# The Ride Request Couldn't Be Completed.. During a Guarantee Hour..WTH?!?



## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

June 10, 2016

I opted in to the "Hourly Guarantee" this morning for the first time in my 7 months of driving, because Chicago drivers were offered a last minute special of $30 for 2 rides, for certain hours this weekend. (Previously it's been $17 for 2 or 3 rides an hour)

I had just completed my 1st ride during the 6pm hour and got a PING for ride number 2 at 6:45pm. "James" was only 3 minutes away, so I promptly accepted. Immediately the screen blinked and a white box appeared that said, "*The ride request could not be completed. You will not be charged for Non-Acceptance*."

Has anyone ever seen this before? My cynical side says that this was Lyft's pre-programmed way to keep me from earning the $30 guarantee for the 6pm-7pm hour.

I always wondered why we have to "Opt In" to be eligible for the hourly guarantees. Connecting the dots, I think that "Opting In" could flag you in the Lyft computer to be passed over, for the ride that would fulfill your hourly guarantee, if another driver is in the area. Not every hour, but sometimes.

This event reminds me of when a friend showed me how slot machines are directed by software to be more generous, or stingy, during certain times, in certain parts of the room, at the casinos.

-Allen


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

Sounds like he cancelled before you could accept it and the system glitched. I have had that happen to me, but it's been awhile. 

I hit all my 2 per hour tonight and they owe me money.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

Sure said:


> Sounds like he cancelled before you could accept it and the system glitched. I have had that happen to me, but it's been awhile.
> 
> I hit all my 2 per hour tonight and they owe me money.


Way to go, Sure! The Lyft gods were smiling on you this evening. When the guarantee says 4pm to 8pm, does that mean it runs through 8:59pm, or 7:59pm?


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

AllenChicago said:


> Way to go, Sure! The Lyft gods were smiling on you this evening. When the guarantee says 4pm to 8pm, does that mean it runs through 8:59pm, or 7:59pm?


7:59

Yeah, I didn't think I was going to hit the last hour, then bam, 4 mins away at the Harlem blue line, accepted at 7:58. Lol


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

AllenChicago said:


> Way to go, Sure! The Lyft gods were smiling on you this evening. When the guarantee says 4pm to 8pm, does that mean it runs through 8:59pm, or 7:59pm?


Also remember, you only need 50 mins in that hour, so log in at 4:00 and log out at 4:50 if you have your 2 rides. Do it each hour you're working, the ride counts for the hour accepted, you don't want to accept a ride at 4:57 if you have your 2 already, that puts you behind for the next hour since you have to drop them off.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

SURE, Thank-you for the advice, and for explaining how the Guarantee cut-off time works. I will drive in closer to Chicago and try to make a couple of the guarantees tomorrow, following your guidelines. Out here in the Palatine/Arlington Heights area, Saturday's are dead.


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

AllenChicago said:


> SURE, Thank-you for the advice, and for explaining how the Guarantee cut-off time works. I will drive in closer to Chicago and try to make a couple of the guarantees tomorrow, following your guidelines. Out here in the Palatine/Arlington Heights area, Saturday's are dead.


Anytime, I hope you get them all tomorrow, and they have to pay out the nose.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

I opted into those two. But it's so hard to get 2 per hour. It's making me not want to bust my ass for them. 

$33 from 12 - 2 am tonight, and tommorrow night. $30 all day tomorrow. With traffic and stuff, how do you guys get 2? I get 2 some hours, some hours only 1.


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

BaitNSwitch said:


> I opted into those two. But it's so hard to get 2 per hour. It's making me not want to bust my ass for them.
> 
> $33 from 12 - 2 am tonight, and tommorrow night. $30 all day tomorrow. With traffic and stuff, how do you guys get 2? I get 2 some hours, some hours only 1.


Lyft line with a match and you have your 2. Also hope you get short trips.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

It's gonna be 90 degrees and hella packed with many street closures and festivals. Good luck to you guys if you're going for it tomorrow.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

BaitNSwitch said:


> It's gonna be 90 degrees and hella packed with many street closures and festivals. Good luck to you guys if you're going for it tomorrow.


I just had a brainstorm. I stopped hanging out around Malls, because of all the short, annoying, unprofitable rides, with 3 to 5 people crammed in. But that will be just what the doctor ordered for a hot June Saturday during $30 Guarantee hours!


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## SuckA (May 4, 2016)

Sat/Sun mornings are really the only busy days for me, weekdays have gotten so slow, I don't even bother anymore.


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

AllenChicago said:


> Way to go, Sure! The Lyft gods were smiling on you this evening. When the guarantee says 4pm to 8pm, does that mean it runs through 8:59pm, or 7:59pm?


Did you drive the hours this morning? Again, I hit all 4 hours again, going to be an OK check this week.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

I thought about it at 9 am.

Saw the temperature 86 degrees and sunny. My ac in my room was running nice and cold. Said F it and went back to sleep. Might go for the 4 to 8 and 10 - 2 ones tonight.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

Sure said:


> Did you drive the hours this morning? Again, I hit all 4 hours again, going to be an OK check this week.


I did the 11am & 12pm hours, but at 11:55am got a ride that took me Wacker/Michigan downtown Chicago. So instead of $60, I'll end up with $36+$2 tip from this LINE rider who was fascinated by the low-income neighborhoods along the Eisenhower. Got a ping immediately after he got out of the car, but had to let it expire. Have family things this evening. Congrats to you again, Sure! Way to go man!

BTW.. I was going to give the Guarantee hours a shot again on Sunday, but just re-read the rules for the guarantee. I don't have a 90% acceptance rate, because I've started to let all my LINE requests over 12 minutes away expire. Particularly if they're from Bhabi or Derivender...like I've been getting peppered with recently. That ethnic group makes demands, but rarely tips. Lyft is not doing itself any favors by hiding destinations from us...particularly if they're LINE requests. The reason I'm getting them from so far away is because other wise and astute drivers are obviously ignoring them.

I see the regular old tired Guarantees are back for next week. $23 for 6am to 9am w/2 completed rides per hour. No evenings. * No thanks* *Lyft.*


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## Sure (Apr 10, 2016)

I'm thinking about going out for the 4-8, but I don't know if I feel like it yet... As I sit here at 3:53.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

The $22 for 2 rides is comical. Almost insulting. I never even did those guarantees once.

Good job Allen, don't succumb to their bullcrap guarantees. Only if they throw 30+ towards us.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

Question for you guys. If a lyft line is automatically added onto your ride, that still counts as 2 rides right?


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## Ben105 (Feb 27, 2016)

Yes.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

BaitNSwitch said:


> The $22 for 2 rides is comical. Almost insulting. I never even did those guarantees once.
> 
> Good job Allen, don't succumb to their bullcrap guarantees. Only if they throw 30+ towards us.


For this weekend, (Fri/Sat/Sun) Chicago Lyft has the [email protected] special again. I'm at 100% acceptance this week, due to not having any long-distance requests to ignore. Opted-In again. This is an interesting experiment, to see if the normal patterns change when you're on the guarantee. Like I said before, there's A REASON why you have to opt-in.. and it's not a blanket guarantee for ALL Chicago area drivers, as you would expect.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

Interesting, they didn't send me that guarantee.

Could it be Ratings based? driver activity based? Allen what's your rating, if you don't mind?


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## Ubersucksgas (May 31, 2016)

AllenChicago said:


> June 10, 2016
> 
> I opted in to the "Hourly Guarantee" this morning for the first time in my 7 months of driving, because Chicago drivers were offered a last minute special of $30 for 2 rides, for certain hours this weekend. (Previously it's been $17 for 2 or 3 rides an hour)
> 
> ...


Better than UBER for sure. I had network problems in area outside LA sometimes and I accept requests but for some reasson timer expires and they know it is network problem, however they still count against us. How nice is that.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

BaitNSwitch said:


> Interesting, they didn't send me that guarantee.
> 
> Could it be Ratings based? driver activity based? Allen what's your rating, if you don't mind?


Passengers tell me that they're honored to be with a 5.0 driver, but the weekly report has me at 4.97. Perhaps the passenger app rounds it up. At any rate, as long as they tip, I'll keep being a nice guy! 

Here is an e-mail I received from Lyft support today that explained how the Hourly Guarantee hours are paid. It's not as simple as I thought! But, at any rate, I got an extra $25 added to this week's paycheck.  (BTW.. Lyft Support is doing a superb job of responding quickly and thoroughly as of late..)

*"*Jun 29, 1:04 PM PDT

Hey Allen,

You're welcome! I'm happy that I could help. I'll try to explain a little more for you and I'll provide a link for a little more information.

The Average Hourly Guarantee guarantees that you'll earn an average amount. So for certain hours, you were guaranteed to earn $30 per hour.

We take the hours that you qualified and total your earnings for those hours - in this case it was $27.75 for 2 hours total. We average these earnings, so we divide your earnings by the hours you worked ($27.75/2 = $13.875).

This means your average earnings were $16.125 less than the guaranteed amount of $30 ($30-$16.125). We then take the Lyft fee of 20% (.20x$16.125 = $3.225) from this bonus amount ($16.125-$3.225=$12.90) and get $12.90, so this is your bonus earned per hour.

Since you qualified for 2 hours on June 26th, your total bonus is $25.80 ($12.90x2). You can read more about this in our Help Center at Average Hourly Guarantees.

I hope this helps explain a littler further. Feel free to ask me any questions!

I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July weekend, too!

All the best,

Emily,
Lyft Support Representative*"*


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

But in those 2 hours you need to have a minimum of 4 rides to qualify for the guarantees.

Interesting, I always thought it was done on a per hour basis. Either way, I'm not complaining, last weekend for pride the guarantees were pretty decent. Despite the 2 /hr requirement.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

BaitNSwitch said:


> But in those 2 hours you need to have a minimum of 4 rides to qualify for the guarantees.
> 
> Interesting, I always thought it was done on a per hour basis. Either way, I'm not complaining, last weekend for pride the guarantees were pretty decent. Despite the 2 /hr requirement.


I asked for an "exception" because my acceptance rate was under 90% that week. That 2 rides per hour requirement makes attempting to hit the guarantees stressful here in the suburbs. Missed several hours of guarantees because a PING would come in at 12 minutes past the top of the hour. It took me 15 minutes to reach the passenger and another 20 minutes to get them to the destination.


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## BaitNSwitch (May 12, 2015)

I start from the suburbs and make it into the city. I know for sure if I get a suburb ride it's most likely going into the city = meaning it will be ateast 40 -45 minutes meaning it will only be one ride.\

The only exception is Evanston. Evanston has short rides via NU students.


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