# Uber had me drive 45 miles for 1.5 mile fare



## ChrisRap (Sep 5, 2016)

Hey people,
So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.

OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away. 

When I get there, the people hop in, and it says they have a three minute ride. A 1.5 mile, three minute ride. I hide my anger from them... I basically had to spend money to drive them that 1.5 miles. I had to sit in traffic on 95 to get there, it took almost an hour. I had to hide my anger, as it really wasn't the customer's fault. They were just using the service as it was intended. 

So I thought about it for a day or two, and thought "I should contact Uber and let them know." I told them the story, and about 3 seconds after I submit the entire statement to them, I get a message that says - 

"
Thanks for letting us know, Christopher.

We reviewed this trip and we are unable to adjust the fare.

Generally, our policy is to use the destination entered by the rider as the basis for calculating the fare.

We understand this can be frustrating and mistakes can happen. We encourage you to ask your riders to update their destination in the app, if needed. Also, please wait until you get to the final destination to end the trip.

Thank you."

What? This isn't even close to what I asked. I asked them how I can avoid that from happening again.

I'm about to try and use Lyft. I can't believe how stupid this is.

Anyone else have this experience?


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Welcome to Ubering!!! Let me give you a suggestion. NEVER go more than 3-4 miles or 10 minutes to get a base X fare, you start off in the hole and will only lose money, do the math!


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


To be clear, Uber offered you a pickup 27 minutes away, and you accepted it. Uber didn't make you take that fare.


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## perry470 (Dec 8, 2016)

Don't accept such long pick up time next time. Or call the passenger as soon as possible before making the trip to find out where they are going. That's Uber's official answer for long pick-up / destination trips.


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## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

Yup. 10 minutes max. 
Don't let of bother you too much. Just see it as a learning experience.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


Steal Uber office equipment and set the building ablaze. . .
Only way to get " Justice".


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## Fubernuber (Jan 15, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


That may be a record for uber stupidity. I am not calling you stupid. Just calling you out for doing something VERY stupid. Bet you wont do that again.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


Can you shoot a high caliber rifle from long distances ?????

# side Hustle.

Part of the Saudi Contract.

Making YOU waste gas.


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

tohunt4me said:


> Steal Uber office equipment and set the building ablaze. . .
> Only way to get " Justice".


Then put strychnine in the guacamole when the server puts big grains of salt on your margarita rim.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

PrestonT said:


> Then put strychnine in the guacamole when the server puts big grains of salt on your margarita rim.


Quinine is delicious in " Tonic Water"
Goes well with single malt.

Good for leg cramps and malaria.
Drivers usually suffer more leg cramps than malaria.


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## NCHeel (Jan 5, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> I asked them how I can avoid that from happening again.


NCHeel from the Uber Newbie Help desk. We are aware of your situation. For every rider to have a wonderful Ubering experience we need you to drive as far as possible to accomidate the rider as every profitable driver turned down that 27 minute ping. Don't worry about all the closer rides you missed as you were in route to that 27 minute ping, the more experienced, profitable drivers will help you by taking those riders. If you have any more questions or concerns feel free to contact us via the app and we will immediately send you a canned response that probably doesn't match your question.

Was this helpful?


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## ChrisRap (Sep 5, 2016)

PrestonT said:


> To be clear, Uber offered you a pickup 45 minutes away, and you accepted it. Uber didn't make you take that fare.


It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.



PrestonT said:


> To be clear, Uber offered you a pickup 45 minutes away, and you accepted it. Uber didn't make you take that fare.


It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


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## LA_Native (Apr 17, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


As has been said above: lesson learned. Right?


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


Yes...Uber always looks out for the drivers' best interest.


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## NCHeel (Jan 5, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right?


The app DOES tell you how far away the ride is before you accept the trip. It's understandable, new drivers falsely think Uber actually cares about them. If your acceptance rate is above 70% I know you are losing money.


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## PTUber (Sep 16, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


Don't cancel just don't accept it. You said you might do Lyft now, they are just as bad and sometimes worse when it comes to the long distance pick ups if they don't have market share in your territory. Uber is now rolling out guaranteed fares for longer pick ups. It's in my market now and seems to be working OK.


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## MSUGrad9902 (Jun 8, 2016)

Just let it time out. For the last month or two for me - if the pickup is more than 10 minutes away I'll get a note on the ping with a guaranteed minimum earnings that corresponds with the pickup time. 11-12 minutes is $6 minimum (net) 13-14 is $7, 15-16 is $8 and the highest I've seen was a 19 minutes $9 minimum.

Sometimes these are min fare rides sometimes they are not. But Uber includes a "supplement" to my cut to get to the minimum. So if Uber thinks I'm 12 minutes away and gives me a $6 minimum and my net would only be $3.50, then they kick in $2.50 for the supplement.

It's the only reason for me to pickup long distances. The kicker is sometimes Uber overestimates the actual time to pickup location, especially on a stacked ping. This has been working out pretty well with me. I can decide if I want to do the long pickups for the guaranteed min money they are offering.

I don't think this is offered to everybody sadly.


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## dirtylee (Sep 2, 2015)

MSUGrad9902 
Definitely not national.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

NCHeel said:


> NCHeel from the Uber Newbie Help desk. We are aware of your situation. For every rider to have a wonderful Ubering experience we need you to drive as far as possible to accomidate the rider as every profitable driver turned down that 27 minute ping. Don't worry about all the closer rides you missed as you were in route to that 27 minute ping, the more experienced, profitable drivers will help you by taking those riders. If you have any more questions or concerns feel free to contact us via the app and we will immediately send you a canned response that probably doesn't match your question.
> 
> Was this helpful?


Remember :

UBER CARES !


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## MSUGrad9902 (Jun 8, 2016)

dirtylee said:


> MSUGrad9902
> Definitely not national.


Not everybody in Detroit get this so I knew it wasn't national. Lol.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


Uber horses arent supposed to see where they are going.

Giddyup Mule .

Ants are blind by nature.


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## Androidcoder (Mar 27, 2017)

Uber support appears to just work off scripts and doesn't understand english outside of the scripts in my experience, both in text and on phone.


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## Fuber in their faces (Feb 19, 2017)

Uber support is a ****ing algorithm...cuss it out enough and a person might read it.


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## PTUber (Sep 16, 2015)

dirtylee said:


> MSUGrad9902
> Definitely not national.


They are working out a few kinks before they roll it out to everybody. It's a little behind tipping on the app.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

PTUber said:


> They are working out a few kinks before they roll it out to everybody. It's a little behind tipping on the app.


It's certainly a step in the right direction and a more driver friendly thing but I still think it puts you in the hole at the start of the trip From an example above, if you drive 10 miles in 20 minutes to get to a call for a guaranteed $9.00 you can think of it as best case they are giving you say $5.80 to drive the additional say 8 miles and 15 minutes of your time which is iffy, much better than nothing but not going to make your day.


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## mrpjfresh (Aug 16, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.


That trip actually was profitable... for Uber. When you understand this distinction, you will now know where you stand in the partnership and (hopefully) adjust your driving strategy accordingly. Don't feel bad though; almost all us drivers have made this mistake. Learn and move on. Judging by their work on guaranteed minimum fares for far-away requests, even the most desperate of drivers are apparently letting these pings expire.


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## disp350 (Jul 16, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


Dont do the cancel thing - you get 10 seconds to decide and it does give a general estimate of how far away it is. As most drivers mentioned, if its longer than 10 minutes or a few miles, just let the ping expire. A high cancellation rate is one thing Uber can and will deactivate you for. They wont do anything about a low acceptance rate.


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## Nick781 (Dec 7, 2014)

What did you think was going to happen? a magical trip across united states to fill your bank account with cash? Come on dude.... I don't pickup over 3 miles ever


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## Moondirty (Jul 6, 2017)

Lyft is no better op, and are far worse as they have less drivers! I consistently get pings over 30 mins away with tolls to boot to get to the pax.. Umm no thanks.. Also, the pings lie as far as the eta is concerned. Learn to look at the address and map and figure out the true time it takes you to get there.. That's a hard lesson to learn for sure!


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## Blatherskite (Nov 30, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> I had to sit in traffic on 95 to get there, it took almost an hour.


The hidden lead in this story is that the pax waited nearly an hour for a 1.5 mile ride. Did none of them own a pair of legs? Did the trip traverse a plain of hot lava? Did they possess infinite life spans that they deemed the delay zero waste of time?


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## manymancruz (Sep 13, 2016)

Best advice is drive only surge rides. Weekends night early morning airport. Drive only when its busy. This is uber, not a drive by money making machine gig


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare.
> 
> When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right?


Correct.

Uber will tell you anything if they think that you will believe it. In fact, even when you tell it that you see through its nonsense, Uber will keep telling you the same thing. Every time that it cut fares, Uber kept telling us that lower rates mean higher earnings for drivers. Few, except the worst Uber Shills and UberBOTs, believed it. We kept telling Uber that we could see through its nonsense, but it kept up with that nonsense.



ABC123DEF said:


> Yes...Uber always *never* looks out for the drivers' best interest.


FIFY



NCHeel said:


> The app DOES tell you how far away the ride is before you accept the trip.
> 
> It's understandable, new drivers falsely think Uber actually cares about them.


*^^^^^^^^^^^This* and *This^^^^^^^^^^^^*



michaelbrown said:


> Uber support appears to just work off scripts and doesn't understand english outside of the scripts in my experience,


The Driver "Support" is outsourced to Bangalore, Pondicherry and Quezon City. Your initial e-Mail will go to a "CSR' whose command of the English Language is close to that of a third grader. The computer program will highlight certain words and phrases in your e-Mail and suggest to the "CSR" certain templated responses. The "CSR" then chooses one, sends it back to you and marks the matter "RESOLVED". You must send several additional e-Mails to these "CSR"s who have little, if any, understanding of what they are sending to you. After about the eighth e-Mail, you will hear from someone whose command of the English Language approaches that of a freshman in high school. It is horrible. Lyft's is worse.


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## Fatdriverbmw2018 (May 30, 2017)

you drove pick up pax 45 miles ? mmmmmm ok man my advice to you donate your car and seat home is better ! i won't drive 2 miles ! as long as not say 6 minutes ! you now of over 10 mint drive 2 mint call say you can't come harvey traffice ! maybe 2 hrs to get there they cancel why $5


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## Woohaa (Jan 15, 2017)

_When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.

OK, whatever_

You've got to make better decisions. Uber didn't press that "accept" button on your phone. YOU did. That's a cold lesson learned. But it's real.


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## Uberfunitis (Oct 21, 2016)

Blatherskite said:


> The hidden lead in this story is that the pax waited nearly an hour for a 1.5 mile ride. Did none of them own a pair of legs? Did the trip traverse a plain of hot lava? Did they possess infinite life spans that they deemed the delay zero waste of time?


Perhaps they had stuff that they could do while waiting and was not bothered by the wait time.


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## Mole (Mar 9, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


I have a 9 minute rule if it is over that I just do not take the ping.


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## corniilius (Jan 27, 2017)

27 minutes?  Nope!


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## ChortlingCrison (Mar 30, 2016)

tohunt4me said:


> Remember :
> 
> UBER CARES !


Indeed they do!!


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## Emp9 (Apr 9, 2015)

sorry but i laughed when he wrote "so i got there" wtf, never go , cancel on them ,or contact them for the destination first. (and it better be really good)


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## NapsterSA (Apr 18, 2017)

We've all been burned like that once or twice. I have a 3 mile/10(ish) minute max limit on what I'll accept. Thats a solid rule that will keep your driving radius tight and will not kill your acceptance rate.


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## Urban Uber (Sep 30, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


BUT you can accept the trip ( curiosity) and call/text rider and ask what the final destination is... with the new found knowledge of the destination you can decide as an independent contractor to take the trip or ask the rider to cancel as you are more than 30 minutes away with traffic. Most riders will cancel and re-request. If you see same ping. Don't accept. This is how you can " decide" to accept or not accept"


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## artemis (Jun 20, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


I don't accept rides where I have to drive more than 10 minutes to pick them up.


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## rembrandt (Jul 3, 2016)

No matter how far the pax wants to travel , there is no profit to be made after driving 27 miles pick up distance. It is a loss making proposition by all mean.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

manymancruz said:


> Best advice is drive only surge rides. Weekends night early morning airport. Drive only when its busy. This is uber, not a drive by money making machine gig


Surge is a thing of the past.
Uber pockets any profit now.
You do the work.
You take the risk.
You wear out your equipment.
Uber takes the profit.
Buy an ice cream truck.
Trust me.
Make $1,200.00 to $1,800.00 a day Gross per truck. You can run 8 foot long chest freezer in a van off d.c. invertor out of cigarette lighter off of alternator.

You can have a rolling store in each section of town.


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


It should tell you when it pings, before you accept it, how far away the pickup location is and the passengers star rating like this:








As you said your mistake was assuming that since it was assigned to you it must be profitable. I think they are just assigned automatically to the closest available driver or something. I think such far way pings generally appear in places where Uber is relatively new and there aren't so many drivers/pax around. I also think that most pax would usually cancel when they realized the driver was so far away.

Anyway I just wanted to clarify for you that Uber does not currently deactivate drivers accounts for low acceptance rate although they can for high cancellation rates. So it is always better to ignore a ping if it is too far away or whatever than to accept it then cancel.


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## swingset (Feb 26, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.


Why would you possibly assume that? Jesus.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

He was issued the Uber Sucker Badge of Approval.


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## Emp9 (Apr 9, 2015)

i will be happy when uber comes out with a radius option of pick ups. mine will be 6 blocks.


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## UsedToBeAPartner (Sep 19, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


UBER DID NOT HAVE YOU DRIVE that far. You, and you alone made that mistake! If you are a newbie driver than you learned a lesson the hard way but you will not make that mistake again, right?!
How to avoid it in the future? Never accept a ride that is more than 10 minutes away. Lyft will do the same thing to you if they can get you to fall for the bait. Just suck it up and make sure you don't make that mistake again.


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## JohnnyRotten69 (Mar 5, 2017)

4 mile rule. period.


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## Old Smokey (Sep 13, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


Was it a Starbucks employee?


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## Lightning1181 (Nov 15, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


My man, you have been awarded the Nimrod of the Year award, cause only a nimrod would drive that far for ANY fare!


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

A few weeks ago a concert at the San Manuel amphitheater in San Bernardino was letting out, and got to 6x because it fell under Uber's radar and they didn't send ants ahead of time. 
Pings were going out 20 miles away as a result and drivers made bank. This is a rare exception for taking long pings.

One time I was stuck in Agoura Hills on a Saturday night and was getting 25 min pings from Malibu. Without calling the pax I deduced that they were likely going back towards LA so I took a chance and guessed right. It was either that or dead mile back.


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## wk1102 (Dec 25, 2015)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


lyft is worse...

why did you accept a fare so far away?

I'm in a fairly large city sq mile wise but slow uber wise. I routinly ignore pings over 10 minutes away... you dont have to accept every ping.


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


Any ride request that comes in more than 15 minutes away you need to text the passenger and confirm their destination. If it is a short ride, you cancel. Half the time the passenger knows it is a BS ride and cancels it themselves. I've had that happen to me plenty of times. It sucks.


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## Nuke (Dec 18, 2014)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


You just earned the dumbest newb mistake award


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## 105398 (Aug 28, 2016)

Chalk it up to a learning experience - and be selective with what you accept. Know the cities, neighborhoods, factor in time of day, etc.

There are some pings within a mile I let pass because the traffic or specific streets to get to the location are terrible (usually during rush hour) or I know the business or block is trouble.


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## burgerflipper (Jun 23, 2017)

reg barclay said:


> It should tell you when it pings, before you accept it, how far away the pickup location is and the passengers star rating like this:
> View attachment 140751
> 
> As you said your mistake was assuming that since it was assigned to you it must be profitable. I think they are just assigned automatically to the closest available driver or something. I think such far way pings generally appear in places where Uber is relatively new and there aren't so many drivers/pax around. I also think that most pax would usually cancel when they realized the driver was so far away.
> ...


i think this is the best response. although you should NOT trust anything Uber says, particularly regarding how profitable Uber is, the fact is that if there had been a closer driver, you wouldnt have gotten the trip no matter how long the ride was. the request gets sent to the closest driver. if they dont accept it, it gets sent to the next one. generally speaking, it is your right to not accept trip requests. you can accept them out of the goodness of your heart, but you'll definitely make less money. as you drive more, you'll notice more things about the app, Like how they show time and distance in the trip request screen. they also show surge amount and passenger rating. when i first started i didnt realize that the destination actually showed up once you started the trip, i thought the only way to see their final address was by pressing the 'navigate' icon and switching to google maps. caused me a lot of trouble until i noticed it


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## TNCMinWage (May 18, 2017)

Disgusted Driver said:


> It's certainly a step in the right direction and a more driver friendly thing but I still think it puts you in the hole at the start of the trip From an example above, if you drive 10 miles in 20 minutes to get to a call for a guaranteed $9.00 you can think of it as best case they are giving you say $5.80 to drive the additional say 8 miles and 15 minutes of your time which is iffy, much better than nothing but not going to make your day.


Agreed. Those minimums are horrible. Don't accept rides from far away unless you make a very good educated guess on whether the pax may be going far, or you are getting a boosted price for the ride, or you are desperate to at least get a ride. But don't make it your norm. I drive in remote suburbs where majority of my potential riders are 12-20 minutes away. 
At some point, one of the TNC's will actually make these long rides consistently worthwhile, its just going to take a few years for them to get it right. I drive for two local TNC's in Austin and they don't get it right either, so its not just an Uber thing. But at least one of our TNC's let's the pax "boost" the price up if they are far away from me, at which point I make a determination whether or not I still think its worth it. Would be nice for you guys to see Uber/Lyft add that feature - if enough of you drop them a note maybe they'll eventually listen during their little 180 day thing...


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## Uber Arnie (Nov 5, 2016)

Just accept every pool request. You'll end up more profitable!! Good luck my friend.


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## Nature_BOY (May 3, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.


 after a few years driving for them... dont beleieve a word they say, end off.


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## Bulls23 (Sep 4, 2015)

Cableguynoe said:


> Yup. 10 minutes max.
> Don't let of bother you too much. Just see it as a learning experience.


10 min? Nah.. Here is what makes sense to me:

Regular fare: 5 min max.
Up to 1.5X: 6 min max
1.5-2.0X: 7 min max
2.1X+: 10 min max.


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.


Lol what???

Most uberx drivers LOSE money doing this


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

That might be the first legitimate time I've heard of someone actually losing money on a ride.


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## UberTrader (Dec 7, 2016)

How can you accept a 27 min away trip? are you out of your mind? only insane would do...not Uber's fault.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


With your gas money and your time you purchased a valuable lesson in Ubering. There are likely to be other lessons, but don't worry; each purchase is a once-only endeavor. At least it should be.


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## SRGuy (May 17, 2016)

I occasionally get requests that are 15+ miles and 25+ minutes away. It's absurd - but you're getting the request because nobody else wanted it. When it happened a few weeks ago I went offline and the pax app was showing no cars available. And then surge started to build but that's unprofitable because the pax can cancel when the surge disappears and you've wasted time and gas for nothing.


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## OCBob (Jan 20, 2015)

Anything over 10 minutes for Uber, just call them and let them know that by the time I start driving towards them, there will be a much closer driver pop up and they will save a lot of time. You don't have to mention the burden on you unless they refuse. How they see it, you are looking out for them! Customer service you are providing!

By the way, the title to this thread is "Uber had me...". No, Uber gave you an option and you accepted a bad deal for yourself. You are not a prisoner of Uber. Fight back when needed.


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## Father of 4 (Jul 21, 2017)

OCBob said:


> Anything over 10 minutes for Uber, just call them and let them know that by the time I start driving towards them, there will be a much closer driver pop up and they will save a lot of time. You don't have to mention the burden on you unless they refuse. How they see it, you are looking out for them! Customer service you are providing!
> 
> By the way, the title to this thread is "Uber had me...". No, Uber gave you an option and you accepted a bad deal for yourself. You are not a prisoner of Uber. Fight back when needed.


So will they correct our acceptance rate if we do this? This week I was doing 20 trips for $70 but your acceptance rate has to be high. I also get a few of these extra long trip requests but accept them so I am 100%.


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## OCBob (Jan 20, 2015)

Father of 4 said:


> So will they correct our acceptance rate if we do this? This week I was doing 20 trips for $70 but your acceptance rate has to be high. I also get a few of these extra long trip requests but accept them so I am 100%.


First, stop worrying about 100%. If you are on bonus then you have to keep up the 90%. If they cancel, your acceptance rate is still good. When i am below 90%, sometimes a few cancels from the rider is ok as I am going to get to 90% sooner and not have to work Sunday like sometimes that occurs. Then you have to accept every ride on Sunday.


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## Rat (Mar 6, 2016)

ChrisRap said:


> It doesn't say where the rider is GOING until you accept the fare. When they tell you that driving for Uber is profitable, I tend to believe that they generally wouldn't make me waste gas/money/time like that.
> 
> It doesn't tell you how far away they are until you accept the trip, right? Next time I'll just cancel it.


Why would you assume Uber gives a damn if you make money?
It tells you how far away they are before you accept the trip.
You may not be suited for Ubering


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## UsedToBeAPartner (Sep 19, 2016)

Accepting a trip that will lose you money will not EVER be fixed by any sort of guarantee. Losing money is simply losing money and Uber will screw you if they can. I really should not say Uber as Uber has no idea who you are, where you are or what you are doing. A bunch of random folks have programmed a computer to react as they (not you) believe to be reasonable. No one. Let me repeat that....No one.....at Uber has any idea at all as to whether you received a ping that was 1 mile away or 25 miles away and they could care less.


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## Thebiggestscam (Oct 11, 2016)

You sure are a dumbass lol but it's worth it f you get a 5star hahahaha


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## darkshy77 (Sep 28, 2015)

PrestonT said:


> To be clear, Uber offered you a pickup 27 minutes away, and you accepted it. Uber didn't make you take that fare.


Call and ask destination..... Explain you are the closest driver and I'll take you x amount of time to get to them if it's worth picking up if it's not work picking up tell them the app is acting up you're very far away have them cancel request again to get a closer driver


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## UberDez (Mar 28, 2017)

This is all on you buddy , you chose to accept that ride . More then 5-8 minutes away and you're not getting a ride


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

You really drove 40+ miles for a pickup?


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## RulesUnderstood (May 23, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


How can you avoid that happening again? DON'T ACCEPT RIDES FAR AWAY! This was your own fault! Why would you presume that because the ride was 45 mins away that the riders were going anything more than the usual short trip? Why didn't you call them and ask them? Why, seriously, WHY, would you drive 45 mins away to pick up a rider?


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## Cou-ber (Jul 23, 2015)

disp350 said:


> Dont do the cancel thing - you get 10 seconds to decide and it does give a general estimate of how far away it is. As most drivers mentioned, if its longer than 10 minutes or a few miles, just let the ping expire. A high cancellation rate is one thing Uber can and will deactivate you for. They wont do anything about a low acceptance rate.


BS. January of 2016 I was deactivated for low acceptance rate. Not cancel. Acceptance. Still got the email.



tohunt4me said:


> Surge is a thing of the past.
> Uber pockets any profit now.
> You do the work.
> You take the risk.
> ...


So why aren't you doing this?


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## disp350 (Jul 16, 2016)

Cou-ber said:


> BS. January of 2016 I was deactivated for low acceptance rate. Not cancel. Acceptance. Still got the email.


That was before the lawsuit. After that, they had to stop using that since they insisted we are independent contractors and can't force us to click and accept riders.


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## Cou-ber (Jul 23, 2015)

That lawsuit still isn't settled.


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## ganerbangla (Mar 4, 2017)

Cancel the ride. It's not going to deactivate you


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## brendon292 (Aug 2, 2016)

I often wonder what is going through the PAXs mind when they see their driver coming from really far away to drive them down the street. Are people honestly that selfish? If I did that to somebody, I couldn't look at myself in the mirror...


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## UberMensch3000 (Jun 10, 2017)

ChrisRap said:


> Hey people,
> So I was in Norwich, CT, doing my thing as per usual. Driving around, picking up people who were very close for some short rides. When I suddenly get a request for a fare that is 27 minutes away.
> 
> OK, whatever, Uber's app does all of this based off of the riders input. This must be some money if they're calling me to a location this far away.
> ...


IMO, Uber didn't HAVE you do anything. Your little green monster said *KAAACHING !!!!! Also IMO ( and not meant to be as rude as it will seem, I'm sure ) Serves you right. Now take it on the chin as a learning experience and never ever pick up over 10 minutes again



NCHeel said:


> NCHeel from the Uber Newbie Help desk. We are aware of your situation. For every rider to have a wonderful Ubering experience we need you to drive as far as possible to accomidate the rider as every profitable driver turned down that 27 minute ping. Don't worry about all the closer rides you missed as you were in route to that 27 minute ping, the more experienced, profitable drivers will help you by taking those riders. If you have any more questions or concerns feel free to contact us via the app and we will immediately send you a canned response that probably doesn't match your question.
> 
> Was this helpful?


Bwahahahahahhhaaaaa !!!


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