# Why the rating system is heavily flawed



## itsablackmarket (May 12, 2015)




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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Well if you pickup Riha J and she isn't receptive to conversation, don't force it and remain quiet. 5 Stars.

I do agree though, I hate the 5 star system. It should just be Thumbs up or Thumbs down. Either you would take the ride again or you wont. Thumbs down can get a driver fired, so if you received a ride that was good but maybe not perfect, was it bad enough to fire a driver? If not, thumbs up.


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## touberornottouber (Aug 12, 2016)

I think they ought to be disclosing to the drivers what each passenger rated them. In fact I would go further to say that the next time the passenger pings the same driver they should be shown what the passenger last rated them on the ping screen.

After all, if the passenger wasn't happy with me the first time then why put them with me again? Just give them a different driver as it seems that is what the customer wants.

Also without being told exactly where the mistake was (which trip) it is almost useless as far as reported issues and the like. There is no way to even really know if the customer's complaint is valid.


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## A T (Aug 3, 2016)

Why would uber do anything that makes sense and would help the drivers?


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## Clifford Chong (May 3, 2015)

touberornottouber said:


> I think they ought to be disclosing to the drivers what each passenger rated them. In fact I would go further to say that the next time the passenger pings the same driver they should be shown what the passenger last rated them on the ping screen.
> 
> After all, if the passenger wasn't happy with me the first time then why put them with me again? Just give them a different driver as it seems that is what the customer wants.
> 
> Also without being told exactly where the mistake was (which trip) it is almost useless as far as reported issues and the like. There is no way to even really know if the customer's complaint is valid.


I think the second sentence is a little unnecessary and will have little to no affect on anyone since the customer pool is very big too begin with. Depending on which city you're driving that is.

And it's better not to focus on trying to always get 5 stars, but get the best possible rating from them. If I could get 4 stars instead of 1 for making 1 small mistake, that would suffice. If I know this pax will not give me a perfect rating (too demanding, domineering, rude, etc) then I try anyways.


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## touberornottouber (Aug 12, 2016)

Clifford Chong said:


> I think the second sentence is a little unnecessary and will have little to no affect on anyone since the customer pool is very big too begin with. Depending on which city you're driving that is.
> 
> And it's better not to focus on trying to always get 5 stars, but get the best possible rating from them. If I could get 4 stars instead of 1 for making 1 small mistake, that would suffice. If I know this pax will not give me a perfect rating (too demanding, domineering, rude, etc) then I try anyways.


Well for me money ($5 an hour here in the day!) isn't the only reason I do Uber. It's also to get out and meet people a bit(I drive days only and mostly get tourists from all over the world). Part of it for me is that I want to have a pleasant experience and I prefer that the rider is happy. So if they don't like me for whatever reason I'd honestly just prefer they went with someone else.

Uber needs to realize that really the driver is just as much a customer as the rider. In most areas we have alternatives such as Lyft or taxi companies. Or we can always just do something else. Uber ought to be doing more for us.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

The system wouldn't be that bad if the cutoff was 3.0-3.5.

Then you can 1 star smelly drivers, 

4 star newbies who try but... have no idea where they are going.

And 5 star the pros...

But alas.. no.. the cutoff is 4.6


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## RaleighUber (Dec 4, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> But alas.. no.. the cutoff is 4.6


Yep. I had a 4.44 weekend recently. 23 trips, 9 rated trips, 7 5-star trips. Made $20 in tips on those 23 trips with no negative feedback ever. So the other too ratings are probably a 4 and a 1 (5 total rating from 2 trips). The 1 star may have been from the adults going to a concert that I told could not bring open beer bottles in the car for the "pre-show" drinking. If every week was like that, I'm no longer a driver.


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## Clay1234 (Mar 7, 2017)

The rating system reminds me of Netflix Black Mirror - Nosedive s3e1. It's so superficial.


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## charmer37 (Nov 18, 2016)

The rating system sucks plain and simple, I have a average rating between uber and lyft and I don't offer the pax anything but a safe ride from pick up to drop off. If it's up to uber and passengers they would require a foot massage for 5 stars....Not gonna happen.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

RaleighUber said:


> Yep. I had a 4.44 weekend recently. 23 trips, 9 rated trips, 7 5-star trips. Made $20 in tips on those 23 trips with no negative feedback ever. So the other too ratings are probably a 4 and a 1 (5 total rating from 2 trips). The 1 star may have been from the adults going to a concert that I told could not bring open beer bottles in the car for the "pre-show" drinking. If every week was like that, I'm no longer a driver.


There's two ways to handle this... start chanting "chug, chug, chug " and see if they get laugh and start doing it.

Or B. take your rating hit and email support and ask them to email the customer the official alcohol in an uber car policy and make them feel like a Jack$*$* when they sober up and change your rating back.


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## Lowestformofwit (Sep 2, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> The system wouldn't be that bad if the cutoff was 3.0-3.5.
> 
> Then you can 1 star smelly drivers,
> 
> ...


Must be one of the few exams in the world where 92% is a FAIL.


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## RaleighUber (Dec 4, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> There's two ways to handle this... start chanting "chug, chug, chug " and see if they get laugh and start doing it.
> 
> Or B. take your rating hit and email support and ask them to email the customer the official alcohol in an uber car policy and make them feel like a Jack$*$* when they sober up and change your rating back.


Haven't tried the "chug, chug, chug" approach. I will give that a go as I usually just take the ratings risk. Of course, I don't *know* if that was who it was for sure, but can't imagine who else it would be since all the other rides I played the part of perfect driver.


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## Grahamcracker (Nov 2, 2016)

touberornottouber said:


> I think they ought to be disclosing to the drivers what each passenger rated them. In fact I would go further to say that the next time the passenger pings the same driver they should be shown what the passenger last rated them on the ping screen.


That would be cool except drivers often get a bad rating for incidents that are out of hand of the driver. For instance, maybe rider is upset about surge or traffic.

I am convinced pax often rate based on their mood at the moment, like their child got an F on a test or their car got towed. Maybe you wouldn't drive them without a car seat. Maybe they rated you bad because they got rated bad from their last driver. Maybe they learned some drivers give 1 star for non tippers and now they rate all drivers 1 star. I completely agree with the OP, ratings are corrupt.


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## Side Hustle (Mar 2, 2017)

RaleighUber said:


> Yep. I had a 4.44 weekend recently. 23 trips, 9 rated trips, 7 5-star trips. Made $20 in tips on those 23 trips with no negative feedback ever. So the other too ratings are probably a 4 and a 1 (5 total rating from 2 trips). The 1 star may have been from the adults going to a concert that I told could not bring open beer bottles in the car for the "pre-show" drinking.
> 
> If every week was like that, I'm no longer a driver.


-ain't it the truth


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## iceman49 (Mar 1, 2017)

Agreed the ratings system is a joke. I have 4.87 on 1400 rides which is good, but it was at 4.9 forever and has whittled down and I am not sure why and honestly don't care. As long as I am providing a safe ride, with good navigation from A to B and a clean car then I'm doing my job. I got to experience the passenger end of the ratings joke today as well. I needed to take care of something in the big city (MPLS) so instead of driving down, paying for parking, etc i decided to Uber it. I had a 5 star passenger rating at the beginning of the day and after two different Ubers, one there and one back, I checked my rating and it dropped to 4.67. I was punctual, courteous, and TIPPED both drivers and still took a hit. There is no way of knowing why this happened. I believe it was the driver who gave me a ride home who gave me a low rating as he was quiet and seemed to resent me for some reason. Probably having a bad day. Bottom line is ratings are overrated.


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## Coachman (Sep 22, 2015)

steveK2016 said:


> Well if you pickup Riha J and she isn't receptive to conversation, don't force it and remain quiet. 5 Stars.
> 
> I do agree though, I hate the 5 star system. It should just be Thumbs up or Thumbs down. Either you would take the ride again or you wont. Thumbs down can get a driver fired, so if you received a ride that was good but maybe not perfect, was it bad enough to fire a driver? If not, thumbs up.


It wouldn't make any difference at all if they went to a Thumbs up/Thumbs down system. You'd still be in a position of having to maintain some XX% Thumbs up to stay in good standing. Whatever percentage would keep you out of the bottom 10%. And everybody would complain that they were getting Thumbs down for no good reason. "Somebody gave me a Thumbs down because the pin dropped in the wrong spot! Not fair!"

No difference at all.


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## A T (Aug 3, 2016)

Here's an idea if we're not deactivating passengers with a low rating then we shouldn't be deactivating drivers with a 4.6 rating or 4.5 rating I had to pings come through one pax had a 4.14 rating and another was a 4.2. I Let those pings pass non surge.


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

It should not be a 5 star system without telling the pax that if the driver averages less than about 90% rating than they lose their jobs.
It should be* good, acceptable or unacceptable *also they can rate your out of spite if you didn't want to waster your time/money by going thru the drive thru.



A T said:


> Here's an idea if we're not deactivating passengers with a low rating then we shouldn't be deactivating drivers with a 4.6 rating or 4.5 rating I had to pings come through one pax had a 4.14 rating and another was a 4.2. I Let those pings pass non surge.


It's a silly rating system 4.6 is 92%
4,2 is 84%

I think there is some secret algorithm in place that ignores some of the low scores. 4.6 rating is damn near perfect and hard to imagine that 92% of pax have given most drivers and pax 5.


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## Coachman (Sep 22, 2015)

Lee239 said:


> ...4.6 rating is damn near perfect...


Not when you're grading on a curve. 4.6 is the bottom 10%. That means out of 10 drivers you're the worst.


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

Coachman said:


> Not when you're grading on a curve. 4.6 is the bottom 10%. That means out of 10 drivers you're the worst.


That's only in Uber world. Look online and see how many items you buy on Amazon or Walmart.com are rated less then 4.6 stars. Probably most of them.


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## Pammy330 (Mar 29, 2017)

A T said:


> Here's an idea if we're not deactivating passengers with a low rating then we shouldn't be deactivating drivers with a 4.6 rating or 4.5 rating I had to pings come through one pax had a 4.14 rating and another was a 4.2. I Let those pings pass non surge.


I was fired with a 4.4 rating! It was my only income! I am a very good driver who is also very courteous! I am very upset! They did e-mail me about a rider complaint that I was on my phone... that is what we have to do to pick people up!!!???


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## A T (Aug 3, 2016)

Pammy330 said:


> I was fired with a 4.4 rating! It was my only income! I am a very good driver who is also very courteous! I am very upset! They did e-mail me about a rider complaint that I was on my phone... that is what we have to do to pick people up!!!???


False claims unfair rating system and this is what the drivers get unfortunately. How many trips did you have under your belt if you don't mind me asking?


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