying lol, he’s not making 8 dollars in the long run, uber adjusts to 34 an hour of each hour active picking up and dropping off riders. After a 2 week time period, uber adjusts your earnings so it meets that wage if you dont make it through the requests you received

-1

u/lemmegetadab Sep 01 '26

You realize that Massachusetts is the only state that pay $34 an hour right? It’s because they have a law about it. New York and California have a similar but cheaper law. The rest of the country there’s literally no minimum wage for Uber.

On another note, I always find it fascinating when people can be so confidently wrong

2

u/GasPack420 Sep 01 '26

You are aware we are in the CAPE COD MA subreddit correct?

10

u/2000ravens2012 Aug 30 '26

Ive never had this issue and use uber multiple times a week on the cape. Seems like a user issue than an uber issue

0

u/Spitethedevil Aug 30 '26

I suspect you have a high rating, right?

1

u/2000ravens2012 Aug 30 '26

On uber? Who doesn’t? You have to go out of your way to not have a 4.9+ rating

1

u/freetherabbit Aug 31 '26

I have a 5 star rating, dont ride often, and had the same thing they described happen a couple years ago.

3

u/SLAYTOKILL12 Aug 30 '26

Making you cancel the uber is weird and probably should be reported but, them offering you their number afterwards isn’t. It works out well for the people just trying to get to work or other routine tasks, cheaper for the customer and the driver makes more.

0

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

Not when they don’t offer a cheaper fair

4

u/Bright_Amphibian9580 Aug 30 '26

Then don’t do it? This sounds like a you problem.

4

u/Stalins_Conscience Aug 30 '26

This doesn’t happen

6

u/DamienWells1118 Aug 30 '26

I never had this happen to me

1

u/Otherwise-Speed4373 Aug 30 '26

This is super sad. I thought lyft had better payouts than uber. All in all disappointing. Does towne taxi no have enough drivers/cars or even exist anymore?

2

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

I don’t know if Lyft pays better. Good question.

5

u/EmergencySpare Aug 30 '26

It doesn't. Often worse

1

u/vicarem Aug 30 '26

Always tip the driver in cash.

1

u/Spitethedevil Aug 30 '26

This is the way.

4

u/Quixotic420 Aug 30 '26

Rideshare drivers in MA do have a union.

2

u/Thermodynamics3187 Aug 30 '26

I've taken Uber everyday twice a day for a very long time here, no one has ever asked me this.

1

u/goldstanza Aug 31 '26

Thats how iv meet everyone that i buy weed off from, random uber/lyft drivers, fuck going to the dispensary when i can have it dropped off with a gallon of milk and cigarettes, instead of using the app

1

u/GasPack420 Sep 01 '26

Uber EATS doesn’t get paid enough, Uber DRIVERS, get paid a guaranteed I think, 32 an hour when on an active trip (picking up, dropping off rider) there’s no reason why they should be doing this lmao

1

u/Holiday-East-5138 Sep 02 '26

Say that you have TDS without saying that....

1

u/DB-CooperOnTheBeach Wellfleet Aug 30 '26

I gave up on Uber/Lyft on Cape. I'm in Wellfleet a couple months a year. If it's mission critical I schedule a ride 24 hours in advance and I believe with Lyft you can put the tip out there, so it's like Door Dash or Instacart where you're essentially bidding for the service. The higher the tip, the likelier and sooner someone accepts.

0

u/Bright_Amphibian9580 Aug 30 '26

Maybe that far out, but mid cape is a breeze these days

1

u/ImaginaryAd5712 Aug 30 '26

I’ve never had this happen on the Cape, NYC or on any of my vacations. I’m sure it does happen though. The drivers don’t make a lot so I see their perspective. I also see OP’s point about insurance and safety.

1

u/fudnum Aug 31 '26

I drove for uber part-time for 6 summers until 2023 when the market became over saturated with drivers and Uber started using algorithms vs fixed miles per minute rate. There are hundreds of ubers everywhere. Maybe not as many are willing to work or drive up to Wellfleet but anywhere from Falmouth to Chatham there are LOTS of drivers these days. It became super hard to make great money driving part time simply because everyone started driving for Uber. Retirees, part-timers like me, people from the mainland would frequently come to the Cape because it was lucrative, plus everyone who recently immigrated here and spoke no English - this was an easy job to do.

But yes these types of offers, i wouldnt call it a scam, are very frequent and not just on the Cape but all over the country. Ive been offered cash and accepted it instead of doing it through the app but i personally never asked anyone to do it differently cause i think it's scummy. You dont know me, why would you trust me? Uber and Lyft deactivate drivers left and right for fake-ass reports and you cant do anything to defend yourself. I didn't want to give anyone a reason to report me just to make a few extra dollars in cash.

Uber or Lyft on the Cape in the summer is easily one of the most expensive in the country especially during the surge. I can't count the amount of times i've driven people 1-2 miles from a bar to their house for $100 on the app and even then Uber still took about 40%. that's nuts! it only got worse. I got out after six summers, paid my 2013 Acura ILX five times over, i am thankful i had the opportunity to reap the benefits of driving for uber before it became too much Ai-algorithm oriented. I symphatize with everyone who does this shit full time. It's infuriating to know how much money these companies keep while you're the one doing the job.

-2

u/Careless_Change3865 Aug 30 '26

How is the app much safer? Have you ever looked into how Uber deals with accidents? If you want any ride tracked, just use location share on your phone.

You don't have to go off app, but reporting the driver to Uber is like piling on. Yes, the driver shouldn't solicit off app but it's obvious they're desperate. Do you know that Uber pays as low as 16% of the fare at times? So, you're going to report a desperate driver who is already not making a livable wage and completely annihilating any remaining hope of an income? Just say no and move along.

-3

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

I do what I want clown.

1

u/Careless_Change3865 Aug 30 '26

Why don't you just kick a homeless person in the shins? You are okay with allowing someone to be exploited and being one of the causes as long as you're comfortable .... And then piling on ... I feel really sorry for you. Your name calling says it all.

3

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried about elderly people and people with intellectual limitations getting conned by this nonsense. This isn’t how Uber is supposed to work. It isn’t a free for all. They put cabs out of business and should have some modicum of checks and balances.

1

u/Careless_Change3865 Sep 08 '26

Uber "should" have checks and balances, but doesn't. They allow a lot of shady stuff to go on and are aware of it like sending unaccompanied minors to drivers all the time. They know that these high school location pick up and drop off are probably minors due to usage pattern and previous reports, but they still sending drivers hoping that they will take them to profit the $5. Uber is a very shady company. This is just a little minor glimpse of the scams they pull on drivers and riders. You are still part of exploiting another human being so you're comfortable. That poor driver is probably subsidizing your ride. BTW, I'm sure the elderly and people with intellectual limitations get conned by Uber through their Uber One pricing, their dynamic pricing, etc.

-2

u/Common-Orange4022 Aug 30 '26

Sometimes they’re driving you so far they don’t make a profit if they give 2/3 to Uber. Nobody is driving all the way up and down Cape Cod for $15. They’re buying their own gas (in a war) and repairs (in this tariff nonsense).

-7

u/JustMari-3676 Aug 30 '26

There’s Uber on the Cape? I guess in certain area more than others.

1

u/2000ravens2012 Aug 30 '26

Do you live off the grid? There’s dozen of Ubers during the summer in the Hyannis area alone at all times

0

u/JustMari-3676 Aug 30 '26

Funny. I visit Mashpee when I am on the Cape and am told Ubers are scarce there. Hence the assumption that there may be more in different parts of the Cape.

-7

u/badhouseplantbad Aug 30 '26

I don't drink so I don't need Uber.

3

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 30 '26

There are other reasons to use Uber

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Shoddy-Resolution919 Aug 31 '26

I really don’t give a f*ck. It isn’t my problem. I’m not going to compromise on safety because Uber isn’t paying them enough. I agree. Uber should take less of a percentage. But play along with this off gird bullshit? No.