# Beware! Lyft's cancellation fees have small print



## Juris (Mar 1, 2016)

Sharing my recent learning. We all know that if a passenger cancels the ride request more than 5 min after the ride was requested, the driver gets paid a $10 cancellation fee. Right? Maybe. And maybe not. Here is the small print: the driver has to arrive to the pick-up location within five minutes of Lyft's estimated time of arrival (the time Lyft app shows after the ride is accepted by the driver). Here is the caveat: (IMHO) Lyft's ETA does not consider the traffic; the ETA that the navigation app calculates is almost always longer (never shorter) than Lyft's, I've seen more than ten minute difference. Example: during a high traffic time, Lyft driver accepts a ride request; Lyft app gives ETA 10 minutes and Waze gives (a realistic) ETA 20 minutes. If the passenger cancels the ride in the 16th minute, the driver gets nothing as the arrival time has been more than 5 minutes later than Lyft's ETA. Happened to me several times. No good way to deal with it, I personally don't drive during the afternoon commute (stuck in traffic most of the time, multiple cancellations due to the delays and no cancellation fees). Or cancel the rides where the difference between Lyft's and navigation app's ETAs is too big. Or bite the bullet.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

The Estimated Time of Arrival shown on the screen is always unrealistic. It assumes that there are no stoplights, traffic, or any other obstructions between you and the passenger-2-be. It encourages you to navigate in an unsafe manner sometimes. I'm not sure if the ETA is calculated by Lyft, or by Google.


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## Juris (Mar 1, 2016)

When I spoke to lyft, they assured me that lyft has a "super advanced proprietary algorithm" that calculates the ETA so much better than googles-and-likes. In reality, I guess lyft has not figured out (or decided not to) pull the realistic ETA from the navigation app and instead sends its own flat traffic-less ETA estimate to the passenger (and to validate the cancellation fees).


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## grayspinner (Sep 8, 2015)

I've never not gotten the cancelation fee if I am driving towards the pax & they cancel after 5 minutes have passed


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## Juris (Mar 1, 2016)

grayspinner said:


> I've never not gotten the cancelation fee if I am driving towards the pax & they cancel after 5 minutes have passed


I have received some cancellation fees, and not received others. This inconsistency caused me to research.


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## soupergloo (Jul 24, 2015)

If I don't receive a cancellation fee, I already know it's because of the arrival time the passenger saw regardless if 5 mins have passed or not.

Every time I've emailed Lyft, they've given the fee to me on the following days pay statement.


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## Manotas (Dec 2, 2015)

Juris said:


> When I spoke to lyft, they assured me that lyft has a "super advanced proprietary algorithm" that calculates the ETA so much better than googles-and-likes. In reality, I guess lyft has not figured out (or decided not to) pull the realistic ETA from the navigation app and instead sends its own flat traffic-less ETA estimate to the passenger (and to validate the cancellation fees).


That's Bull... just this weekend I was in Ft Lauderdale, stuck on the other side of an open drawbridge when I got a ping, the app said 7 min, Google maps 30 min ... I called the Pax and told them to cancel


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## nplyftcp (Mar 1, 2016)

The worst is when you're on the highway and you're exiting onto a different freeway and you get pinged by someone who was the opposite exit! Have literally had that happen multiple times lol


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## Manotas (Dec 2, 2015)

nplyftcp said:


> The worst is when you're on the highway and you're exiting onto a different freeway and you get pinged by someone who was the opposite exit! Have literally had that happen multiple times lol


I turn my app off when I'm on a highway, I'm not risking crashing because of a darn ping


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## MikesUber (Oct 23, 2015)

Manotas said:


> That's Bull... just this weekend I was in Ft Lauderdale, stuck on the other side of an open drawbridge when I got a ping, the app said 7 min, Google maps 30 min ... I called the Pax and told them to cancel


They expect you to jump it


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

April 3, 2016

The longer I drive for Lyft (137 rides so far), the more I realize just how penny-pinching the company is. For instance, I arrived in front of a restaurant Friday to pick up a passenger named Sritwan. About 15 seconds after pressing the "Arrive" button, he cancelled. (First time I've been cancelled after arriving!) I didn't see the $5 cancellation commission on the next day's statement, so I wrote Lyft support. Here is their response...

"Hi Allen,

Thanks for taking the time to check in with us. I'd be glad to answer your question regarding the cancellation fee.

The cancellation fee for when a passenger cancels is only applied if:

(1) A passenger cancels a ride
(2) More than 5 minutes have elapsed since you accepted the ride request, and
(3) You are on track to arrive at the pickup location within five minutes of the original ETA the passenger saw.

*I looked into that ride and I see that the passenger canceled the ride request less than 5 minutes after you accepted it, which is why the cancellation fee was not applied.*

Thanks again for your understanding, and for being a part of the Lyft community.

All the best,

Kristine
Lyft Support Representative"

Soooo... because I got there too fast, I missed out on the $5 cancellation commission? That's a stupid rule! From now on, if I get a "PING" that's less than 5 minutes away, I'm going to make sure I take at least 5 minutes to get there. But, that would but me behind the original ETA, and void out the $5 cancellation fee again, wouldn't it!

For you "old timers", has Lyft always been so stingy, and hostile in its rules, when it comes to supporting us?


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## CatchyMusicLover (Sep 18, 2015)

Uber does the same thing -- under five minutes and PAX cancels, no fee. 
It really doesn't matter, though, when you get there, what matters is when you accept and when they cancel. So getting there slower isn't going to make a difference.
One time I got cut out of the fee because the idiots somehow put the pin waaaay out of the way -- they were at the airport (which is supposed to only hit those at the staging lot) and managed to cancel probably less than 20 seconds before it would have hit. Sigh. (Though, granted, I imagine it wouldn't have mattered as it was a guarentee hour)


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## kinicky21 (Sep 17, 2016)

I had one last night went like this. Drunk guy puts in destination 45 minutes away from where he really is. Head towards destination and can't get to the arrow because it's down a dirt road that has signs no trespassing. 1 min ETA is as close as I can get. Call guy he's drunk of course say where are you and he says he's at a bar. So I google the name and it's 45 away. Tell him he should cancel and rerequest. He says sorry and cancels. No 5$ fee in my history. Emailing support now but did I do everything right? Wasn't risking my car and self to get to the ping. Frigging dirt road had nasty pot holes and didn't feel like getting shot by the hermits who lived back there.


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## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

This is why a good cutthroat method to getting "the ride" is to pull your fellow Ubers off and setting a timer for 4 minutes.

It's gotten a little better on Uber. When the app detects you are "arriving" the timer is then set to two minutes. If you cancel after that, it will apply the cancellation fee.


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## CatchyMusicLover (Sep 18, 2015)

MiddleClassedOut said:


> This is why a good cutthroat method to getting "the ride" is to pull your fellow Ubers off and setting a timer for 4 minutes.
> 
> It's gotten a little better on Uber. When the app detects you are "arriving" the timer is then set to two minutes. If you cancel after that, it will apply the cancellation fee.


And you're mentioning this in a Lyft thread why?


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## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

Because people take the closest car 90% of the time and have no brand loyalty.


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