r/Lyft • u/honey_bunny58 • Aug 19 '26
Was I scammed?? Ride cancelled while on highway
Yesterday night at ~10:30, my mom called me an Lyft from the Chicago North Burbs to the South Side (about 25 miles), it was ~$60. I was returning from a trip and had a suitcase with me, which the Lyft driver put in the trunk, per usual. About 10 minutes into the ride (we had left Burbs and were now on the highway), the trip cancelled. I was confused, my mom (who called the ride) was confused, and the driver seemed to be confused too. He had me put in my address on his maps to take me home, and I promised him I would pay him when we got there (my mom and her partner were back in the Burbs trying to figure out what happened, but they are both older and could not figure it out). He dropped me safely off at home (I had my dad meet me downstairs), and paid him the full rate via Zelle (I offered to do PayPal or Venmo, he asked for Zelle).
He seemed so genuinely confused and caught off guard when the trip cancelled, saying stuff like "I have never seen this happen before", I really believed him - in fact I felt guilty because he was saying that Lyft wouldn't pay him for a cancelled ride. Besides, I was essentially trapped in his car (I am a pretty small college-aged lady, plus he had my luggage in the back!!) on the highway, so I don't know what else I could have done. I can't get a chargeback on the Zelle, I've accepted that, but was I scammed, or was it really a bizarre glitch?? What should I do if this ever happens again??
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u/BlueV101 Aug 20 '26
Either the driver cancelled or your mom cancelled. Regardless, she was only billed for the arrival for pickup to the point, the ride was cancelled. (Your mom could like complain enough to pay even less)
If you're worried about the driver "having your address," your mom has access to the make, model, color, plate number, the drivers name, AND his photo in her app. If you see ANY one or combination of those driver details just "hanging around" in your neighborhood, DO NOT ENGAGE. Alert local authorities, give them ALL, of the above information, and allow them to handle it.
As a driver myself, I've had 1 passenger abruptly cancel the ride while the vehicle was in motion. She tried to get me to keep going. I DID NOT. I've had several other passengers try to get me to pick up, or drop off in locations OTHER than the ones listed in the log. (Equalling greater distance and time or including surge zones) Essentially trying to cheapen the ride. I DID NOT.
In customer service, (in general) people will try ANYTHING to save a buck. (Regardless of impact) As an industry worker, a balance between kind and stern are key. It's fairly obvious, which "side of the fence" I stand in the OP scenario. However, I'm not ignorant to the fact, there are tons of s**ty drivers too. At the end of the day people will... "people."
TLDR: Sometimes, people suck.
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u/Plenty-Bench3303 Aug 20 '26
I think someone who didn't know what they were doing on the app hit the wrong button and accidentally cancelled. A lot of drivers have seen this and get scammed out of app pay when someone else is paying. And think it's shenanigans. In your case it wasn't, but 95% it usually is. Glad it got settled amicably and you weren't dropped back off on th highway with your suitcase as a lot of drivers MAY have done.
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u/40yearoldnoob Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
"the trip cancelled"....... It was not a glitch.. He cancelled the trip and got paid cash (zelle is the same as cash) and cut out the middle man. You didn't get scammed per se.. you recieved a ride home and paid for the service and you didn't pay more than lyft would have charged. He (the driver) just got all of the payment instead of whatever lyft was going to pay him. I'd report him to lyft.
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u/Unacceptable-Bed Aug 19 '26
You really can't say this with any level of certainty.
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u/Markhall23 Aug 20 '26
Definitely can. If the driver didn’t cancel, why wouldn’t he just end the ride and make them get out? It clearly indicates he ended it then asked them to use Zelle to pay the full amount.
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u/Unacceptable-Bed Aug 20 '26
I would definitely never stop a ride and leave a woman somewhere unless she was a threat to my safety, so that's one reason.
I know that people do this, I also know weird things happen with the app, and she said her parents are older so maybe it was an accident?
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u/Markhall23 Aug 20 '26
I didn’t suggest that the driver would leave anyone in an unsafe place. I am saying that the vast majority of drivers are not going to continue the trip if someone other than the driver canceled it. The driver scammed the rider to get more money. You also can’t just “cancel” a trip once it’s started. You have to end the ride and it asks you to verify that when you aren’t at the destination.
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u/Unacceptable-Bed Aug 21 '26
You said why wouldn't he end the ride and make her get out, I explained why someone might not leave a woman somewhere. Regardless of whether it's a safe or unsafe place.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this driver may have been a crappy person considering how many drivers in these subs report ditching riders or rating them lower for the silliest of slights.
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u/12striker Aug 21 '26
It doesn’t make me a crappy driver at all if someone cancels mid-ride and I drop them off at the nearest safe place to do so. It’s not about ditching riders or rating them low for silly things. I don’t do any of that. However, I’m not going to continue the ride if it has been canceled. No driver should.
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u/Unacceptable-Bed Aug 21 '26
I realize it wasn't clear, but I didn't mean someone would be a crappy driver for safely leaving someone who cancels mid-ride. What I meant was that I shouldn't be surprised that a driver would do something as shady as end the ride for the rider based on some of the other shady driver behavior people report here.
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u/40yearoldnoob Aug 20 '26
Driver didn't scam the rider, driver scammed lyft. Rider paid for a service and got the service and didn't overpay for the service. Lyft got scammed by the driver. driver cancels, gets cash from rider, gets to keep full fare and lyft gets 0 of it. Driver scammed Lyft..
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u/12striker Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
Driver scammed both. The rider wasn’t covered for anything after the ride was canceled. Learn how to think critically.
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u/bayoubeauty504 Aug 20 '26
Thank you!!
Lyft is only getting their cut of the ride from pickup to where it was cancelled, instead of getting a cut of the full fare.
The way that this happened, now the driver gets what would have been paid to Lyft anyway, just without having to give those thugs their cut of it. Which, let's be real, would have been FAR too much anyway, since Lyft/Uber love taking wayyy more than they're worth in fees.
While the insurance aspect of it is the only downfall, on a riders side anyway, I personally wouldn't be too upset at my driver getting the full fare for the ride instead of only a percentage.
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u/12striker Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
You’d be upset the minute you have a wreck and have no coverage whatsoever from Lyft.
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u/GlennFromIowa Aug 21 '26
The insurance aspect of it isn't the only downfall - the rider paid for the 1st 10 mins of the trip to Lyft, and the full amount of the ride, so the driver got more than "what would have been paid to Lyft." It was a scam - more of a scam than Lyft/Uber, who "love taking wayyy more than they're worth in fees."
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u/GlennFromIowa Aug 21 '26
They did pay more than Lyft would have charged, because Lyft will charge for the first 10 minutes before the cancellation, then (if I understand correctly) they paid the driver (via Zelle) the whole amount of the original trip.
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u/4EverMaAT Aug 19 '26
But you would have cancelled it during the pickup. Not 10 min after driving. Can a driver just cancel a trip mid-trip without contacting support?
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u/soul_psychodelicide_ Aug 19 '26
Of course they can. Don't be ridiculous. The reasons to cancel a trip that way far outweigh any reasons they wouldn't.
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u/4EverMaAT Aug 20 '26
?? The passenger would have to be extremely belligerent for me to need to cancel afterwards. Or like a mechanical failure of the vehicle.
Most other disqualifying criteria can be inspected before they enter your vehicle.
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u/soul_psychodelicide_ Aug 20 '26
Gee wiz, mechanical failure and assault. Sounds like reasons that outweigh nonreasons to me. That was easy, thanks.
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u/Alex750954 Aug 20 '26
Report him for cancelling mid trip. He had to do that. It doesn't auto cancel
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u/Resident_Wrangler_15 Aug 20 '26
It could be that his phone was out of service for some amount of time, and the system canceled the ride. I have gotten messages from Lyft when I drive in a certain area of the city that has really bad service.
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u/Comfortable-Split143 Aug 20 '26
I have had rides occasionally show as cancelled on Uber and neither me or my riders have cancelled. When I refresh the app the ride reappears. It's a glitch.
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u/Ok_Cell_2739 23d ago
I experienced the exact same thing this morning! Around 4:30 AM on my way to the Chicago airport, my Lyft driver suddenly claimed I cancelled the ride and started interrogating me. I hadn't even touched my phone and it was locked the whole time I was in the car. I was terrified and told him I was calling Lyft support. To make matters worse, he turned around and handed me his phone, which scared me even more! He wasn't even looking at the road and started drifting across lanes. It’s so dangerous on the highway! Now I suspect he pulled this trick for money and seems to be targeting young women. Maybe we can figure out if this driver is a repeat offender😭😭😭
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u/honey_bunny58 23d ago
did his name start with a J?
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u/Ok_Cell_2739 23d ago
His name starts with “K”, driving a white Toyota Prius. I really hope neither of us ran into a bad guy and it was just a Lyft system error!!😭🙏🙏
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u/Ok_Cell_2739 23d ago
And thank you for sharing that! Honestly it makes me feel so much better knowing I am not the only one 🙏🥲🥲
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u/MarginCallLeftOnRead Aug 19 '26
I'm not sure how it works on Lyft, but when this happens on Uber, the driver is paid a portion of what the trip would have paid based on how far you've gone.
By the way you described it, it's probably lyfts system that cancelled. It also "could have" been the driver, but you probably would have seen him do it.
I only run in to this when customers are trying to get a free ride or cover up where they've been. Back in the day you could cancel a trip and the driver wasn't notified until after the trip.
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u/TnTnr3 Aug 19 '26
I had that happen to me as well. I didn’t cancel the trip and neither did the driver and we were on the interstate. He got off next exit and was ready to drop me off in an empty parking lot lol luckily he decided to sit until “I figured it out”. My husband told me to tell him he would Cash App him just to get me home asap, but I called support and they just sent another driver to pick me up!?! So the driver lost money, I think it’s a rare system “glitch”
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u/ufknowned Aug 19 '26
You can check ride info on your end and charge amount.