# I'll Take a 1-star Rating For Five Dollars Alex.



## Coastal_Cruiser (Oct 1, 2018)

I saw a 1-star heading my way but decided not to duck. Guy calls for an Uber car from a remote resort. I show up. He doesn't. The full five minutes tick off and I cancel, but not without having texted the gentleman twice, and even gotten a reply once that he was on his way out. Although I am not a toes-on-the-curb kind of driver, I do draw the line at the five minute marker.

Since the resort is good for a steady stream of rides I stay parked by the valet area. After maybe 3-4 minutes the valet is opening the intentionally unlocked back doors to let someone in. I assumed it was my canceled fare and was correct. It's a couple. A heavyset middle-aged white male and a plump young Filipino gal. Put another way, I was dealing with Mr. I'm-showing-off-to-my-girlfriend.

The guy: "You canceled?".
Me: "Yes. I _did_ wait five minutes sir. But you are welcome to request again".
The guy: "I already am. We just want to go downtown".

The request comes in from the back seat the couple had settled in to and I accept. That action was _crossing-the-Rubicon_, because I knew there was a disturbance in the Force at that point. The tell? _The man was not full of apologies for his tardiness_. He didn't get overtly mad that he had been cancelled on, but he was mostly quiet and, uh... simmering. My take was that the gentleman felt he had been wronged... that he was entitled to take as long as necessary to make his way to the hired car.

On the 20 minute ride to town I was deliciously polite, my driving was exemplary, and I gave the tourists some tips to see downtown. None of which mattered because the rider had made up his mind to 1-star me before I had even accepted the second ping. Sure enough, shortly after the ride completed a fresh star appeared in the 1 star column of my ratings, and my average dropped one basis point.

The rest of the shift went swimmingly.


----------



## BadYota (Aug 7, 2019)

If I cancel somebody I go offline for a few minutes until I’m sure they requested another Uber. Don’t tell them YOU cancelled, tell them Uber told you to cancel because you were in a busy area, blah blah blah. You let him make you feel bad, you gotta make them feel bad! Sir, this is a busy area, if I waited more than 5 minutes per pax i won’t be able to make enough money to feed tiny Tim!


----------



## Coastal_Cruiser (Oct 1, 2018)

That's a good strategy. In this case I was playing it straight to see how the pax would react. I've played it straight before and it worked out fine. The pax fully understood that "time is money", apologized, and pinged me again. 5-star ride.

One apsect of Uber driving that I like is that it is a study in human behavior.


----------



## TemptingFate (May 2, 2019)

BadYota said:


> tiny Tim


Aka Jimmy Johnson, Little Richard, or Dick Butkis.


----------



## Defensive Driver (Aug 27, 2019)

Coastal_Cruiser said:


> I saw a 1-star heading my way but decided not to duck. Guy calls for an Uber car from a remote resort. I show up. He doesn't. The full five minutes tick off and I cancel, but not without having texted the gentleman twice, and even gotten a reply once that he was on his way out. Although I am not a toes-on-the-curb kind of driver, I do draw the line at the five minute marker.
> 
> Since the resort is good for a steady stream of rides I stay parked by the valet area. After maybe 3-4 minutes the valet is opening the intentionally unlocked back doors to let someone in. I assumed it was my canceled fare and was correct. It's a couple. A heavyset middle-aged white male and a plump young Filipino gal. Put another way, I was dealing with Mr. I'm-showing-off-to-my-girlfriend.
> 
> ...


Some drivers just don't know when to leave the premises to avoid trouble.


----------



## Fusion_LUser (Jan 3, 2020)

Seems to me you knew the outcome and just wanted to see if your instincts were correct. Was it worth it to confirm your instincts were correct?

If I have to cancel on a pax my immediate instinct is to have nothing to do with said pax because it can continue to go downhill from already low spot.


----------



## TheDevilisaParttimer (Jan 2, 2019)

Y’all are missing OP’s point. He wanted both the cancel fee and the money for the ride, screw stars. I’ve done this multiple times myself.


----------



## Coastal_Cruiser (Oct 1, 2018)

Fusion_LUser said:


> Seems to me you knew the outcome and just wanted to see if your instincts were correct. Was it worth it to confirm your instincts were correct?
> 
> If I have to cancel on a pax my immediate instinct is to have nothing to do with said pax because it can continue to go downhill from already low spot.


You're warm fusion... but it wasn't so much as wanting/needing to prove out my instincts -because honestly they are never 100% correct or incorrect- it was a willingness to take a chance on the pax even though he looked like trouble.... again because you really never know for sure. And, I love observing people. My buddy and I when we were teens would go the airport at night and just people watch. I was willing to pay the 1-star just to see how the situation turned out. I was very careful though not to say/do anything to aggravate things further. And as I was saying in the post, the last time this happened the pax was totally apologetic. She had no concern about paying five bucks as a late penalty. Uber is a character test in disguise. For both rider _and_ driver.

At the end of the day though, and quite unexpectedly, this event brought about an epiphany. I have always been attached to the idea of having no 1 stars on my record. I work hard for 5 stars on every ride. But something clicked in my brain after this ride. I've seen enough pax render a 1 star rating w/o good cause that I've decided to be ok with carrying a few of them on the board. Hard to explain, but somehow the willingness to take the hit triggered a shift in my view of 1 stars. As much as I hate them, I'm not going to run from trouble to avoid them. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm trying to be tough. It's just what's so. Since that event I am no longer obsessed about my ratings. Anything over 4.9x is cool, and you can carry five 1 stars and still hit that number. ;>



TheDevilisaParttimer said:


> Y'all are missing OP's point. He wanted both the cancel fee and the money for the ride, screw stars. I've done this multiple times myself.


You're right parttimer. Greed played a factor in the initial decision to cancel. Then it folded into the stuff I mentioned above. Based on all I've absorbed on this forum I formed the policy of cancelling at 5 minutes. I never shuffle, and in fact have waited longer than 5 for a pax to load up. But it seems reasonable the pax should pay a fee for being late over and above the minuscule waiting timer. Five minutes is the demarcation. Time is money.


----------



## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

You can always put it on Uber...

When you run over 5 mins, the app TELLS you to cancel. At least it does in my market. 

I should have screenshot it, I just saw it 15 minutes ago, lol.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I have collected several cancel fees and then requests from the same PAX. If they bring it up I simply say I am in a Beta testing with Uber and the trips cancel automatically any time after 5 minutes have passed. The cancel is based on other rider opening the app and being potential rides Uber does not want to lose.

So far it has worked just fine for me with no obvious down ratings from the PAX.


----------



## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

FLKeys said:


> I have collected several cancel fees and then requests from the same PAX. If they bring it up I simply say I am in a Beta testing with Uber and the trips cancel automatically any time after 5 minutes have passed. The cancel is based on other rider opening the app and being potential rides Uber does not want to lose.
> 
> So far it has worked just fine for me with no obvious down ratings from the PAX.


Most of us dont have your good looks
Or luck!!!


----------



## #professoruber (Feb 19, 2018)

If you get the cancel fee, you win another prize, another driver. I don’t want you in my car period

You’re one of them guys that clog up the valet circle and make it hard on us other drivers. We have multiple hotels/resorts that are fed up with drivers thinking they can stage in a high traffic area. The little beacon or amp doesn’t give you that right.

When I am a couple minutes away, I am a little more patient as it’s a no win situation for a rider. Most times, I will text/call the rider and let them know that I am already here and ask if they are going to need a little more time. Driver is sometimes 5-10 minutes out and sometimes close. They are not going to see a driver is 2 minutes out and wait to order a ride as that same driver may get another ride. Our minds don’t work that way. We are basic creatures. Open app, order ride, go get into car.

The lesson to be learned here is that this driver cancelled and still didn’t get another ride. Sometimes knowing your market and what is going on at that specific time, it’s better to just wait it out. Sometimes, I have zero patience and if your toes are not on the curb, I roll up and cancel which is during high surge. However, if it’s a 45+ minute ride on a high surge, I will wait indefinitely.

Another lesson to be learned, hotel pickups are more likely to tip in my experience.


----------

