# What killed my rating?



## uberjudas (Oct 2, 2014)

Such a common story: my rating was perfect for a while, then took a nose dive. I don't know why.

It's been teetering around a 4.6 for 2 weeks and I'm very afraid of getting deactivated. All my passengers have been 4.5 or above, my car is nice (2007 dodge magnum with fresh paint), clean, waxed, and clean on the inside. I'm friendly and offer charging cables, aux cable, mints, and bottled water.

When a passenger enters I wait until we have the address entered before driving away, or I ask if they would rather direct me. I offer my amenities and say "please let me know if there's anything else I can do to guarantee 5 star service." Every single passenger says Thank you, you're so prepared, best driver ever, etc.

And yet last week my rating hit 4.53! What the hell is happening? There's no way that many people rated me down.

If a pax leaves no rating, does that count as a zero? Do cancels impact your rating? What's going on here?


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## ShooUber (Sep 13, 2014)

Try rewording; "please let me know if there's anything else I can do to guarantee 5 star service." It may be coming off as the only reason you are doing all this is to get something out of it (a 5 star rating) I know you may not be doing that intentionally, but some pax might feel that way. Try to be natural about your offerings not just seeming to only want a 5* it can sound desperate. There are plenty of post here on this forum to get educated with, but for me the number is not worry too much about your rating in the beginning. It will fluctuate in large amounts because the number of completed rides you've done, It will level out once you get to a higher number. Some forum members have tried to figure out the Uber formula of the rating system. I couldn't tell you how that really works either, it's pretty complex. But one bad rating impact your over all more then 5 good rating, (this is just an example) and not all pax rate you and they don't rate you until they take their next Uber ride, which can be the same day or weeks later. Trust me when I say you will take a few days off and your rating over all will not, in other words I've seen mine go up or down even if I'm not working that day. Now as far as your pax putting on a smile doesn't mean your getting a 5* you can't please everyone and some pax just don't know that a 4* is a bad rating on Uber scale. Once again don't stress out about your rating too much just keep doing the best you can "as a driver" it's all you can do. Don't bring up the rating system unless your pax want to talk about it. Now we all know that no rating is Zero, and zero is zero, no rating = no counting. ( I'm not trying to be a smart a$$) now cancellations don't count the same way on your overall rating, but if your the one canceling a lot it may get notice in some markets, I cancel all that time for many reasons, but I won't get into that now. If a pax cancels it doesn't count at all. Hope this helps, but on your off time keep reading the post here about your concerns there are plenty of them. Best of luck to you.


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## uberjudas (Oct 2, 2014)

I only started mentioning 5 star service recently, and I haven't seen much of an affect. I was being very natural and not mentioning ratings at all, and my rating fell to 4.53. 

I wasn't being a smart ass, that was a real question. Is no rating factored in as a zero or does it not count at all? Geez


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## ShooUber (Sep 13, 2014)

You misunderstood me, I meant that I'm not try to be a smart a$$, by saying zero is zero. But like is say if you are just starting or don't do many rides a week, any lower rating then a 5* will affect more them when you get a 5* do you know how many rides you've done. I've done close to 1500 rides so far so one bad rating doesn't charge my overall rating at this point, I really don't see my overall rating change at all, good or bad. Here's what I've been emailed from Uber they only look at your last 500 rides to get an overall rating, but you need to get there first. If you have a small amount of rides completed and most of them are 5* you should be okay, but that's not a given with Uber. If your rating keeps going down then there could be other problems that may not be noticeable to you, or you have a lot of uptight pax in your area, I don't know. Remember it not what you think your service is, it's what your pax thinks and there is no way you will know what your pax really is thinking. Again best of luck to you. If you don't think any of this is helpful, I can just move on. I Got to get driving and to try and make a little money. There are plenty of post here about surge pricing and drunk rides rating bad. Remember your pax rating are not done after each ride, they rate you when they take their next one which could be days or weeks later. We all feel that we are doing a great job but it's not what we think.


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## ValleyKip (Nov 11, 2014)

First things first: No rating <> zero. Ratings are based on ... wait for it ... rated rides. Also, pax have only 24 hours to leave a rating, not "when they take their next one which could be days or weeks later."

Immediately stop driving from 6pm-6am Fridays and Saturdays. Ratings are always lower during this period. Also, if you are in a college town, do not under any circumstances take rides from in or near the campus. Drop off and then get away ASAP.

Never, EVER, cancel a trip with any option other than "Do Not Charge Client." Any other option and they get to rate you. DNCC cancellations do not get to rate.

Never, EVER, mention ratings or tips. Never.

Finally, ask a friend to take a ride with you in the back seat to make sure the ride is comfortable -- car not vibrating/bouncing, rear speakers working, seats not collapsing etc.


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## Red (Nov 8, 2014)

ValleyKip said:


> First things first: No rating <> zero. Ratings are based on ... wait for it ... rated rides. Also, pax have only 24 hours to leave a rating, not "when they take their next one which could be days or weeks later."
> 
> Immediately stop driving from 6pm-6am Fridays and Saturdays. Ratings are always lower during this period. Also, if you are in a college town, do not under any circumstances take rides from in or near the campus. Drop off and then get away ASAP.
> 
> ...


Are you sure DNCC is the only option without rating? 
In my understanding Client requested cancel or Client No Show won't involve rating. Why would they offer someone who didn't show up to rate a driver?


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## Killeen Ubur (Oct 29, 2014)

Never Never Never talk about getting a 5 star to the pak Never ,,,,,,,I have a 4.8 with over 200 riders
Just do the best job you can and all will work itself out Promise

Keith


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## ShooUber (Sep 13, 2014)

ValleyKip said:


> First things first: No rating <> zero. Ratings are based on ... wait for it ... rated rides. Also, pax have only 24 hours to leave a rating, not "when they take their next one which could be days or weeks later."


. I like your post but
Here's what I got from a Uber CSR;

Hey Xxxx,

Happy to help!

A rider can rate the previous ride any time before requesting a new one. It will ask him to rate the previous driver as soon as he re-opens the app. This is why sometimes partners will see their ratings rise/fall "overnight".

I hope this was helpful!
Uber on!

Cheers,
Xxxx

Uber Support,


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## Shine'ola (Oct 7, 2014)

Killeen Ubur said:


> Never Never Never talk about getting a 5 star to the pak Never ,,,,,,,I have a 4.8 with over 200 riders
> Just do the best job you can and all will work itself out Promise
> 
> Keith


the only time my rating slides is when I forget to mention a 4 is a fail, 4.6 is required, hell they have no idea most the time and think 4 is like an 80 and my car ain't no pimped out Caddy


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## SCdave (Jun 27, 2014)

To make a comparison. I'll say that a 4 on Yelp or most reviews is really good but on Uber it will get the driver deactivated. I don't talk about myself if the conversation continues. I'll use "driver" or "most people or most riders" - "If your driver didn't do anything crazy "most people" will just rate the driver a 5".


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## forkedover (Oct 26, 2014)

Valvoline just send me a flyer where it refrencend there great 4.6 rating which uber would terminate me for sooooo wtf ratings.....

Never mind company that is powered by the freshly spilled blood of its drivers.


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## Orlando_Driver (Jul 14, 2014)

I don't worry about ratings....


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## moni4nuttin (Oct 22, 2014)

Some passengers are full of it...


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## johnywinslow (Oct 30, 2014)

only problem I see with the rating system is its not explained to the riders that a 4 stars out of 5 is not good! not good at all. prior to driving, I would have thought 4 out of 5 was outstanding, just didn't go the xtra mile! riders may like you and your driving and simply THINK 4 stars is a compliment!


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## crucian007 (Oct 5, 2014)

My rating just took a hit too, down from 4.96 to 4.85! Haven't done anything different, but like everyone else said, you can't make everyone happy. BTW I drive the same year, make and model car as you. Nothing but compliments from riders.


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## Pascal O. (Sep 23, 2014)

ValleyKip said:


> Never, EVER, cancel a trip with any option other than "Do Not Charge Client." Any other option and they get to rate you. DNCC cancellations do not get to rate.


This is an incorrect statement.

Once you cancel a ride, regardless of the reason, you do NOT get a rating. Telling him/her to only hit "DNCC" is wrong as that obstructs him/her from possibly get a $5/6 cancel fee if the driver waited at least 5 minutes. Look up Uber's cancellation policy on the website if you think am wrong


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## ShooUber (Sep 13, 2014)

Pascal O. said:


> This is an incorrect statement.
> 
> Once you cancel a ride, regardless of the reason, you do NOT get a rating. Telling him/her to only hit "DNCC" is wrong as that obstructs him/her from possibly get a $5/6 cancel fee if the driver waited at least 5 minutes. Look up Uber's cancellation policy on the website if you think am wrong


I think you have to try and call or text the customer before you cancel after 5 minutes of waiting. I've seen where I get paid only if a try to make contact, but if I just cancel without trying to call the pax I don't get paid for a No show. Note there are other reasons why you won't get paid, like first timers, from what I've read customers are allowed to cancel once after a 5 minute wait and not get charged. (they can cancel anytime under 5 minutes and not be charged) I've been pay for a few No shows, but not all of them.


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## UberOne (Oct 31, 2014)

ShooUber said:


> Try rewording; "please let me know if there's anything else I can do to guarantee 5 star service." It may be coming off as the only reason you are doing all this is to get something out of it (a 5 star rating) I know you may not be doing that intentionally, but some pax might feel that way. Try to be natural about your offerings not just seeming to only want a 5* it can sound desperate. There are plenty of post here on this forum to get educated with, but for me the number is not worry too much about your rating in the beginning. It will fluctuate in large amounts because the number of completed rides you've done, It will level out once you get to a higher number. Some forum members have tried to figure out the Uber formula of the rating system. I couldn't tell you how that really works either, it's pretty complex. But one bad rating impact your over all more then 5 good rating, (this is just an example) and not all pax rate you and they don't rate you until they take their next Uber ride, which can be the same day or weeks later. Trust me when I say you will take a few days off and your rating over all will not, in other words I've seen mine go up or down even if I'm not working that day. Now as far as your pax putting on a smile doesn't mean your getting a 5* you can't please everyone and some pax just don't know that a 4* is a bad rating on Uber scale. Once again don't stress out about your rating too much just keep doing the best you can "as a driver" it's all you can do. Don't bring up the rating system unless your pax want to talk about it. Now we all know that no rating is Zero, and zero is zero, no rating = no counting. ( I'm not trying to be a smart a$$) now cancellations don't count the same way on your overall rating, but if your the one canceling a lot it may get notice in some markets, I cancel all that time for many reasons, but I won't get into that now. If a pax cancels it doesn't count at all. Hope this helps, but on your off time keep reading the post here about your concerns there are plenty of them. Best of luck to you.


I absolutely agree, people will not appreciate your fishing for ratings, and any amenities offered will not seem sincerely or genuinely offered as purely for the comfort of the pax - no one wants their opinions to be bought.


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## Pascal O. (Sep 23, 2014)

ShooUber said:


> I think you have to try and call or text the customer before you cancel after 5 minutes of waiting. I've seen where I get paid only if a try to make contact, but if I just cancel without trying to call the pax I don't get paid for a No show. Note there are other reasons why you won't get paid, like first timers, from what I've read customers are allowed to cancel once after a 5 minute wait and not get charged. (they can cancel anytime under 5 minutes and not be charged) I've been pay for a few No shows, but not all of them.


Again, you don't have to call or text. Uber only recommends that.

I do text my riders ahead of time regardless out of courtesy. But on many occasions, when the ping was really close to my location and thus I felt no need to text or call since the Uber app sends a notification informing the rider of the drivers arrival once the driver hits the "Arrive" button, I waited for 5 mins, cancelled at after 6 mins had past (I give a 1 min grace period) & got a $6 fee.

The only time you don't get a cancel fee is:

If you or the rider cancels prior to 5mins
If you the driver chooses the "do not charge client" or "wrong address" option
If Uber "claims" it was the rider's 1st cancel --> which I don't like because we (the drivers) can't tell if Uber is lying or not


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

My understanding is that you ONLY get the cancel fee if you use, 1) no show or 2) client request cancel. I think it is in the Uber training video somewhere too.

I have questioned not getting paid to Uber and on the 2nd email the CSR said "oh, I see you texted the client" and I got paid.... who knows all the mystery rules around this. Uber ain't sayin.

choosing "bad address" will not get you paid.


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## buber (Nov 3, 2014)

Hi Pascal O.,

I wanted to know if you ever call or text the rider to verify the pickup location. Just curious.


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## Pascal O. (Sep 23, 2014)

I do sometimes


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## pengduck (Sep 26, 2014)

Pascal O. said:


> This is an incorrect statement.
> 
> Once you cancel a ride, regardless of the reason, you do NOT get a rating. Telling him/her to only hit "DNCC" is wrong as that obstructs him/her from possibly get a $5/6 cancel fee if the driver waited at least 5 minutes. Look up Uber's cancellation policy on the website if you think am wrong


When the hell did Uber start following their own policies?


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## pengduck (Sep 26, 2014)

buber said:


> Hi Pascal O.,
> 
> I wanted to know if you ever call or text the rider to verify the pickup location. Just curious.


After midnight I always call before I even start the car. Alcohol and the pin do not go together.


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## Baron VonStudley (Jun 20, 2014)

I dropped from a 4.76 to a 4.66 in a few days and I have only been driving a few times. I started in June and between Lyft & Uber I have well over 1000 rides and when I reached out to local office inquiring about my rating and when local would be expanding their logistics offerings.
I got a typical canned response:

Nov 12 14:39

Thanks for writing back. I see that that your insurance was uploaded correctly and I've went ahead and approved that for you. As a growing company we're always looking for other opportunities and are keeping all of our options open, if anything is to change you will be the first to know!

Early on, your rating will fluctuate, but as you do more trips it will become more steady. It's important that you get off to a good start because it will be more difficult to improve your rating over time, since it is calculated as an average of all of your trip ratings.


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## iumichael (Sep 3, 2014)

I never gave much of a crap about my rating, but it pissed me off this week a little. I normally drive Friday and Saturday nights in a college town. Recipe for disaster, but after 320+ rides I had dropped to a 4.87 and slowly climbed back to a 4.9. Not too shabby I thought. Tuesday, it was a rainy afternoon and I was on vacation from my real job so I did 4 trips. Two days later (with no other driving), my rating went from 4.9 to a 4.82. $20 worth of fares, and it cost me almost a full tenth of a point. Really kind of pissed me off. I did nothing differently. A couple of pax couldn't drop pins correctly, but that's normal. I haven't done the math, but to drop from a 4.9 to a 4.82 after a few hundred rated trips must mean someone gave me something below a 4, which was really uncalled for. /end rant


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## ShooUber (Sep 13, 2014)

iumichael said:


> I never gave much of a crap about my rating, but it pissed me off this week a little. I normally drive Friday and Saturday nights in a college town. Recipe for disaster, but after 320+ rides I had dropped to a 4.87 and slowly climbed back to a 4.9. Not too shabby I thought. Tuesday, it was a rainy afternoon and I was on vacation from my real job so I did 4 trips. Two days later (with no other driving), my rating went from 4.9 to a 4.82. $20 worth of fares, and it cost me almost a full tenth of a point. Really kind of pissed me off. I did nothing differently. A couple of pax couldn't drop pins correctly, but that's normal. I haven't done the math, but to drop from a 4.9 to a 4.82 after a few hundred rated trips must mean someone gave me something below a 4, which was really uncalled for. /end rant


I got the same, but it had to do with Uber system problem, I was okay on the driver' app, but on the dashbroad is where the numbers drop. I emailed support and it was confirmed that they are working to resolve it. There are other posts by others having the same problem and dropping to the same 4.82* overnight.


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## jakob (Jul 16, 2014)

I think you are doing too much and selling yourself out and that to many is unattractive, pretty much begging for a good rating. Someone could have the intention of wanting to give you a 5* until you look or talk desperate and than which that 5 turns into 4. Keep your car clean, be polite; hi, how are you, and thanks have a good day or night. drive normal and your rating will improve.


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## forkedover (Oct 26, 2014)

none of what you said matters when they are pissed off at having to rate to catch a cab home and they select 1 stars for the previous trip.


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