Ever since Uber came along, I’ve been a giant, outspoken fan. No shortage of things to love…
- Cash not needed? Nice!
- I can request a ride from my app? Awesome!
- Rude cabbies gone for good? Amazing!
- Tipping not necessary? Sounds great!
But a funny thing happened on the way to Shangri-La…
Uber kept pissing me off.
The final straw wasn’t surge pricing. It wasn’t even a string of drivers who kept using their phones while driving on the freeway. I told myself those were isolated incidents.
Man, I was still an Uber supporter even after I heard stories about a rapist and a murderer.
Those were really, really isolated incidents…
Right?
Of course! Come on Uber, you know you’re never going to lose me!
Uh, things change in a hurry.
This month, I heard from readers Steve and Michelle. They told me something that sounded too crazy to be true…
No way Uber drivers were giving negative ratings to passengers who didn’t tip. Nuts, right? I mean, one of the big draws of signing up for Uber was the fact that we didn’t have to tip…
So I reached out to a few readers who are also drivers. One way or another, I was going to find the answer…
Damn.
The answer sucks.
Multiple drivers admitted they give low ratings to passengers who don’t tip.
So then I decided to spend way too much time reading through the Uber driver forums. And, yeah, it’s apparently very common for drivers to be vengeful with the ratings they give us.
Keeping things in perspective, there have been worse incidents. There are criminal, scary stories to be told about Uber drivers. But, like I said, it’s easy to brush those things off as fluke events.
There’s nothing fluke about this rating stuff.
It’s a very common way of doing business with Uber.
And it sucks.
Riders shouldn’t be pressured into tipping in some weird passive aggressive way. We sign up with the understanding that tipping isn’t necessary.
So now it’s expected? Why and when did things change?
When it comes down to it, many Uber drivers are punishing riders who don’t pay extra.
Not cool.
I’ve been a huge fan since the beginning, Uber. But you keep pissing me off. This hasn’t been a good trend for you. Most of the drivers I talk to are unhappy with how cheap you are. And now your riders (including me) are growing unhappy with the drivers.
Better fix this soon, Uber. I’m starting to think my praise of you was a big mistake.
