# Opinions on rude rider



## Jeremy Davis (Aug 13, 2016)

so I had a bit of a situation with a rider that i want an opinion on. A rider left her phone in my car. I immediately emailed Lyft and gave them permission to share my contact info so I could get her phone back to her. She emailed me and texted me. I told her that if she wouldn't mind covering the cost of my gas (she's about 20-30 miles away) I'd happily deliver it to her. She happily agreed, however, she became irate when I told her that I'm out of town and didn't know if I would be back this evening, but that I would happily get it to her tomorrow. This is the conversation that ensued. (Apologies for the long post)

Her. Hey! This is _____, I left my phone in your car. Sorry email was inconvenient because I don't get alerts so I never know when you would message lol

Me: Lol. No worries. I don't have it with me and won't be home to pick it up tonight but I could be out there around like noonish tomorrow

Her: It's my work phone is there anyway I could pick it up? Like from a roommate or something? With out it I can't work tonight or tomorrow morning and I kinda need to .... lol I'm sorry I know this isn't your problem I just really need to grab the phone.

Me:Sorry I live alone so no roommates there.


Her: So basically I'm screwed?There's nothing I can do to get it today? What if this was my wallet or something I just couldn't get it until tomorrow? Like I can't go to work without it. Again I'm sorry I know this isn't your problem but this is a very big problem for me and I just need some option in picking up the phone.

Me: I understand. I will try but can't make any guarantees. I'm nowhere near my house and don't know when/if I'll get home tonight.


Her: Ok but you like ... this is part of your job when people leave things. If it wasn't a big deal I would say no problem. But I'm going to loose my job like this is a big deal. As a part of a company you should make sure I get my items back ....

Once again I'm not asking you to bring them to me or anything I just need to retrieve my items. And you not letting me is NOT OK.


Me: I'm not not letting you I'm not even in Minneapolis
I am out of town and hadn't planed on coming back home to Minneapolis tonight where uour phone Is

Her: Ok I get that, I didn't plan on leaving my phone in your car and being on the verge of being terminated from my job. But life doesn't go as planned and I need my item back......

Me Don't hear this the wrong way but Please do not yell at me I am trying to accommodate you but I am several hours away and can't drop everything

Her: I am not yelling I am just going to loose my job over this and I am trying to avoid that

Me I will try but like I said I'm several hours away

Her: I don't understand what "try" means Either you are going to return my items to me today or you're not. This is ridiculous and the worst customer service I have ever experienced you work for a business.

Me. I apologize for that, I'm trying to be accommodating but What I mean is I am several hours away in des monies right now and your phone is in Minneapolis. I smiply can't drop everything and travel 5 hours


At this point I don't really know that I feel safe returning her phone to her in person. Who knows what she would say or do at this point . Lyft had offered to send me material to send it to them. Which do you think is my best option?


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## HotRodriguez75 (Oct 16, 2015)

Jeremy Davis said:


> so I had a bit of a situation with a rider that i want an opinion on. A rider left her phone in my car. I immediately emailed Lyft and gave them permission to share my contact info so I could get her phone back to her. She emailed me and texted me. I told her that if she wouldn't mind covering the cost of my gas (she's about 20-30 miles away) I'd happily deliver it to her. She happily agreed, however, she became irate when I told her that I'm out of town and didn't know if I would be back this evening, but that I would happily get it to her tomorrow. This is the conversation that ensued. (Apologies for the long post)
> 
> Her. Hey! This is _____, I left my phone in your car. Sorry email was inconvenient because I don't get alerts so I never know when you would message lol
> 
> ...


What is Lyft's policy on returning items?

If you have the option to ship it to them (With Uber you can return the item to a greenlight office), done deal! Her opinion on customer service will change quickly and your responsibilities as a driver.

Next time, respond when you are able to return the item. A unanswered email or text is sometimes better.


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## Jeremy Davis (Aug 13, 2016)

HotRodriguez75 said:


> What is Lyft's policy on returning items?
> 
> If you have the option to ship it to them (With Uber you can return the item to a greenlight office), done deal! Her opinion on customer service will change quickly and your responsibilities as a driver.
> 
> Next time, respond when you are able to return the item. A unanswered email or text is sometimes better.


Yep Lyft has the same policy. I can ship it to them and they will take responsibility for it. I fee badly for her, and in all probability could make it back tonight to get it to her but after her behavior...eh....


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## ddelro219 (Aug 11, 2016)

she has right to panic as if she's truthful, she could lose her job which isn't good news at all. i'd certainly be in panic mode and might push buttons to get what i need; it's nothing personal. she shoudl understand, however, that there's no reasonable expectation for you to drive hours to return the phone to you. so give her options: 1. wait for you to return, or 2. wiat for you to return.


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## Drider500 (Sep 15, 2016)

I would have had her order Uber/Lift and have her set the pickup pin somewhere close to you and have the phone delivered to her at her expense on her Uber/Lift account. I have done this a few times when a PAX leaves something in my car.


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## Jeremy Davis (Aug 13, 2016)

At this point, do you think it's unreasonable for me to just ignore her messages and send it back to Lyft? I should mention here that she's a lady of, shall we say, a certain profession,and made it quite clear during the ride that she's a drug addict with a violent temper. My fear is, given the way she's behaving already, what might she do in retaliation? she could very easily claim that I returned it damaged or something like that.


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## ddelro219 (Aug 11, 2016)

Jeremy Davis said:


> At this point, do you think it's unreasonable for me to just ignore her messages and send it back to Lyft? I should mention here that she's a lady of, shall we say, a certain profession,and made it quite clear during the ride that she's a drug addict with a violent temper. My fear is, given the way she's behaving already, what might she do in retaliation? she could very easily claim that I returned it damaged or something like that.


that said, just send to lyft directly and let them return. not worth the risk - bad temper, drug addiction, and of a 'certain profession'. not the best mix to mess with.


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## Red Leader (Sep 4, 2016)

She can call in sick and avoid termination. If they terminate her because of that, the she had other issues before this. Drop the phone off at a police station.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Useless PAX


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## macchiato (Sep 29, 2015)

At this point rather than dealing with the pax I'd leave it at a neutral location. Take it to the nearest police station and tell Lyft that's where you left it. 

Cease all communications with her.


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## Nomad (Jul 30, 2015)

ddelro219 said:


> that said, just send to lyft directly and let them return. not worth the risk - bad temper, drug addiction, and of a 'certain profession'. not the best mix to mess with.


I concur... and make sure to request that you're never paired with that pax again. She's lucky you even reported the phone and were working to bring it to her. At some point, she has to realize that her losing her "work phone" is her responsibility and she has to deal with the consequences. Although, I'm not really sure there's an employer out there that would fire someone over leaving a phone in an Uber for a few days (well, maybe Uber would).

My gut tells me that is not a work phone, though.


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## CatchyMusicLover (Sep 18, 2015)

Red Leader said:


> Drop the phone off at a police station.


Do this, and get a receipt.
Also, tell her it is NOT your job to take care of things left in your own personal vehicle, it is hers to not lose things. Also not your problem if she loses her job because of her negligence. You have really no reason to be nice after all that.


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## Red Leader (Sep 4, 2016)

Personally, and I am not saying anyone else do this......

Once accusations start and implications of what my job is, I'm pretty much done with the situation. My willingness to do you a favor evaporates pretty quickly.


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## OlDirtySapper (Jul 26, 2016)

Taking them to the police station was always my goto in the cab. Sometimes with a call to the non-emergency number to let them know I would be pulling up. If I tell someone to get out for any reason and they refuse the next stop is the downtown police station. If its just their phone and they pissed me off I pry just threw it in the trash or a random yard while i was driving by......


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## agtg (Jun 8, 2016)

Wait for lyft and do it their way. It is likely she is simply lying through her teeth because she cannot go without Instatwitgramface for more than a couple hours.


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## Jennyma (Jul 16, 2016)

I doubt the job phone story is real but I do understand what it is like to be without a phone. But if she needs that for work, she explains to work that she left her phone and they likely have something for this situation. This is not the first time someone left their phone somewhere. If she loses her job it's not likely because she left her phone in your car, there would be other reasons. Don't be manipulated into ruining your evening for her mistakes.

She left it so she has to deal. The maybe part was likely what frustrated her. Maybe? If you pay me I can come to you? WTF is maybe I will be able to drop it off.

Two options:
1. I can drop it off for you at 12 noon.
2. You can come to me at noon.
3. I can drop it off with Lyft at noon.


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## mandreyka (Sep 25, 2015)

She is a liar. Tell her you will drop it off at a police station when you return home and she can contact them to get it back. Screw her, next time remember these words... "I didn't find a phone in my car". Give it to a homeless guy on a freeway offramp.


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## Stan07 (Oct 10, 2016)

From the ethical point of view and the importance of cellphone in peoples lives, you should have returned the phone immediatley. It's your responsibility to check the backseat after the rider. This is very common situation where pax drops an item in the car. 

It happened to me once, pax literally left the bag in the trunk that i found out later. I just drove to the address and called Lyft's emergency line to reach out to the client. They called me and i delivered the bag.

No tip..


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Jeremy Davis said:


> so I had a bit of a situation with a rider that i want an opinion on. A rider left her phone in my car. I immediately emailed Lyft and gave them permission to share my contact info so I could get her phone back to her. She emailed me and texted me. I told her that if she wouldn't mind covering the cost of my gas (she's about 20-30 miles away) I'd happily deliver it to her. She happily agreed, however, she became irate when I told her that I'm out of town and didn't know if I would be back this evening, but that I would happily get it to her tomorrow. This is the conversation that ensued. (Apologies for the long post)
> 
> Her. Hey! This is _____, I left my phone in your car. Sorry email was inconvenient because I don't get alerts so I never know when you would message lol
> 
> ...


If it is so important to her job,why was she so irresponsible with it ?
I can't work without my phone.
I have never left a phone behind anywhere .
She should be fired.
I am sure this is just a symptom of much larger acts of carelessness on her behalf.
Perhaps she will learn from this.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Stan07 said:


> From the ethical point of view and the importance of cellphone in peoples lives, you should have returned the phone immediatley. It's your responsibility to check the backseat after the rider. This is very common situation where pax drops an item in the car.
> 
> It happened to me once, pax literally left the bag in the trunk that i found out later. I just drove to the address and called Lyft's emergency line to reach out to the client. They called me and i delivered the bag.
> 
> No tip..


Bull.
Time for pax to either hold on to their pacifiers,or do without them !


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

If Uber/Lyft gave us something for returning a lost item, situations like this wouldn't occur as much.

I respectfully disagree. It's *their* responsibility to make sure they have their belongings when they exit my vehicle. Personal responsibility may be unpopular these days but it's still valid.

Have had this happen with both Uber and Lyft. Lyft did reimburse me for putting keys in the mail to pax since she lived about 30 minutes from me and made no offer to compensate for time/trouble.

Uber passenger left her phone in the car on an airport dropoff where she was going on an international flight. I found the phone while still on airport grounds. Parked ($6) & was able to return it to a ticket agent. Uber fought tooth and nail to not reimburse me for parking fee to return her phone. Ultimately they did but it was a Hillary getting them to do it.

Unless they offer to compensate, it goes to a police station. Attitude like this, I'd make sure the police station was VERY far from her.

Her mistake in life doesn't constitute an emergency in your life.


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## Stan07 (Oct 10, 2016)

tohunt4me said:


> Bull.
> Time for pax to either hold on to their pacifiers,or do without them !


True but, you still responsible for checking your car after each rider. What if they drop drugs and you get pulled for a random search?


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## DaisyDriver (Jul 25, 2016)

Stan07 said:


> From the ethical point of view and the importance of cellphone in peoples lives, you should have returned the phone immediatley. It's your responsibility to check the backseat after the rider. This is very common situation where pax drops an item in the car.


I'm all for doing the right thing but when being 'ethical' cost 5 hours of my time and money, all bets are off. Are you really saying you would have cancelled your plans to drive 5 hours to return a lost phone? Sometimes they fall in the cracks of the seat or underneath. A visual check may not have caught it.



New2This said:


> Personal responsibility may be unpopular these days but it's still valid.


I agree. I am not responsible for lost or stolen property, period. This happened to me and I returned it to the police department. I did not want to deal with the guy or his outrageous demands of me dropping everything to immediately address his mistake. I haven't found a lost article in my car since.


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## Stan07 (Oct 10, 2016)

What i'm saying is, check your back seat and carpet/floor mat upon pax departure from your car. It only takes few seconds.

This problem happens and its drivers responsibility to minimize the risk.


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## DaisyDriver (Jul 25, 2016)

Stan07 said:


> its drivers responsibility to minimize the risk.


What part of "I am not responsible for lost or stolen property, period" don't you understand?

The only risk I need to minimize is the amount of money I lose driving for free.


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## Stan07 (Oct 10, 2016)

Look, i'm not trying to defend the rider in this spesific event. I'm a driver and i don't want to deal with such things, that's why i check the back seat and floor. People drop their cellphones. It happens!!

It's not only cellphone. What if someone bring and leave illegal stuff (drugs, weapons etc) in your car and cops find that out. How's going to be your defence?

You are responsible what comes in and out of your car during the rides. Period.


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## Jennyma (Jul 16, 2016)

Stan07 said:


> From the ethical point of view and the importance of cellphone in peoples lives, you should have returned the phone immediatley. It's your responsibility to check the backseat after the rider. This is very common situation where pax drops an item in the car.
> 
> It happened to me once, pax literally left the bag in the trunk that i found out later. I just drove to the address and called Lyft's emergency line to reach out to the client. They called me and i delivered the bag.
> 
> No tip..


Not sure I agree with you here. One person I dropped off during the 4th of July, left some medicine in the car. He was with a group of 3 other guys and they went into a restaurant. I noticed it and had to go into the parking lot that wasn't free and it was packed and I couldn't find a space to go into the restaurant and look for him. I noticed one of his friends on the stairs, doubled parked and gave it to his friend who said he would give it to him. You do what you can but I don't think it is our responsibility.

However if I was in the OP situation, I would not have gone out of town and left a phone at home. Before going off the lyft clock I would have dropped it a location that the person could have picked it up through lyft. So I'm not drive to anyone to drop it off and they don't have to wait to get it. OR the local police department.


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## UberPartnerDennis (Jun 21, 2015)

Best advice:

Drop at your nearest police station, give them the contact information and walk away from it

In the future any lost items in your car get dropped off at the nearest police station and you email Lyft that is what you did. 

problem solved


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## Lildono (Dec 19, 2015)

J


Jeremy Davis said:


> so I had a bit of a situation with a rider that i want an opinion on. A rider left her phone in my car. I immediately emailed Lyft and gave them permission to share my contact info so I could get her phone back to her. She emailed me and texted me. I told her that if she wouldn't mind covering the cost of my gas (she's about 20-30 miles away) I'd happily deliver it to her. She happily agreed, however, she became irate when I told her that I'm out of town and didn't know if I would be back this evening, but that I would happily get it to her tomorrow. This is the conversation that ensued. (Apologies for the long post)
> 
> Her. Hey! This is _____, I left my phone in your car. Sorry email was inconvenient because I don't get alerts so I never know when you would message lol
> 
> ...


Return it to lyft and have them deal with it


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## Sueron (Sep 16, 2016)

Stan07 said:


> From the ethical point of view and the importance of cellphone in peoples lives, you should have returned the phone immediatley. It's your responsibility to check the backseat after the rider. This is very common situation where pax drops an item in the car.
> 
> It happened to me once, pax literally left the bag in the trunk that i found out later. I just drove to the address and called Lyft's emergency line to reach out to the client. They called me and i delivered the bag.
> 
> No tip..


How stupid is that? Many times a driver can miss seeing something left in the car.. you admitted that in your post. Why should she go out of her way (in a different city) and spend 5 hours of driving time to return a phone that was carelessly left in the car. Too much texting... I'll return (one way or the other) your phone when I get back home...PERIOD! immediatley is spelled immediately.


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## Stan07 (Oct 10, 2016)

Jennyma said:


> Not sure I agree with you here. You do what you can but I don't think it is our responsibility.


 In my case, i should have remembered the bag in the trunk, BUT I DIDN'T I slept on it and punished myself for returning it.


Sueron said:


> How stupid is that? Many times a driver can miss seeing something left in the car.. you admitted that in your post. Why should she go out of her way (in a different city) and spend 5 hours of driving time to return a phone that was carelessly left in the car. Too much texting... I'll return (one way or the other) your phone when I get back home...PERIOD! immediatley is spelled immediately.


Hold your horses! What i'm saying is, it's your responsibility to check your backseats before you leave the drop off location.


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## Nomad (Jul 30, 2015)

Checking your vehicle for items after a pax exits is the best practice.

- It simply reduces any headache you or the pax might have in returning/retrieving the item.
- It makes it much easier to confidently say there was nothing left in your car when a careless person believes they left an item in your vehicle but didn't.
- It keeps you from looking silly when the next pax gets in the car and finds the drugs, weapons, alcohol, or dirty diaper the last pax left.

But even that won't ensure you see the phone that fell between the seats or the flask left in the pocket behind the passenger seat. There's only so much you can do.

I think in this instance (the OP's story), it would have been best if you mentioned that you were out of town first, established how the pax wanted to handle it (clearly they weren't going to be reasonable anyway), and if an agreement can't be met then mail it to Uber/Lyft.


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## ÜberWitch (Oct 18, 2016)

No way can a driver be blamed for this. I look for left behind items but it's done very quick by peering over my shoulder in the back. I drive busy streets so it's impossible most of the time to pull over and do a better check.

As an example the other night I had 3 pax, dropped them off (busy streets in Boston & zero spots), did a quick check in back and in front and saw nothing. In fact I always say "make sure you have all your personal belongings." Pax calls 10 mins later, Wallet fell under the drivers side seat. It was really inconvenient to return but I did so with zero tip.

Get your shit together people.


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## PeterNorth (Apr 4, 2016)

How do people leave stuff in cars? I am so OCD when I leave that I feel for my wallet, phone and keys in my pockets - twice! For a woman this should be even easier with a quick glance in her purse to see her items.

So now, cause some imbecile can't keep track of her own items you have to deal with an irate person who is putting the blame on you.


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## hewlett2packard (Sep 29, 2016)

Jeremy Davis said:


> so I had a bit of a situation with a rider that i want an opinion on. A rider left her phone in my car. I immediately emailed Lyft and gave them permission to share my contact info so I could get her phone back to her. She emailed me and texted me. I told her that if she wouldn't mind covering the cost of my gas (she's about 20-30 miles away) I'd happily deliver it to her. She happily agreed, however, she became irate when I told her that I'm out of town and didn't know if I would be back this evening, but that I would happily get it to her tomorrow. This is the conversation that ensued. (Apologies for the long post)
> 
> Her. Hey! This is _____, I left my phone in your car. Sorry email was inconvenient because I don't get alerts so I never know when you would message lol
> 
> ...


SEND THE PHONE TO LYFT period
Take youself out of the equation


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## allnighter86 (Aug 8, 2016)

hewlett2packard said:


> SEND THE PHONE TO LYFT period
> Take youself out of the equation


Seriously. Or drop it at a police station. You need to extract yourself from this situation. The only reason to go "above and beyond" in these situations os because you are hoping for a tip or some other form of compensation. I could be wrong here, but reading through your exchange gives me the impression that this woman will NOT tip you, no matter what you do.


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## Hunter420 (May 1, 2016)

I get lots of things left in my car, 5 cells, hats, books, ex.... I always double check everytime!!!


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## hewlett2packard (Sep 29, 2016)

Hunter420 said:


> I get lots of things left in my car, 5 cells, hats, books, ex.... I always double check everytime!!!


Gee, all I got was an empty canvas shopping bag. i made no attempt to return it to Owner.


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## KMANDERSON (Jul 19, 2015)

Jeremy Davis said:


> so I had a bit of a situation with a rider that i want an opinion on. A rider left her phone in my car. I immediately emailed Lyft and gave them permission to share my contact info so I could get her phone back to her. She emailed me and texted me. I told her that if she wouldn't mind covering the cost of my gas (she's about 20-30 miles away) I'd happily deliver it to her. She happily agreed, however, she became irate when I told her that I'm out of town and didn't know if I would be back this evening, but that I would happily get it to her tomorrow. This is the conversation that ensued. (Apologies for the long post)
> 
> Her. Hey! This is _____, I left my phone in your car. Sorry email was inconvenient because I don't get alerts so I never know when you would message lol
> 
> ...


Tell her the costermer service ended when she got her ass out of your car.


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## Saltyoldman (Oct 18, 2016)

agtg said:


> Wait for lyft and do it their way. It is likely she is simply lying through her teeth because she cannot go without Instatwitgramface for more than a couple hours.


Well said sir


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