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Don't Sass Your Uber Driver - He's Rating You Too
HughPickens.com writes David Streitfeld reports at the NYT that people routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers, but now the tables are turned as companies like Uber are rating their customers, and shunning those who do not make the grade. "An Uber trip should be a good experience for drivers too," says an Uber blog post. "Drivers shouldn't have to deal with aggressive, violent, or disrespectful riders. If a rider exhibits disrespectful, threatening, or unsafe behavior, they, too, may no longer be able to use the service." It does not seem to take much to annoy some Uber drivers. On one online forum, an anonymous driver said he gave poor reviews to "people who are generally negative and would tend to bring down my mood (or anyone around them)." Another was cavalier about the process: "1 star for passengers does not do them any harm. Sensible drivers won't pick them up, but so what?" In response, some consumers are becoming more polite and prompt. "The knowledge that they may be rated is also encouraging people to submit more upbeat reviews themselves, even if the experience was less than stellar," writes Streitfeld. "When services choose whom to serve, no one wants to be labeled difficult."
> "The knowledge that they may be rated is also encouraging people to submit more upbeat reviews themselves, even if the experience was less than stellar,"
Ebay had the same problem with sellers threatening to give buyers crappy feedback ratings if they weren't first given a perfect rating. Eventually ebay changed their system so sellers could not rate buyers. That's imperfect too, but seems to be less imperfect than the previous iteration. I have no opinion as to whether a similar change would be a good thing for Uber, I don't use their service.
Hey, I have a better idea ... how about you remember you work in the service industry and if you are an incompetent or a rude server you won't get tipped?
A bunch of snot-nosed teenagers who think they deserve a 20% tip for asking if you want fries with that is not what the world needs.
I've seen some utterly terrible service before. And some useless server who checks to see who the big tippers are will basically give crap service to someone who was the victim of another useless server and didn't leave a tip. It divorces the reason for the tip from the actual tip.
Some distributed social network of lazy servers keeping tabs on people who don't tip them enough ... yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That last one is actually why there are laws in most places that make it a crime to not pick up passengers that have called for a cab. It may be hard to enforce where cabs are hailed-down on the street, but for those that are called-in, there can be ramifications for both the taxi company and the driver.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
typical conservative, doesn't understand WHY taxis are regulated in the first place.
http://time.com/3592035/uber-t...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/1018488...
http://www.slate.com/articles/...
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Actually there is. There's a reason why the taxi number and driver name are posted on the back seat. If you have a problem, you take it up with your local transit board about it (or livery commission) and file a complaint. Or even with the taxi company itself (whose name is prominently displayed).
Granted, you actually have to file a complaint, but they do generally listen
Sure it's not as simple as a star rating, but they do want to weed out the janky ones who just are never satisfied or those who file complaints because there was a tear on the underside of the seat.
I wonder if we'll get to the point where a driver won't leave a rating until the customer does and vice-versa, to prevent revenge ratings which were a problem on eBay.
Sellers can not leave negative feedback for buyers.
They used to be able to in the good ol' days, but eBay got rid of the feature after too many complaints that sellers were waiting to see what their review was before rating the buyer.
And the sellers have been taking it in the ass since from unscrupulous buyers.
That's why ebay is now the domain of mostly chinese sellers now who shift addresses and usernames as needed.
Creating a system where buyers can extort and outright steal from you with little recourse and no mechanism for warning others of their behavior was a GREAT idea. I should be able to neg a guy for buying my item and not paying for it so that his identical item at a higher price could sell. I should be able to neg someone for a chargeback after the item's been delivered. I should be able to neg someone for trying to return their damaged item in place of the good working item I sent.
They've created an environment where the buyer has nothing to lose from bad behavior.