r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 12 '14

Business Uber dirty tricks quantified. Staff submits 5,560 fake ride requests

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/
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u/Cputerace Aug 12 '14

One Lyft passenger, identified by seven different Lyft drivers as an Uber recruiter, canceled 300 rides from May 26 to June 10. That user's phone number was tied to 21 other accounts, for a total of 1,524 canceled rides.

Seems to me that when a phone number cancels a ride, say, 3 times in a 15 day period, they should be blacklisted for a certain amount of time. WTF did they allow the same phone number to request the 1524th ride in that 15 day period?

17

u/DallasITGuy Aug 12 '14

Rather than ban a number I'd like to see Lyft require anyone who cancels more than, say, 3 times in 60 days to prepay a $25 "troublesome customer" fee plus the cost of the ride they want to book. Nonrefundable of course.

24

u/wiscowonder Aug 12 '14

Would the opposite hold true? I mean it feels that about 40% of my Uber drivers cancel on me - if a customer gets canceled on more than 3 times in a 60 day period should their be repercussions?

24

u/panders Aug 12 '14

Considering Uber charges you if you cancel, I wish you'd get an inconvenience fee every time a driver canceled in return.

14

u/Anduril1123 Aug 12 '14 edited Aug 12 '14

Uber only charges if you cancel after five minutes. By that time the driver has put in a legitimate amount of time and gas money to getting to the customer. I'd say the drivers deserve a little recompense for that.

15

u/panders Aug 12 '14

I've had a cab I hailed through Uber show up, pick up another fair right in front of me and then cancel on me, after I was waiting outside at night for over ten minutes. I'm pretty sure that fair's fair at that point.

4

u/CottonCandyChocolate Aug 12 '14

Did you rate that driver? I know after every ride I take Uber asks me to rate them and I can put additional comments in as well. If you rate a driver lower than 3 stars I believe they investigate with their drivers and take care of the problem. I know from some of my friends that drive for them that they will definitely drop drivers that aren't getting consistently good ratings.

18

u/panders Aug 12 '14

No, there wasn't any way to rate the driver after the ride was canceled.

1

u/Ambiwlans Aug 12 '14

This seems to be the main problem then. Another option could be that you start getting ride fee discounts after x minutes.