# When rider cancels almost immediately



## durwardfarquhar (Jan 2, 2017)

I have a bunch of messages from Lyft of the form

LYFT CANCELED: <name> has canceled the Lyft request.

and they almost always come right after I accept, though sometimes I have time to begin navigating toward the pickup location.

Today I got one of these again ... almost immediately followed by an Uber request from the same name and same address!

So I take the Uber request, pick the passenger up, and ask her if she'd made a Lyft request before her Uber one. She said she hadn't, and that she was just comparing rates.

Whereupon I mused to myself that when Lyft sees a rider setting up for a request, they go ahead and put the request in on the driver side, and then cancel it if the rider appears not to follow through (possibly by placing their Lyft rider app in the background).

What do you think? What is the benefit? It could reduce request-to-pickup times, though not by much. From my viewpoint it's annoying, more so if I start navigating to the rider.


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## AuxCordBoston (Dec 3, 2016)

I get a lot of cancels on Lyft. I think they are checking for better rates


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## fairsailing (May 16, 2016)

How about the cancels that were never offers that I saw or accepted. "John Doe had cancelled their ride." And I am still available. 

Usually happens with airport pickups. Had it happen twice in a row within a minute, different riders. No wonder I wasn't getting rides, Lyft thought I was already on one! Really weird.


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## geauxfish (Jun 10, 2016)

fairsailing said:


> How about the cancels that were never offers that I saw or accepted. "John Doe had cancelled their ride." And I am still available.
> 
> Usually happens with airport pickups. Had it happen twice in a row within a minute, different riders. No wonder I wasn't getting rides, Lyft thought I was already on one! Really weird.


The same thing has happened to me as well. The app has serious issues.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

durwardfarquhar said:


> I have a bunch of messages from Lyft of the form
> 
> LYFT CANCELED: <name> has canceled the Lyft request.
> 
> ...


It could be.
Lyft
playing with the software unknown to Passengers or Drivers.

Sounds like Lyft is trying to shave its time at the Expense of Drivers !


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## Old Smokey (Sep 13, 2015)

AuxCordBoston said:


> I get a lot of cancels on Lyft. I think they are checking for better rates


Of course they are, Lyft is hitting them with Prime Time rates even if it does not show on drivers application. After two from same a-hole I logoff and let the price go higher.


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## DexNex (Apr 18, 2015)

Look up Uber's "Hell" program.


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## Watup (Jan 24, 2017)

Today i got a pax location press arrived and get a call from pax that she already took another car so i should just cancel and she hangs up, ofcrs i didn't cancel and let the timer get to zero but that fkn B$&@ canceled 10 second bfr her 5 minutes .


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## ManOfTroy (Apr 23, 2017)

This is why Lyft needs to follow Uber and go to a 2 minute cancellation window.


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

I got a lot of these pings followed by immediate cancellation, sometimes 3 or 4 pings in a row and I hate it especially when driving at 75 mph. Thought Lyft was playing with me, now I think Lyft should be more transparent about not to ping the driver without confirmed trip requests or pinging with different pitch to indicate it was just interest in trip request.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Lyft messed w/ me w/ all these cancellations.


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## Jamesp1234 (Sep 10, 2016)

I see more cancellations with pool/line and most times by the same person over the same ride. I think they are trolling for a car that is empty to make their trip nicer. The pax and I watched the same other pax try over and over again till we finally passed the next exit (he was watching his customer app and I was watching it on my app as we were driving).


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## tunaskeet (Sep 30, 2016)

Watup said:


> Today i got a pax location press arrived and get a call from pax that she already took another car so i should just cancel and she hangs up, ofcrs i didn't cancel and let the timer get to zero but that fkn B$&@ canceled 10 second bfr her 5 minutes .


 At least a couple times a day


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

durwardfarquhar said:


> I have a bunch of messages from Lyft of the form
> 
> LYFT CANCELED: <name> has canceled the Lyft request.
> 
> ...


A platform should match riders with drivers, not sending out fake requests and then cancel.


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## TimyTim (May 26, 2017)

I was 4 min in route and didn't get a fee. They must have some bugs or haven't got to my account yet


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

TimyTim said:


> I was 4 min in route and didn't get a fee. They must have some bugs or haven't got to my account yet


Darn! I either got pings of immediate cancellation on I-75 or pings with no show and no cancellation at DTW. Weird.


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## DidIDoThat (Jan 9, 2017)

More and more riders are playing the game "Who get's here first...", they request rides with Uber and Lyft and first driver there (or the one that appears to be closest after first minute or two, they keep, the other gets canceled. Many of these riders doing this, won't admit to it either, many are smart enough to keep their mouth shut so as to not spoil the game.

Due to cherry-picking at some airports, this increases the odds that the rider won't have an extended wait time by having to re-request rides.


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

durwardfarquhar said:


> I have a bunch of messages from Lyft of the form
> 
> LYFT CANCELED: <name> has canceled the Lyft request.
> 
> ...


This would explain a whole lot....


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## My28 (Apr 27, 2017)

I get a lot of request for 20 minutes away not happen


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## Jennyma (Jul 16, 2016)

I think it's a few things.
1. they are trying to see how much the ride costs and then accidentally call for a ride.
2. they are not ready, and when they called for a ride you were a bit too close to them.
3. They are running uber and lyft at same time, the other driver is closer.
4. They are trying to get a ride from a specific driver, are sitting in their car and it's not getting that driver first. I have been the driver with pax sitting in it and it goes to someone else, they immediately cancel then it comes to me.
5.They don't like your car.
6. They don't like your rating
7. They don't like your gender
8. They dont like your face

I don't care if they cancel instantly, it's just when I am well into the route it bothers me. I suspect then it is because...
1. They are not ready.
2. They had booked both Uber and Lyft and Uber got there first.


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## Jamesp1234 (Sep 10, 2016)

Jennyma said:


> I think it's a few things.
> 1. they are trying to see how much the ride costs and then accidentally call for a ride.
> 2. they are not ready, and when they called for a ride you were a bit too close to them.
> 3. They are running uber and lyft at same time, the other driver is closer.
> ...


9. They don't like your name


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## Skepticaldriver (Mar 5, 2017)

Instant cancels are lyft pinging several drivers at once.

Or. Lyft pulled that we found you a closer person. And they swapped it out. Even though u didnt get anything else


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## DexNex (Apr 18, 2015)

ntcindetroit said:


> A platform should match riders with drivers, not sending out fake requests and then cancel.


It's not Lyft, it's Uber's "Hell" program.


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## 68350 (May 24, 2017)

I'd put money on it's the pax sending both U/L requests and cancelling the one that costs more. I've had a few recently that were cancelled after 20-30 seconds, long enough that I'm moving their way, which sucks. My fav was one cancelled after about 3 min, thanks for the $3.75.


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

I don't care if it's lyft and/or uber to be blamed for this Ping-and-Cancel *Scenario, I just don't want to be a clueless ind. contractor. *


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## Nightrider9999 (Jun 6, 2016)

My28 said:


> I get a lot of request for 20 minutes away not happen


I get request sometimes for 25 or more min. I wonder what would happen if I accepted the ride then just sat there. Would they look at the time and just cancel?


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

Nightrider9999 said:


> I get request sometimes for 25 or more min. I wonder what would happen if I accepted the ride then just sat there. Would they look at the time and just cancel?


Experienced and Sobering rider(s) will most likely call you to ask if you're coming to pick them up. I ask some of my riders how long they have to wait to get picked up in freezing cold early morning hours, they said from 15 minutes to 2 hours. I believe that is/are honest answer(s).


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## Snowblind (Apr 14, 2017)

I am getting a lot of those on Lyft Premiere and Uber Select.
They are often 7-10 minutes away, and probably changing their minds and end up getting a regular Lyft or UberX.


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## Uberglenn (Jan 18, 2017)

I received 37 cancellation messages in one week from lyft. Im glad I dont do lyft anymore


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

Uberglenn said:


> I received 37 cancellation messages in one week from lyft. Im glad I dont do lyft anymore


Besides 37 cancelled messages, may we ask how many non-cancelled trip requests you received in a week?


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## Moondirty (Jul 6, 2017)

anyone else have their job completely change on route without accepting the new ping? I swear these bastards automatically cancelled and then accepted another request more than once on me!


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

Jennyma said:


> I think it's a few things.
> 1. they are trying to see how much the ride costs and then accidentally call for a ride.
> 2. they are not ready, and when they called for a ride you were a bit too close to them.
> 3. They are running uber and lyft at same time, the other driver is closer.
> ...


^^^^^
THIS.

It's not Uber. They have better things to do. It's the Lyft pax, and Jenny has nailed the most common reasons.


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## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

durwardfarquhar said:


> I have a bunch of messages from Lyft of the form
> 
> LYFT CANCELED: <name> has canceled the Lyft request.
> 
> ...


Not a bad theory. But I think they are sending the ping to 2 drivers at the same time, hoping at least one accepts. In the case of the immediate cancel, the other Lyft driver accepted first.


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## rickasmith98 (Sep 26, 2016)

Jennyma said:


> I think it's a few things.
> 1. they are trying to see how much the ride costs and then accidentally call for a ride.
> 2. they are not ready, and when they called for a ride you were a bit too close to them.
> 3. They are running uber and lyft at same time, the other driver is closer.
> ...


I get cancellations ALL the time on Lyft and in my area, Lyft is fairly new and not a lot of people know about it so the volumes are dismal anyway. It is very annoying though because 9 out of 10 pings I get on Lyft will be canceled.

Hate to say this but I also think #9 should be "They don't like your race". This works both sides of the ethnicity fence.

Definitely #4 happened to me the other day. Was leaving a neighborhood after dropping off a Uber PAX and got a Lyft ping from the same neighborhood and GPS said I was 2 minutes away. Must have damn near run over the PAX...lol. Accepted and went to turn around and immediately got a text from the dude saying "Please cancel, I already have a ride".

Ignored it and started to the PU address. He called and said he had another ride and asked me to cancel and I refused. Told him I had accepted the request in good faith and I was only 2 minutes from him and could not cancel as our cancellation rates are monitored closely. Then a voice piped in and it was another Lyft driver. The PAX was already in her car obviously. The Lyft driver kept telling the PAX he would be charged after a minute if he canceled. Corrected her and reiterated it was 5 minutes and if he wished to cancel, he was free to do so but I would not be canceling. They hung up and he immediately canceled. Was hoping the request would roll back to me again but it didn't.

Never do I jump up and run out the door with Lyft because this is so common. Wait 3 minutes now if I am at home before heading to the car. Hate to do that but it's not worth it to drive a mile or two and they cancel.

Wish Lyft, like Uber, would only allow 2 minutes for cancellations before charging the $5. That's plenty of time if they are price shopping and accidentally request, or if they get a different driver than who they wanted or if the driver is too far or too close to them, etc.


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## JJS (Jan 5, 2016)

Other drivers seeing the jabrini around them. Taking off line to manipulate surge or pull other drivers off a key spot.


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## Uberglenn (Jan 18, 2017)

ntcindetroit said:


> Besides 37 cancelled messages, may we ask how many non-cancelled trip requests you received in a week?


About 20


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