# I am a new uber driver got suspended



## Lawrence Levitt

Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


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## SD_Expedition

They did you a favor.


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## Lawrence Levitt

SD_Expedition said:


> They did you a favor.


What favor they took away my only lively hood some of the riders don't understand how the rating system works if they did would only rate a driver if to give 5 stars or if not satisfied with the ride give no rating that would be better since i know if you don't have something nice to say them say nothing at all.


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## Archie8616

Can you share the email that they sent you? Would like to see it.


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## UberBlackPr1nce

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


You won't be the last.....


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## Coachman

If you have a 4.1 for 30 rated trips with 17 5 star trips then that means your average rating for the remaining 13 rated trips was 2.9. That's abysmal. That can't be just bad luck.

I'm surprised they even offered you the class.


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## X-X_Driver

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


Hi. I saw your original post last night. I truly am sad that this happened to you. The majority of people posting on here are very sincere. Most of us are very frustrated at one issue or another because most of us started out motivated and even excited to be doing this - for whatever our personal reasons. You will run into some sarcasm here - mostly because of the built up frustrations, feelings of helplessness, and the great disappointment that Uber has caused for most of us - and seems to keep doing over and over again. So - don't take any critical comments too personal.

That said, I do have a pretty good sense of what you are feeling and going through. A friend of mine (also an Uber X driver) had a similar experience and I want to relate the highlight (low lights) of his cirumstances, just so you can know what's coming and make the best decisions for you. I'm not here to tell you what to do.

We're all aware that the rating system stinks and is totally out of whack for a lot of reasons. There was a rather significant discussion about it a few weeks ago - which you can find here:

https://uberpeople.net/threads/5-st...rs-have-7x-more-votes-than-good-riders.49330/

Here's a summary of my friend's experience. Started out - all 5's with one 3 for first three nights out. Then worked a few late nights and got some 3's & 4's from the bar crowd. Overall rating was something like 4.7. Then my friend picked up a very intoxicated person who asked to be taken to the hospital. Trying to be a nice guy and a good driver - they took the ride and the pax made a terrible mess - urine and some fecal matter. Apologized profusely at the hospital. Friend reported it to Uber. Basically had to shut down for the night. He was parked outside the hospital trying to do a basic clean up and was approached by an off duty-nurse and her boyfriend. They asked for a ride because boyfriends car wouldn't start. Friend told them of the problem They assured him they didn't mind as it was 12:30 AM and needed to get home and come back in the morning for boyfriend's car. In hindsight, friend should never have agreed to that. Rookie mistake. End result - both the intoxicated passenger AND the nurses or her boyfriend gave 1* ratings (for different reasons I assume). Friends rating plummeted to something like 4.24 because he had so few rides.

Friend wrote to Uber support - also rookie mistake - and received probably a canned reply telling him not to worry about a couple low ratings- that he was doing a great job, they understood his sample size was low and to keep on driving and to keep up the good work. Two days later, as he was signing on to go drive - he got the deactivation message. Out of 27 rated rides, He was at a 4.29 (and climbing) but because he dropped below 4.3 at ride # 25. he was deactivated but could take a class and all would be OK.

Friend paid $100.00 to take the class and said he had a great person sit and give this canned presentation and felt it was worth the money to get a second chance (despite the cost) since he knew where there problem came in and knew he wouldn't allow that to happen again.

So he was reactivated. Now for the messed up part. Uber did NOT reset his rating. They told him that he had the next 50 rated rides to bring his 4.29 rating up to a 4.6. If he could do that - all would be good. If not - he would be permanently deactivated with No Recourse. He called me screaming and crying.

We sat down and did the math. Out of the next 50 rides he would have to have at minimum 40 5* ratings with allowance for about 10 4*'s and 3"s mixed in. That's tough to do simply because of the various factors that cause Uber pax to rate rather randomly most of the time.

My friend is still active with Uber (now having second thoughts since the rate cuts) but he can no longer risk doing late night runs during surge times because the risk of low ratings increases. I keep advising him to personally go to the local office to discuss this nearly impossible situation and so far he hasn't done so. I hope that he will soon as he really is a pretty good guy and has a lot of 5* comments from riders.

At the moment he's taking what he considers "safe runs" from the airport mostly but he's not yet reached his 50 runs yet and well.. it's now become a question of whether to "go out in a blaze of surge glory" (perhaps impossible now with rate cuts) or to try to carefully choose more mature pax who are more likely to appreciate service and rate higher (hopefully).

I'm feeling bad for him. Tried to do a couple nice deeds and got hit hard - still may be deactivated and he was one of the most excited people Uber ever had on their team when he started.

Again, not telling you what to do. I can't. The course apparently is easy and something like 2 hours long - but the main point is - you need to do some serious math and planning to get out of the hole in the 50 rated ride period they will most likely give you too. It would have been really helpful for my friend to have had guidance and some warnings before the deactivation at ride # 25 and to also know he wasn't going to truly get a "fair" second chance after the class.

Also - here is what I consider an excellent video from YouTube that really demonstrates and explains the dynamics of the rating system. It's worth a few views by most everyone:






Sorry this was so lengthy. Hope it gives you some things to think about. You can do this but there needs to be strategy, time, planning, and patience involved.

Best of luck to you


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## Matt Uterak

If your ratings are that bad you need to really evaluate the experience you are giving.

I am either silent or have a nice chat with the Pax. Over the last 101 trips I am at a 4.95 and total over all rides in the calc of 4.89.

If the person seems chatty, pick up on something they like. A good one, even though I dislike sports, is to mention their team if they are wearing a jersey or hat or t shirt of some kind. I drive in a city with a team. Know the main players and maybe look at scores before heading out.


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## garrobitoalado

..a friend of mine got deactivated at 4,55 with just 5o trip, 29 rating, 23 five star so.. for 6 4 star guy was offer to do the course, he say no way, not enough money, they kick his sorry ass out the system.. if he want to back, he need to take the course and keep highs for a while... no way...


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## SanPedroLover

garrobitoalado said:


> ..a friend of mine got deactivated at 4,55 with just 5o trip, 29 rating, 23 five star so.. for 6 4 star guy was offer to do the course, he say no way, not enough money, they kick his sorry ass out the system.. if he want to back, he need to take the course and keep highs for a while... no way...


Perhaps I can offer you a class on proper English grammar?


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## dnlbaboof

are you a smoker, thatll cost you if the car smells like smoke, vacuum your car every week and offer a phone charger(its good to have one anyways for emergencies)


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## volksie

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


"JUST SAY NO TO DRUNKS" when you get reinstated! Your Score Will Soar!


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## Emp9

Rating system stinks but something your doing wrong. Car smell not clean. you smell. Bad knowledge of city you drive in. Music too loud. Type of car. You have to figure out what it is. No offense to OP but pax sometimes expect you to entertain them. Also many think they are good drivers but driving with a pax is different you have to drive more smoothly. Ask if they are comfortable with heat music so on.


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## BiggestScamInHistory

X-X_Driver said:


> Hi. I saw your original post last night. I truly am sad that this happened to you. The majority of people posting on here are very sincere. Most of us are very frustrated at one issue or another because most of us started out motivated and even excited to be doing this - for whatever our personal reasons. You will run into some sarcasm here - mostly because of the built up frustrations, feelings of helplessness, and the great disappointment that Uber has caused for most of us - and seems to keep doing over and over again. So - don't take any critical comments too personal.
> 
> That said, I do have a pretty good sense of what you are feeling and going through. A friend of mine (also an Uber X driver) had a similar experience and I want to relate the highlight (low lights) of his cirumstances, just so you can know what's coming and make the best decisions for you. I'm not here to tell you what to do.
> 
> We're all aware that the rating system stinks and is totally out of whack for a lot of reasons. There was a rather significant discussion about it a few weeks ago - which you can find here:
> 
> https://uberpeople.net/threads/5-st...rs-have-7x-more-votes-than-good-riders.49330/
> 
> Here's a summary of my friend's experience. Started out - all 5's with one 3 for first three nights out. Then worked a few late nights and got some 3's & 4's from the bar crowd. Overall rating was something like 4.7. Then my friend picked up a very intoxicated person who asked to be taken to the hospital. Trying to be a nice guy and a good driver - they took the ride and the pax made a terrible mess - urine and some fecal matter. Apologized profusely at the hospital. Friend reported it to Uber. Basically had to shut down for the night. He was parked outside the hospital trying to do a basic clean up and was approached by an off duty-nurse and her boyfriend. They asked for a ride because boyfriends car wouldn't start. Friend told them of the problem They assured him they didn't mind as it was 12:30 AM and needed to get home and come back in the morning for boyfriend's car. In hindsight, friend should never have agreed to that. Rookie mistake. End result - both the intoxicated passenger AND the nurses or her boyfriend gave 1* ratings (for different reasons I assume). Friends rating plummeted to something like 4.24 because he had so few rides.
> 
> Friend wrote to Uber support - also rookie mistake - and received probably a canned reply telling him not to worry about a couple low ratings- that he was doing a great job, they understood his sample size was low and to keep on driving and to keep up the good work. Two days later, as he was signing on to go drive - he got the deactivation message. Out of 27 rated rides, He was at a 4.29 (and climbing) but because he dropped below 4.3 at ride # 25. he was deactivated but could take a class and all would be OK.
> 
> Friend paid $100.00 to take the class and said he had a great person sit and give this canned presentation and felt it was worth the money to get a second chance (despite the cost) since he knew where there problem came in and knew he wouldn't allow that to happen again.
> 
> So he was reactivated. Now for the messed up part. Uber did NOT reset his rating. They told him that he had the next 50 rated rides to bring his 4.29 rating up to a 4.6. If he could do that - all would be good. If not - he would be permanently deactivated with No Recourse. He called me screaming and crying.
> 
> We sat down and did the math. Out of the next 50 rides he would have to have at minimum 40 5* ratings with allowance for about 10 4*'s and 3"s mixed in. That's tough to do simply because of the various factors that cause Uber pax to rate rather randomly most of the time.
> 
> My friend is still active with Uber (now having second thoughts since the rate cuts) but he can no longer risk doing late night runs during surge times because the risk of low ratings increases. I keep advising him to personally go to the local office to discuss this nearly impossible situation and so far he hasn't done so. I hope that he will soon as he really is a pretty good guy and has a lot of 5* comments from riders.
> 
> At the moment he's taking what he considers "safe runs" from the airport mostly but he's not yet reached his 50 runs yet and well.. it's now become a question of whether to "go out in a blaze of surge glory" (perhaps impossible now with rate cuts) or to try to carefully choose more mature pax who are more likely to appreciate service and rate higher (hopefully).
> 
> I'm feeling bad for him. Tried to do a couple nice deeds and got hit hard - still may be deactivated and he was one of the most excited people Uber ever had on their team when he started.
> 
> Again, not telling you what to do. I can't. The course apparently is easy and something like 2 hours long - but the main point is - you need to do some serious math and planning to get out of the hole in the 50 rated ride period they will most likely give you too. It would have been really helpful for my friend to have had guidance and some warnings before the deactivation at ride # 25 and to also know he wasn't going to truly get a "fair" second chance after the class.
> 
> Also - here is what I consider an excellent video from YouTube that really demonstrates and explains the dynamics of the rating system. It's worth a few views by most everyone:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry this was so lengthy. Hope it gives you some things to think about. You can do this but there needs to be strategy, time, planning, and patience involved.
> 
> Best of luck to you


I can't believe the class is $100. It was $50 before, & already extortion thanks to their impossible rating system that allows customers to not worry about tipping and not getting slack for it, or a free pass to be total a-holes.

If you're willing to just give Uber $100 after all the s**t they do with X and Select drivers already (all this BS is only worth it driving Black or SUV ) then I'm sorry but you deserve this. You really are completely ignorant.

Doing the same job an already s**t-on worker like a cabbie does for a FRACTION of the same plus NO TIPS for God knows what reason, yes, people need to realize how ignorant and naive they were to allow Uber to completely steal and f**k the transportation businesses up.

I DO however feel sorry for anyone that bought a late model car out of their means for either of these companies. At least cabbies can throw their car keys back at a dispatchers or managers face. With Uber, you can't even throw a phone (as the original UberBlack drivers who first put up wuth their BS did) because they're too cheap to offer them anymore. Again, waste your own phones life and data to just get reamed by them and a cheapskate passenger every time.


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## BiggestScamInHistory

Matt Uterak said:


> If your ratings are that bad you need to really evaluate the experience you are giving.
> 
> I am either silent or have a nice chat with the Pax. Over the last 101 trips I am at a 4.95 and total over all rides in the calc of 4.89.
> 
> If the person seems chatty, pick up on something they like. A good one, even though I dislike sports, is to mention their team if they are wearing a jersey or hat or t shirt of some kind. I drive in a city with a team. Know the main players and maybe look at scores before heading out.


This guy is total kiss a** Uber shill.

They called a car and a driver, not a babysitter, best friend, bartender, comedian, talk show radio host.

And ALL without a tip, while a server throwing plates on a table sees CASH for appreciation for their seconds of interaction with customers.

Bottom line is, if the riders don't like anything whatsoever about you, you're getting a bad rating. Hair style, no hair, too skinny, too fat, wearing shorts or dressing too formally, it's a losing game when a 92% is a fail and they're putting their hands in your pockets for another $100.

Bunch of f**kin scumbag vultures. Classic case of vulture capitalism, with the public again too ignorant and stupid to realize what's going.

Uber; A taxi service BY a**holes, FOR a**holes.

(Look at the real name of your app on your phone, it's ubercab.something....)


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## Matt Uterak

BiggestScamInHistory said:


> This guy is total kiss a** Uber shill.
> 
> They called a car and a driver, not a babysitter, best friend, bartender, comedian, talk show radio host.
> 
> And ALL without a tip, while a server throwing plates on a table sees CASH for appreciation for their seconds of interaction with customers.
> 
> Bottom line is, if the riders don't like anything whatsoever about you, you're getting a bad rating. Hair style, no hair, too skinny, too fat, wearing shorts or dressing too formally, it's a losing game when a 92% is a fail and they're putting their hands in your pockets for another $100.
> 
> Bunch of f**kin scumbag vultures. Classic case of vulture capitalism, with the public again too ignorant and stupid to realize what's going.
> 
> Uber; A taxi service BY a**holes, FOR a**holes.
> 
> (Look at the real name of your app on your phone, it's ubercab.something....)


Not a shill at all. I stopped driving recently after a Pax accused me of being under the influence while driving him. I will reevaluate in the next month or so, I will still get my one ride in every 30 days.

But clearly someone who falls in the bottom bracket of ratings is doing something wrong. Like I said before on this board, I rarely wash the outside of my car, haven't vaccumed in weeks, I'm ugly and smelly, my car is full of dents and is one year from being off platform, I still maintain a high 4.8x rating.

4.1 means something is wrong. It would be nice of Uber to provide specific feedback or require the rider to do so if the rating is below a 5. It ain't going to happen because the company is predatory by nature. They want free labor and market saturation.

I am fortunate that this is not my primary income.


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## Alexander

X-X_Driver said:


> Hi. I saw your original post last night. I truly am sad that this happened to you. The majority of people posting on here are very sincere. Most of us are very frustrated at one issue or another because most of us started out motivated and even excited to be doing this - for whatever our personal reasons. You will run into some sarcasm here - mostly because of the built up frustrations, feelings of helplessness, and the great disappointment that Uber has caused for most of us - and seems to keep doing over and over again. So - don't take any critical comments too personal.
> 
> That said, I do have a pretty good sense of what you are feeling and going through. A friend of mine (also an Uber X driver) had a similar experience and I want to relate the highlight (low lights) of his cirumstances, just so you can know what's coming and make the best decisions for you. I'm not here to tell you what to do.
> 
> We're all aware that the rating system stinks and is totally out of whack for a lot of reasons. There was a rather significant discussion about it a few weeks ago - which you can find here:
> 
> https://uberpeople.net/threads/5-st...rs-have-7x-more-votes-than-good-riders.49330/
> 
> Here's a summary of my friend's experience. Started out - all 5's with one 3 for first three nights out. Then worked a few late nights and got some 3's & 4's from the bar crowd. Overall rating was something like 4.7. Then my friend picked up a very intoxicated person who asked to be taken to the hospital. Trying to be a nice guy and a good driver - they took the ride and the pax made a terrible mess - urine and some fecal matter. Apologized profusely at the hospital. Friend reported it to Uber. Basically had to shut down for the night. He was parked outside the hospital trying to do a basic clean up and was approached by an off duty-nurse and her boyfriend. They asked for a ride because boyfriends car wouldn't start. Friend told them of the problem They assured him they didn't mind as it was 12:30 AM and needed to get home and come back in the morning for boyfriend's car. In hindsight, friend should never have agreed to that. Rookie mistake. End result - both the intoxicated passenger AND the nurses or her boyfriend gave 1* ratings (for different reasons I assume). Friends rating plummeted to something like 4.24 because he had so few rides.
> 
> Friend wrote to Uber support - also rookie mistake - and received probably a canned reply telling him not to worry about a couple low ratings- that he was doing a great job, they understood his sample size was low and to keep on driving and to keep up the good work. Two days later, as he was signing on to go drive - he got the deactivation message. Out of 27 rated rides, He was at a 4.29 (and climbing) but because he dropped below 4.3 at ride # 25. he was deactivated but could take a class and all would be OK.
> 
> Friend paid $100.00 to take the class and said he had a great person sit and give this canned presentation and felt it was worth the money to get a second chance (despite the cost) since he knew where there problem came in and knew he wouldn't allow that to happen again.
> 
> So he was reactivated. Now for the messed up part. Uber did NOT reset his rating. They told him that he had the next 50 rated rides to bring his 4.29 rating up to a 4.6. If he could do that - all would be good. If not - he would be permanently deactivated with No Recourse. He called me screaming and crying.
> 
> We sat down and did the math. Out of the next 50 rides he would have to have at minimum 40 5* ratings with allowance for about 10 4*'s and 3"s mixed in. That's tough to do simply because of the various factors that cause Uber pax to rate rather randomly most of the time.
> 
> My friend is still active with Uber (now having second thoughts since the rate cuts) but he can no longer risk doing late night runs during surge times because the risk of low ratings increases. I keep advising him to personally go to the local office to discuss this nearly impossible situation and so far he hasn't done so. I hope that he will soon as he really is a pretty good guy and has a lot of 5* comments from riders.
> 
> At the moment he's taking what he considers "safe runs" from the airport mostly but he's not yet reached his 50 runs yet and well.. it's now become a question of whether to "go out in a blaze of surge glory" (perhaps impossible now with rate cuts) or to try to carefully choose more mature pax who are more likely to appreciate service and rate higher (hopefully).
> 
> I'm feeling bad for him. Tried to do a couple nice deeds and got hit hard - still may be deactivated and he was one of the most excited people Uber ever had on their team when he started.
> 
> Again, not telling you what to do. I can't. The course apparently is easy and something like 2 hours long - but the main point is - you need to do some serious math and planning to get out of the hole in the 50 rated ride period they will most likely give you too. It would have been really helpful for my friend to have had guidance and some warnings before the deactivation at ride # 25 and to also know he wasn't going to truly get a "fair" second chance after the class.
> 
> Also - here is what I consider an excellent video from YouTube that really demonstrates and explains the dynamics of the rating system. It's worth a few views by most everyone:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry this was so lengthy. Hope it gives you some things to think about. You can do this but there needs to be strategy, time, planning, and patience involved.
> 
> Best of luck to you


Not to be that guy...but according to my math, your friend needed at least 38 five-star rides, not 40, to meet the 4.6 mark within the next 50 rides.


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## X-X_Driver

Alexander said:


> Not to be that guy...but according to my math, your friend needed at least 38 five-star rides, not 40, to meet the 4.6 mark within the next 50 rides.


I came up with the same number (38) when I did the math for him - but I suggested that he leave a "fudge factor" in there and shoot for at least 40. He's the kind of person, that knowing he is under pressure to get the high ratings, he's more likely to make small mistakes (talk too much, miss a turn) etc. and end up with a couple low numbers. . That's the whole "trap", if you will. You can't predict what the riders are going to respond to. It's a tough position to be in. I've felt really bad for him - especially knowing him as well as I do. He's still slowing working it up so we'll see. Thanks for the post.


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## ClevelandUberRider

X-X_Driver said:


> I came up with the same number (38) when I did the math for him - but I suggested that he leave a "fudge factor" in there and shoot for at least 40. He's the kind of person, that knowing he is under pressure to get the high ratings, he's more likely to make small mistakes (talk too much, miss a turn) etc. and end up with a couple low numbers. . That's the whole "trap", if you will. You can't predict what the riders are going to respond to. It's a tough position to be in. I've felt really bad for him - especially knowing him as well as I do. He's still slowing working it up so we'll see. Thanks for the post.


I didn't do the math. But just curious, maybe the differential lies in how many 4s and 3s you put into your computations?


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## X-X_Driver

ClevelandUberRider said:


> I didn't do the math. But just curious, maybe the differential lies in how many 4s and 3s you put into your computations?


Hi. It absolutely does. I did the math - about 4 different ways. If he would happen to get unlucky - 5 3*'s is all it would take to deactivate. We based the 40 on 10 4*'s or 7 4*'s and 3 3*'s I believe. (Tried t0 be realistic with the "fudge factor".) It's been a month since this all started. Don't remember exact combinations but there is very little room for any rating issues - and honestly - I don't think that he's driven at all since the rate changes so it may be a moot point in his case but it's truly an unfair and unethical "trap" (for the lack of a better word) and it has very steep walls to climb out of. I've recommended he cut his losses and just drop it. His plan was to go slow and only take airport runs - a few at a time and to watch the ratings carefully. I'll have to check in with him and see what he's been doing. I mainly shared that story to help the OP think carefully about his similar dilemma.


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## ClevelandUberRider

X-X_Driver said:


> Hi. It absolutely does. I did the math - about 4 different ways. If he would happen to get unlucky - 5 3*'s is all it would take to deactivate. We based the 40 on 10 4*'s or 7 4*'s and 3 3*'s I believe. (Tried t0 be realistic with the "fudge factor".) It's been a month since this all started. Don't remember exact combinations but there is very little room for any rating issues - and honestly - I don't think that he's driven at all since the rate changes so it may be a moot point in his case but it's truly an unfair and unethical "trap" (for the lack of a better word) and it has very steep walls to climb out of. I've recommended he cut his losses and just drop it. His plan was to go slow and only take airport runs - a few at a time and to watch the ratings carefully. I'll have to check in with him and see what he's been doing. I mainly shared that story to help the OP think carefully about his similar dilemma.


I haven't started driving for TNC yet, still reading UP posts to learn. The rate cuts by both in my town has certainly pushed my start date further out. But I digress.

On ratings, I have two thoughts that maybe you can comment on as an experienced TNC driver.

I agree whole-heartedly that the driver's ratings system is unfair and very imperfect. However I think there must be some reasons why Uber is still using the system as it is. Uber spends a lot of money on recruitment of new drivers. So, if the driver's rating system is 100% useless, don't you think Uber will just keep all drivers more generously, for example, A, only deactivate below (for example) 4.00, or, better yet, B, no deactivation at all (and letting riders see the ratings and decide to cancel or not, as it is now, except under B, there would be drivers with, for example, 3.50, 2.00, even 1.25 drivers etc.). That way they can save money on recruitment (I know some posters will say, "But Uber doesn't care about money, they have too much money!" then one day the same posters will say in another topic discussion "Uber is greedy, only cares about money!").

When I start driving, for the first 500 trips (roughly the first three months or so) I had wanted to only do what some call "safer" trips (in terms of ratings), for example, airports, daytime downtown professional/business trips, DT hotel runs etc. I had planned to avoid driving past midnight or even 11 p.m. (To avoid intoxicated passengers). And also to avoid driving near any college campuses. Not until I have reached 500 trips to secure a safety buffer zone. What do you think of this plan?

Thank you for your time and advice.


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## BiggestScamInHistory

You will never beat the system. A 92-93/100 is GREAT work in any other field. They set up the ratings system to keep complete control over drivers, and to have them so preoccupied they don't even realize how they're getting shafted by not getting tips, and giving away up to 50% of the money the rider pays. 

Tell seasoned professionals their annual bonuses are now done with, and they'll only be allowed to continue working (and start paying for their own office supplies, equipment, he'll even the utilities in their buildings & anything else that costs them money to keep them working) if they get a 93% on a review based off of ratings of 20% increments.


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## ClevelandUberRider

Agreed. I think UberX is a bad deal for drivers. UberSelect is workable though. But drivers in my town are, the last I heard, not allowed to have a Select-only account.


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## scrurbscrud

ClevelandUberRider said:


> Agreed. I think UberX is a bad deal for drivers. UberSelect is workable though. But drivers in my town are, the last I heard, not allowed to have a Select-only account.


Being forced to drive UberX with a Select vehicle is guaranteed slow financial suicide at what? 77 cents a mile? Seriously that is insane.


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## ClevelandUberRider

scrurbscrud said:


> Being forced to drive UberX with a Select vehicle is guaranteed slow financial suicide at what? 77 cents a mile? Seriously that is insane.


But some people do it though. Amazing. Uber and Lyft can have rates this low because some drivers have nothing else to do but to continue driving at these low rates.


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## scrurbscrud

ClevelandUberRider said:


> But some people do it though. Amazing. Uber and Lyft can have rates this low because some drivers have nothing else to do but to continue driving at these low rates.


I know. It always amazes me to see it. Just speaks to either desperation or lunacy. I've had to Uber off completely in the past because of this in XL. Late last year they FINALLY allowed the opt out. But I refuse to drive my XL for these ridiculous X std. rates.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider

scrurbscrud said:


> I know. It always amazes me to see it. Just speaks to either desperation or lunacy. I've had to Uber off completely in the past because of this in XL. Late last year they FINALLY allowed the opt out. But I refuse to drive my XL for these ridiculous X std. rates.


Or, more powerfully, habit.

I think habit in the TNC market is stronger than the desperation or lunacy factor.

Habit is too light to be felt, until it is too strong to be broken.


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## scrurbscrud

ClevelandUberRider said:


> Or, more powerfully, habit.
> 
> I think habit in the TNC market is stronger than the desperation or lunacy factor.
> 
> Habit is too light to be felt, until it is too strong to be broken.


The habit can only be of desperation or lunacy when it's done for essentially nothing and the drivers actually believe they are "make"ing anything.

The notion that there is "make" in the skim between 6-12 cents a mile in gas costs and whatever crap for pay there is on UberX is habitual desperation if ya wanna call it that. Or plain stupidity if we want to be more honest.


----------



## Kaz

Another reason this is NOT a full time job. The rating system has always sucked and been unfair. But I've been doing this a while (weekends) and for a while my rating wasnt great but wasn't low enough to be de-activated. And I've been through two rate cuts so I am offering less but still fluctuate between a 4.75 and 4.8.There is a lot of work involved for a measly.80 a mile or whatever youre making. You need to make sure you don't smell, your car doesn't smell, keep air freshener and a mini bottle of Febreeze handy for the smelly passengers that get out and leave a stench. Most people rate me fairly but ive been dinged for God knows what. I think a lot of passengers are realizing they should be rating a 5 unless they can really justify it. If youre a new driver, you need to learn the ropes. What type of a car do you have? You need to make sure it doesn't make noises even though there are older models coming on now. Make sure its clean inside and out. Check your backseat after every ride-people spill stuff and track in dirt and crud. It needs to be a habit, because anything on your back seat may get you a low rating. Always ask passengers their name and verify the acct, say how are your (Jennifer) , I'm Kim. Ask them if they have a preferred route or if you should just follow GPS. Ask of they're comfortable and if theres anything you can do. Start out doing that and then that's it. It sucks we have to do this for the crummy fares but that seems to work for me and I have a KIA Soul. Nothing fancy but its clean, windows are tinted, I have Sirius XM, and I put five 8oz waters in my doors and they rarely get taken this time of year but it does look good to have it. Cheap mints and gum from dollar store. That's it. I do NOT allow AUX cord, sorry but I have Sirius, they can find something on my radio and my AUX does not sound good, not sure why but that's never affected my rating. Put on a smile, force yourself. You will need to take that dumb class, which is just another money maker for UBER, and its not even taught by UBER X drivers from what I hear. We are the bottom of the barrel, truthfully. We have less-fancy cars and we're constantly subjected to fare cuts and BS from UBER. Once youre reactivated, have an experienced UBER X driver go out with you, give you some tips and maybe see if they can find out why youre being rated low. I am always willing to do it in my area with other drivers. Sorry this happened but see if you can join a local UBER driver FB page, every city has one, see if another driver can meet up with you and help you out. But this is not a full-time job, know that. It is too unstable and with the constant risk of deactivation no UBER X should be relying on this work for their sole source of income.


----------



## Kaz

scrurbscrud said:


> The habit can only be of desperation or lunacy when it's done for essentially nothing and the drivers actually believe they are "make"ing anything.
> 
> The notion that there is "make" in the skim between 6-12 cents a mile in gas costs and whatever crap for pay there is on UberX is habitual desperation if ya wanna call it that. Or plain stupidity if we want to be more honest.


Still on here being polite as ever huh, Scrurbscrud


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## scrurbscrud

Kaz said:


> Still on here being polite as ever huh, Scrurbscrud


Good to see you too Kaz! 

Honest to a fault. My bad.


----------



## Kaz

ClevelandUberRider said:


> Agreed. I think UberX is a bad deal for drivers. UberSelect is workable though. But drivers in my town are, the last I heard, not allowed to have a Select-only account.


I hear drivers who are on Select have to take UBER X fares too. That sucks and is not worth it unless it is surging. My sister has a nice Lexus that qualifies for Select- I may see if I can use that on occasion but I will need to get Rideshare addendum on it which is now available here in AZ, and we live together so I can go on her insurance. I am not sure if Select is steady but when theres big events going on in town I would think there will be a demand for it.


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## ClevelandUberRider

UberSelect needs to take UberX truly suc*s for drivers' bottom line?


----------



## IckyDoody

Kaz said:


> Another reason this is NOT a full time job. The rating system has always sucked and been unfair. But I've been doing this a while (weekends) and for a while my rating wasnt great but wasn't low enough to be de-activated. And I've been through two rate cuts so I am offering less but still fluctuate between a 4.75 and 4.8.There is a lot of work involved for a measly.80 a mile or whatever youre making. You need to make sure you don't smell, your car doesn't smell, keep air freshener and a mini bottle of Febreeze handy for the smelly passengers that get out and leave a stench. Most people rate me fairly but ive been dinged for God knows what. I think a lot of passengers are realizing they should be rating a 5 unless they can really justify it. If youre a new driver, you need to learn the ropes. What type of a car do you have? You need to make sure it doesn't make noises even though there are older models coming on now. Make sure its clean inside and out. Check your backseat after every ride-people spill stuff and track in dirt and crud. It needs to be a habit, because anything on your back seat may get you a low rating. Always ask passengers their name and verify the acct, say how are your (Jennifer) , I'm Kim. Ask them if they have a preferred route or if you should just follow GPS. Ask of they're comfortable and if theres anything you can do. Start out doing that and then that's it. It sucks we have to do this for the crummy fares but that seems to work for me and I have a KIA Soul. Nothing fancy but its clean, windows are tinted, I have Sirius XM, and I put five 8oz waters in my doors and they rarely get taken this time of year but it does look good to have it. Cheap mints and gum from dollar store. That's it. I do NOT allow AUX cord, sorry but I have Sirius, they can find something on my radio and my AUX does not sound good, not sure why but that's never affected my rating. Put on a smile, force yourself. You will need to take that dumb class, which is just another money maker for UBER, and its not even taught by UBER X drivers from what I hear. We are the bottom of the barrel, truthfully. We have less-fancy cars and we're constantly subjected to fare cuts and BS from UBER. Once youre reactivated, have an experienced UBER X driver go out with you, give you some tips and maybe see if they can find out why youre being rated low. I am always willing to do it in my area with other drivers. Sorry this happened but see if you can join a local UBER driver FB page, every city has one, see if another driver can meet up with you and help you out. But this is not a full-time job, know that. It is too unstable and with the constant risk of deactivation no UBER X should be relying on this work for their sole source of income.


Dafuq... it's simple: don't be a d*ck, don't f*ck up the route, bathe, keep your car clean. That's it.
If you do that and your rating is subpar then: don't work drunk hours, don't pick up from schools or near colleges, don't pick up 4.6 or below.


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## ClevelandUberRider

IckyDoody said:


> Dafuq... it's simple: don't be a d*ck, don't f*ck up the route, bathe, keep your car clean. That's it.
> If you do that and your rating is subpar then: don't work drunk hours, don't pick up from schools or near colleges, don't pick up 4.6 or below.


Well said.


----------



## FBM

Matt Uterak said:


> If your ratings are that bad you need to really evaluate the experience you are giving.
> 
> I am either silent or have a nice chat with the Pax. Over the last 101 trips I am at a 4.95 and total over all rides in the calc of 4.89.
> 
> If the person seems chatty, pick up on something they like. A good one, even though I dislike sports, is to mention their team if they are wearing a jersey or hat or t shirt of some kind. I drive in a city with a team. Know the main players and maybe look at scores before heading out.


HOW, I mean HOW do you do that?? 101 trips Pratically ALL 5 stars, HOW. Are you George Clooney or something.. WOW.


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## FBM

I have a 4.52 and rated 130 trips out of 190. *I'm still alive. haa*, did you have some reported to Uber complaints? For me, I have only 1 reported to Uber complaint out of about 190 trips I done as of today.

*I just know. I'm waiting to get fired. I don't plan on coming back if they deactivate me.*


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## FBM

I have a 4.52 and rated 130 trips out of 190. I'm still alive. haa, did you have some reported to Uber complaints? For me, I have only 1 reported to Uber complaint out of about 190 trips I done as of today.


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## Tequila Jake

One of the issues we have is that there is no guidance to the passengers on what the star system means. Before I knew how it impacted drivers, I would have assumed that on a 1-5 scale, that 4 is Above Average and 5 is Damn Near Godlike Experience. However, it seems that to Uber, 4 means Below Average and 5 means Good.


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## atlgal

Coachman said:


> If you have a 4.1 for 30 rated trips with 17 5 star trips then that means your average rating for the remaining 13 rated trips was 2.9. That's abysmal. That can't be just bad luck.
> 
> I'm surprised they even offered you the class.


Lmao


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## Abraxas79

The rating system is completely vacuous. Not only does it lack transparency, but it is often outright incorrect. ie; I received a weekly summary for one week, which stated I fell below my city average (4.79) which never seems to change, but that is another story altogether. Anyways, the weekly summary stated that I did 24 trips, 22 of which were rated 5 star, but my weekly average was 4.64. Off the top, that didn't seem right. If the other two trips were a 1 star the average would still be 4.66 not 4.64. Also, I thought that any rated 1 star prompted some type of action on Uber's part, ie; notice or email, but I never received anything.

Anyways, I wrote to UBER notifying them that their average could not possibly correct. Their response was to blow me off suggesting that until 500 trips are completed, the rating is not especially salient. I doubt I will keep doing this before I approach anywhere near 500 trips, but this is just an example how even their basic arithmetic can be off, yet they are using this rating to de-activate drivers. This rating can be manipulated by UBER five ways to Sunday and the driver never sees a thing. UBER discovers a driver that is criticizing them publicly, rather then deactivate them immediately which they have done in the past, and been sued over, the driver can watch his rating drop precipitously until he or she is kicked to the curb.


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## Stephen Jaworski

I was deactivated a few days ago because my rating fell below 4.2.
I dont think riders realize that a 4/5 rating isn't good.
So Uber suggested I use some expensive ($100) 3rd party "training session" to get a certificate, but I was welcome to shop around for other alternatives.
I found an inexpensive site (the cheapest I could find) called uber5stars for only $35. A few training videos and a questionnaire later and I was reactivated the same day!


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## Bill Collector

I started with 5*...went as low as 4.38*....After 300 rides, finally at 4.8*..... All about math.... Build the buffer before working drunk shift is my motto.... Will be working night shift next week.. Actual graph attached...


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## Matt Uterak

Stephen Jaworski said:


> I was deactivated a few days ago because my rating fell below 4.2.
> I dont think riders realize that a 4/5 rating isn't good.
> So Uber suggested I use some expensive ($100) 3rd party "training session" to get a certificate, but I was welcome to shop around for other alternatives.
> I found an inexpensive site (the cheapest I could find) called uber5stars for only $35. A few training videos and a questionnaire later and I was reactivated the same day!


Ratings are generally meaningless, but 4.2 is pretty low. What do you think you are doing to garner such poor ratings?


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## Stephen Jaworski

Matt Uterak said:


> Ratings are generally meaningless, but 4.2 is pretty low. What do you think you are doing to garner such poor ratings?


well I started with Uber during Mardi Gras week in New Orleans, and I unfortunately had alot of drunk rude people. Just a few 1 star ratings will really bring it down, other than those I've had a really good experience driving and have had happy riders.


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## Optimus Uber

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


Your opinion is that you think you're a good driver. Out of 30 ratings there were 14 people that disagree with your opinion of your driving skill. There's a reason you're a 4.1. It's because you suck at driving. That's the harsh reality. I know it's difficult to read and understand as you hold yourself in high regard but uber passengers know how the rating system works. If they didn't then allot more people would have bad ratings. Whatever you did before you started to drive for uber, you should go do that again. Because 14 failing marks out of 30 is an F.

Passengers know how to rate. Otherwise my rating would be like yours and it's not.









It gets old having to read how you are all such great drivers and it's always the passengers that don't know how the rating system works. It's not the passengers issue. If you're really good as you think you are you wouldn't have been deactivated.

What I fail to understand is how can uber be your lively hood after 50 rides? Seriously ??? You make that statement after 50 rides. You're a newbie. You must've had another job before uber. Because I doubt you have been making a living doing 50 rides.

Apparently you have come to the board for sympathy. But the details you have posted shows this maybe what you want to do because you think it's easy, you just don't have the skill set for it. Yeah, reality is harsh.


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## Bill Collector

Optimus Uber said:


> Your opinion is that you think you're a good driver. Out of 30 ratings there were 14 people that disagree with your opinion of your driving skill. There's a reason you're a 4.1. It's because you suck at driving. That's the harsh reality. I know it's difficult to read and understand as you hold yourself in high regard but uber passengers know how the rating system works. If they didn't then allot more people would have bad ratings. Whatever you did before you started to drive for uber, you should go do that again. Because 14 failing marks out of 30 is an F.
> 
> Passengers know how to rate. Otherwise my rating would be like yours and it's not.
> View attachment 28619
> 
> 
> It gets old having to read how you are all such great drivers and it's always the passengers that don't know how the rating system works. It's not the passengers issue. If you're really good as you think you are you wouldn't have been deactivated.


Impressive rating! I agree that it's all about how one comes across to other people. Usually the pax makes up the mind within first 30 seconds how the driver is.


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## Matt Uterak

With the new update I can now see how many trips were actually rated.

I have 92% 5 star trips out of all rated trips. Today, while attempting to get the guarantee, I only had 2 rated trips and one rated me less than 5 stars. I assume it was the kid who put in the wrong destination, confirmed it and then failed to tell me until we pulled up that it was a few blocks down. Or it was the drunk hot girl thought it was weird I asked her if she was going to the hockey game - the destination was 2 blocks away from the arena and she had a jersey on.

I figure if 92 out of a 100 feel I did a great job, than I am happy.


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## Uber hypocrisy

Anybody checked Google play store their app only has a 4.3 rating. I think uber needs to pay us for a class. Only seems fair to me.


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## beechnut79

The bottom line in all this is that to them anything less than a five-star rating might just as well be zero. This is really a shame because many aren't inclined to give 5s unless one goes really above and beyond the call of duty. The real fallacy here is that they tell you that you are your own boss. The only way is that you can choose when to and not to be online. Other than that it's pretty much Uber's way or the highway just as it is in any other corporation for the most part. With all the severe criticism they have received, it's a wonder that there hasn't been more reform of the service. They tell the drivers they are not employees, but if they can be deactivated, IOW fired, at will, then they really are employees even though we are told differently. Talking to people at the local centers is akin to talking to a stone wall. Makes you feel like doing cartwheels, and even then you are not getting anywhere. Isn't it time for their drivers to organize and form a union. Then they probably could not be fired unless they are guilty of something that could put them behind bars.


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## DelaJoe

I have been an Uber driver for over 1 year now and have over 1500 trips. I was stuck in the low 4.7s and have recently moved my rating up to 4.8. I made some minor changes and it has paid off. I bought a 4 way phone charger and an Aux cord. Sometimes customers need a charge. These items are very cheap (less than $5) but payoff in high ratings. I also carry gum in the car in case people want some. Again a very small expense. I always try to talk to people...small talk etc. I apologize if I arrive late or make a mistake on the route. I always thank the rider when exiting my car and tell them I was glad to meet them. I try to stay away from passengers with low ratings....especially late at night.

Keep the car fairly clean. There should be no odors. You should be well dressed..at least a collared shirt. Always have music on...I go with SIRI for $10/month but others stream music thru their phone. Keep the volume low enough so you can still talk. If they want to be DJ...let them take control by giving them the Aux cord or show them how to tune into different channels. Let them control the volume as well.

My goal is to get to a 4.84 which is where the top 25% of the drivers are in my area.


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## steveK2016

Well, since this was bumped up... i'm a little surprised to see someone deactivated so quickly. I had a good 56 - 5 star run before I got my first non-5 star rating when i started Ubering. The rating system is jacked up because even during that run, I never had above a 4.9 even though it showed 100% 5 star ratings.

Oh well, screw ratings. I get good ratings without trying much.


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## DelaJoe

steveK2016 said:


> Well, since this was bumped up... i'm a little surprised to see someone deactivated so quickly. I had a good 56 - 5 star run before I got my first non-5 star rating when i started Ubering. The rating system is jacked up because even during that run, I never had above a 4.9 even though it showed 100% 5 star ratings.
> 
> Oh well, screw ratings. I get good ratings without trying much.


See I think the rating system is pretty good. Although I would change a couple of things. The rating system keeps a driver focused and attention to the details. If I didn't have a rating, I wouldn't care as much if I made mistakes or was rude to a passenger.

Here are a couple of changes:
1) No ratings on a trip that is less than 5 minutes. I don't think you can have a conversation in 5 minutes. You certainly have no time to offer phone charging, gum or other things.
2) No ratings on a trip above a 2x surge. I don't think it is fare that a rider rates a driver when the fare is double or triple or more of the normal rate. The passenger is often surprised by the charge and takes it out on the driver. Uber had a surge adjusted rating in 2015 but I haven't seen it this year.


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## steveK2016

DelaJoe said:


> See I think the rating system is pretty good. Although I would change a couple of things. The rating system keeps a driver focused and attention to the details. If I didn't have a rating, I wouldn't care as much if I made mistakes or was rude to a passenger.
> 
> Here are a couple of changes:
> 1) No ratings on a trip that is less than 5 minutes. I don't think you can have a conversation in 5 minutes. You certainly have no time to offer phone charging, gum or other things.
> 2) No ratings on a trip above a 2x surge. I don't think it is fare that a rider rates a driver when the fare is double or triple or more of the normal rate. The passenger is often surprised by the charge and takes it out on the driver. Uber had a surge adjusted rating in 2015 but I haven't seen it this year.


What needs to happen is if a 4 star can potentially get you deactivated (if you get too many) then all 1-4 ratings should require a comment to explain why they didn't get a 5 star. That way, 4 star comments like "I didn't like the surge rate" can easily be contested as not a rating based on the drivers performance and out of his control.

At the very least, it'll allow us to know exactly what to change so we don't do it again.

But I think the true rating system should be "Would You Ride With This Driver Again? Yes or No?" that way there's no subjective "4 is still a good score..." mentality. Then base the score on your % of yes versus no, so if you have 99 yes versus 1 no, then you have a 99% driver score. You lose that subjective crap of 4's being acceptable while truly getting to the root of why there's a rating: whether or not someone should be a driver. That should be based on a simple question to their passengers, would you want to take that ride again?


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## WBdriving

DelaJoe said:


> See I think the rating system is pretty good. Although I would change a couple of things. The rating system keeps a driver focused and attention to the details. If I didn't have a rating, I wouldn't care as much if I made mistakes or was rude to a passenger.


I think a rating system is good but Uber's rating system is B.S. because it's either 5 stars because you think I should be a driver for Uber or 4 or less stars if you think I shouldn't be driving at all. Which is what the 4.6 deactivation rating implies.

My rating last week was 4.92 and had 6 pax not rate me 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.87. This week I had 15 people rate me 5 stars and my rating only went up to 4.88 and then one really bad pax that I had to report and my rating dropped to 4.86 and after having a couple days off my rating dropped to 4.84. When I was at 4.92 I only had 11 people not give me 5 stars and 196 who did rate me 5 stars and now I'm up to 213 5 stars ratings and I'm at my lowest rating ever!

In the last two weeks I've had one woman who didn't like the idea of me not taking her 2 and 4 year child for a ride without a car seat.
I had 4 UberX rides that needed to be changed to UberXL rides because there was more then 4 pax. They are knew and where ok with me changing it. 
I had 7 ride's where they wanted to stick more then 6 pax in my vehicle for one trip.

I don't think that the pax should be able to rate you if their first request for you is to break the law because after you shoot them down on the idea there is nothing that you can do to get a good rating because they already don't like you because they know and sometimes will say that other drivers will do it.
I also don't think that a pax should be able to rate you because their fare changed to the service that they used. You used the more expensive service of course you have to pay for it.

I think part of Uber's biggest down fall is not training the pax how the system works enough and by not allowing us to report pax who want us to break the law. Drivers who don't go flying through red lights or crosswalks when people are crossing or allow children to not be in a car seat or 5 or 6 pax in the back seat because we care about the pax safety and our insurance rates can't get a fair rating as long as that type of behavior is allowed to exist.


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## WBdriving

steveK2016 said:


> What needs to happen is if a 4 star can potentially get you deactivated (if you get too many) then all 1-4 ratings should require a comment to explain why they didn't get a 5 star. That way, 4 star comments like "I didn't like the surge rate" can easily be contested as not a rating based on the drivers performance and out of his control.
> 
> At the very least, it'll allow us to know exactly what to change so we don't do it again.
> 
> But I think the true rating system should be "Would You Ride With This Driver Again? Yes or No?" that way there's no subjective "4 is still a good score..." mentality. Then base the score on your % of yes versus no, so if you have 99 yes versus 1 no, then you have a 99% driver score. You lose that subjective crap of 4's being acceptable while truly getting to the root of why there's a rating: whether or not someone should be a driver. That should be based on a simple question to their passengers, would you want to take that ride again?


That's a good point a yes or no answer should be the system. This is Uber X so a 4 star rating would and should be a great rating. A 5 star rating is really a Uber Select or Uber Black fancy ride.


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## Disgusted Driver

WBdriving said:


> I think a rating system is good but Uber's rating system is B.S. because it's either 5 stars because you think I should be a driver for Uber or 4 or less stars if you think I shouldn't be driving at all. Which is what the 4.6 deactivation rating implies.
> 
> My rating last week was 4.92 and had 6 pax not rate me 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.87. This week I had 15 people rate me 5 stars and my rating only went up to 4.88 and then one really bad pax that I had to report and my rating dropped to 4.86 and after having a couple days off my rating dropped to 4.84. When I was at 4.92 I only had 11 people not give me 5 stars and 196 who did rate me 5 stars and now I'm up to 213 5 stars ratings and I'm at my lowest rating ever!
> 
> In the last two weeks I've had one woman who didn't like the idea of me not taking her 2 and 4 year child for a ride without a car seat.
> I had 4 UberX rides that needed to be changed to UberXL rides because there was more then 4 pax. They are knew and where ok with me changing it.
> I had 7 ride's where they wanted to stick more then 6 pax in my vehicle for one trip.
> 
> I don't think that the pax should be able to rate you if their first request for you is to break the law because after you shoot them down on the idea there is nothing that you can do to get a good rating because they already don't like you because they know and sometimes will say that other drivers will do it.
> I also don't think that a pax should be able to rate you because their fare changed to the service that they used. You used the more expensive service of course you have to pay for it.
> 
> I think part of Uber's biggest down fall is not training the pax how the system works enough and by not allowing us to report pax who want us to break the law. Drivers who don't go flying through red lights or crosswalks when people are crossing or allow children to not be in a car seat or 5 or 6 pax in the back seat because we care about the pax safety and our insurance rates can't get a fair rating as long as that type of behavior is allowed to exist.


Don't be deluded into believing that the pax don't know what they are doing. They know they need car seats and they know what your capacity is, they are trying to clown car you to save money. Here's a suggestion. If they are trying to cram 7 into your XL, just say no, either make them cancel, or drive around the corner and wait 5 minutes and cancel as a no show. You get paid and they are less likely to try that crap. Once you let them in the car they will take it out on you. For the people who order X but have 5 or 6 pax, don't say anything, act like a happy idiot. You have 48 hours to request a fare adjustment so wait till at least the next day, then put in the adjustment. Chances are they have already rated you and won't take the trouble to rerate. Either way, it's more important to get paid than get ratings.


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## WBdriving

Disgusted Driver said:


> Don't be deluded into believing that the pax don't know what they are doing. They know they need car seats and they know what your capacity is, they are trying to clown car you to save money. Here's a suggestion. If they are trying to cram 7 into your XL, just say no, either make them cancel, or drive around the corner and wait 5 minutes and cancel as a no show. You get paid and they are less likely to try that crap. Once you let them in the car they will take it out on you. For the people who order X but have 5 or 6 pax, don't say anything, act like a happy idiot. You have 48 hours to request a fare adjustment so wait till at least the next day, then put in the adjustment. Chances are they have already rated you and won't take the trouble to rerate. Either way, it's more important to get paid than get ratings.


I did wait 20 hours last week but it wasn't long enough.


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## DelaJoe

There are so many things a passenger can knock you down on:
- Car smelled or was dirty
- Driver didn't get out and open doors
- Driver did not talk to us (unfriendly)
- Radio was too loud..didn't like the music
- We weren't offered any amenities
- Fare was too high
- Driver was late
- Driver took the wrong turn/route
- Driver had an attitude
- Ride was not comfortable or noisy
- Car was too small
- Seat belts were broken
- Temp was too hot or too cold
- Driver didn't have a phone charger
- Driver didn't have an Aux Cord

As a driver you have to do your best to make sure you earn your 5 stars. If you are getting a lot of non-5s then you are doing something wrong. I mentally go thru every ride and try to figure out who rated me poorly from day to day and work on improvements. You can get better but if you are a lousy driver, drive a crappy old car, and don't have any amenities..you will get buried in low ratings.

I went from a 4.71 to a 4.78 and with over 500 rides in the books it took almost a month to accomplish that. Now it will be very difficult to move the rating up some more. You pretty much have to be perfect or near perfect day to day and week to week. But I tell you there is nothing wrong with a 4.78. I see a driver around 4.8 as ABOVE AVERAGE. If you have a 4.9 you are EXCEPTIONAL. A 4.7 is average. A 4.6 or less and you probably shouldn't be driving. So what is the difference between a 4.9 driver and a 4.7 driver? Probably over 100 trips the 4.9 driver will have 90 5-stars and the 4.7 driver will have about 80 5-stars. It is not a big difference but over 500 trips its a lot more bad ratings.

Also don't drive when you are tired...you tend to make mistakes. Don't drive when you are amped up on coffee...it makes me talk too much. Don't drive passengers with low ratings especially late at night. Passengers with bad ratings tend to give drivers low ratings because they are not of sound mind.

Set goals every week. Make it a game. Reward yourself when you get a perfect 5.00 report card even a 4.80 or higher report card.


----------



## wk1102

WBdriving said:


> I did wait 20 hours last week but it wasn't long enough.


Anytime there is a fare adjustment, this includes cleaning fees, they get a receipt via email. Uber so thoughtfully puts an option on the bottom so they can re rate you right from the receipt.


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## WBdriving

wk1102 said:


> Anytime there is a fare adjustment, this includes cleaning fees, they get a receipt via email. Uber so thoughtfully puts an option on the bottom so they can re rate you right from the receipt.


Well isn't that nice of them to offer the pax to rate the driver on Uber's pricing and policies. Again they agreed to Uber's terms and conditions and yet somehow the driver is the one that gets held responsible for it.


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## toyotarola

For everyone bashing the OP, this is a numbers issue. He only has 30 rated trips to build an average with, that will swing ridiculously with every less-than-perfect trip, which we know can be anything not even related to us. Now, new drivers in my market have been terrible at routing (even with the nav) and had dirty cars and talked too much, so it's possible there's an unaddressed issue here. But cut some slack, this could easily be chalked up to variance (ie luck).


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## Randal

You know...I have been driving with Uber now for about 10 months. I drive in Augusta, GA. I clean my car thoroughly every two weeks and lightly weekly. I keep up with brakes and oil and anything else it needs to work hard. I drive part time only and use a vehicle that is considered a "spare". I do not offer water or snacks. What I do offer is a clean, safe ride in a well maintained vehicle that is not ugly or uncomfortable to ride in. I help with groceries or luggage or anything else that is required to assist passengers in getting in and out of my vehicle. I follow my GPS and always ask passengers if the planned route is good for them. What I have presented thus far, is, in my opinion, what I would expect from a taxi.....even more! For the low rates we get paid...for the little money I see as profit after my costs, I think I do an awful lot. YET: I have seen my rating dive to 4.71 and now recently is climbing again. I have done over 750 trips. I have currently 4.72. Uber just recently made me inactive while they review my updated security check. I change license to my current state.( I am military, my home state license expired so I go a new GA license). I have current registration and use GEICO commercial rideshare insurance. 
I have come to realize: UBER really does not care about quality of drivers. They only care about income. They will survey these forums and mess around with drivers and do what ever they have to do to prevent driver organization and realization of the FACT: A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THEIR BUSINESS MODEL IS TO TAP THE LARGE SEA OF AVAILABLE DRIVERS AND GAIN INCOME FROM THEM. THEY WILL MILK THE VAST ALMOST INFINITE SEA OF NAIVE DRIVERS FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE WORTH. THEY KNOW THE GRAVY TRAIN WILL END ONE DAY. BUT NOT SOON ENOUGH TO STOP THEM FROM MAKING ALL THEY CAN OFF PEOPLE'S DESIRE TO GET MONEY DOING WHAT THEY CAN EASILY DO. Do NOT be fooled. You are being taken advantage of. Things will change, but not soon enough. This is the biggest mass exploitation of people I have ever heard of since slavery. I do not care if they ban me forever for what I say. I will retire next year and I will find another way to make pocket money. NO MATTER: I will learn all I can and keep my focus to help in bringing forth change for this "IN PLAIN SIGHT" exploitation of people. I know and see that initiatives are already being taken for change. But I fear it will be too long before this rubbish is shut down...and it will not be a fast process.
DO THE MATH. EVEN IN A FAST MARKET, YOU ARE BEING EXPLOITED. RESEARCH...YOU WILL SEE.


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## fiyawalker

Uber set you up for failure then make you pay for a class!! Lolol. How stupid can we be?? THERE IS NO UBER WITHOUT DRIVERS!! Once you understand simple principles of economics (supply and demand) you will then begin to realize that if you stop driving and give as much bad publicity as uber gives good, the tide will turn. There can be much benefit in a sacrifice if selfishness and personal needs don't interfere.


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## DelaJoe

You are 4.7 which is an average rider on the Uber platform. Passengers are looking for something extra to give you 5 stars...otherwise you will get 4s if you don't offer frills. I have seat warmers which are nice in the cold months. I did have Sirius radio and they seem to like that. I also have charging plugs for all the phones and an Aux cord. I have a nice ride with lots of leg room. I don't do water. I don't open doors. I don't do groceries or luggage. I pop the trunk. If I get a ping from a grocery store I cancel it. If you work in "nice" areas you will get nice customers. If you work in "bad" areas you are going to get troublemakers and low ratings. I am a 4.8 and others on here are 4.9. 

You are driving people in a "spare" vehicle which sounds like an old car. Maybe the car make loud noises. Maybe the suspension is terrible. I don't know. But there is a reason you are at 4.7. I was there too. Then I figured out some things. You got to watch where you drive and who you pickup. You will figure it out.


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## Randal

DeltaJoe...you miss the point. It is not a matter of what it takes to "tickle" riders into giving 5 stars. What I offer is an more than adequate for a satisfactory ride to a destination. My point is: Uber set up it's rating system to exploit private citizens into giving more product than the payments warrant. My "spare" car is clean and reliable. VERY CLEAN. I get comments all the time about how nice and roomy it is, how clean it is and how it must be fairly new. It is paid for yes...it is 4 years old yes. So for minimum payment it, along with the pleasant service I provide should be more than adequate. Now I am not going to beat up my new vehicles for below average pay. Now if YOU or OTHERS want to...that is up to you. But why set up a system that encourages adequate services to be not good enough? I understand a rusty, noisy, smelly car and rude driver warranting a less than acceptable rating and eventually elimination. Uber is exploiting a vast pool of drivers. I will observe so long as I can, but driving occasionally. And if Uber decides to tell me to "take a hike". So be it...however I do have some friends that occasionally drive as well. I will check on things and continue to monitor the situation. The mistakes I see drivers that are disgruntled make: They want to petition Uber and demand better conditions or rates. This is a hopeless endeavor. Uber will not give in to any demands from it's cash cows. What needs to happen is regulation. It will come. But I think many will expend their resources before it happens. You are correct about the bad areas tho....I call them "scrub runs". This is to the point where I find that driving let's me see dynamics I find quite interesting.


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## DelaJoe

Had 2 questionable rides today. First one I took to a payday loan store but I was cool and he gave me 5 stars. The 2nd ride was to popeyes drive thru and then to sears. She said thanks but didn't rate me. I need to get my cancel rate down from the weekend so I am doing these questionable rides. $12 total and that paid for my lunch today and a few dollars more. I try to be cool and engage in conversation but I can quickly tell if people want to converse or not.


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## Randal

Yes I handle pax the same way. BTW: Since we are having a conversation here let me tell you a little about me. I am a 22 year military veteran. Of course I am in a leadership position. I deal with trainees of various age and education levels. What I am trying to say is I am very patient and can read people fairly well. No, I am not that sour military leader yelling and screaming to get results. I am spent a lot of time being subordinate and also being a leader. So I believe I know how to treat people fairly and exercise patience. I am talkative, yet can fully appreciate when people need to be left alone. I view my passengers as people that have needs I don't know anything about. So I give a greeting, ask if the planned route is ok and then proceed. If the passenger wants to talk, they sure do let me know. Most do, some don't. Getting back to what I was saying: The Uber system is geared toward exploiting drivers. You are held to an unreasonably high standard, yet you do not get even fair compensation. If a plumber came and fixed your sink. Would you be able to pay him less simply because he did not paint the cabinet they sink was sitting on


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## me2

SanPedroLover said:


> Perhaps I can offer you a class on proper English grammar?


Don't be a dick ok life is hard enough for people and drivers with out you straying from topic just so you can make someone bad day worce


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## me2

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


You may want to try driving for lift for a while they pay better plus tips. It sucks that uber is messing around with you like this I wish I could offer you better advice. Maybe If you contact them and explain you have yet to do 500 hundred rides for a more balanced review of you ability maybe they'll listen. Also if you do start driving again ask riders questions like is the temp good or are you comfortable when they answer tell them .... just want to make sure you have a good ride. Some cheap things that might help are power cords Apple and micro get the 6 feet ones. I tend to get away with talking about the ratings system tactually talk about how uber sees 5 stars as just getting the job done rather than giving miraculous above and beyond service. Usually I have these Conversation with other that work in customer service. It takes either a real asshole or the worst of rides to get lower than a 4 after than. No idea if this may help you but I hope it dose. Best of luck


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## DelaJoe

So I had 2 rides today and my 5-star count went up by 2 but my rating went down from 4.79 to 4.78. So obviously either someone today rated me a non-5 or someone from the weekend. I will never know but if I had to guess it was one of my 2 questionable rides today. Now I accepted 2 out of 2 rides yet my statistics on acceptance and cancel did not change. I wish Uber would tell you what riders rated you 5 stars and which ones gave you sub 5 ratings. 

I know if I continue to do the questionable rides that my rating will steadily drop. If I work in better areas...middle class and affluent sections..my ratings will steadily climb. So I have to weigh keeping my rating up versus taking questionable versus maintaining high acceptance rates and low cancel rates. Some drivers on here have 4.9+ ratings but they are driving in "nice" areas with "nice" people all of the time.

You can be the nicest person in the world but if you work in a low or lower middle class area it is very difficult to keep ratings up because the passengers are a complete mess. Taking people to a payday loan store or a popeyes is very different than taking a business professional to the airport or a father and son to a football game. The first group is living life on the edge and will ***** about every little thing and the cost of the ride. The 2nd group is respectful and will even leave you a nice tip along with 5 stars.

I don't want to sound racist but this is class of society. There are certain areas of the country where you just get a better class of people. Then there are tough areas where most of the people are poor. I think if Uber did a study of economic background of their passengers and the ratings they give out you would see a disparity. The top drivers in my area are 4.85 .. so 4.78 is pretty good. These 4.9+ drivers would not be able to maintain their ratings if they drive some of my passengers around.


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## fiyawalker

DelaJoe said:


> You are 4.7 which is an average rider on the Uber platform. Passengers are looking for something extra to give you 5 stars...otherwise you will get 4s if you don't offer frills. I have seat warmers which are nice in the cold months. I did have Sirius radio and they seem to like that. I also have charging plugs for all the phones and an Aux cord. I have a nice ride with lots of leg room. I don't do water. I don't open doors. I don't do groceries or luggage. I pop the trunk. If I get a ping from a grocery store I cancel it. If you work in "nice" areas you will get nice customers. If you work in "bad" areas you are going to get troublemakers and low ratings. I am a 4.8 and others on here are 4.9.
> 
> You are driving people in a "spare" vehicle which sounds like an old car. Maybe the car make loud noises. Maybe the suspension is terrible. I don't know. But there is a reason you are at 4.7. I was there too. Then I figured out some things. You got to watch where you drive and who you pickup. You will figure it out.


I will not do a single thing extra at these low rate! When my rating drops too low to do UberSelect I done! I will not ever do UberX there's no money in it. Uber will continue to do what they are allowed to do until you stop it! Remember, YOU are uber! There's is no Uber without drivers. Show them that!


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## fiyawalker

DelaJoe said:


> So I had 2 rides today and my 5-star count went up by 2 but my rating went down from 4.79 to 4.78. So obviously either someone today rated me a non-5 or someone from the weekend. I will never know but if I had to guess it was one of my 2 questionable rides today. Now I accepted 2 out of 2 rides yet my statistics on acceptance and cancel did not change. I wish Uber would tell you what riders rated you 5 stars and which ones gave you sub 5 ratings.
> 
> I know if I continue to do the questionable rides that my rating will steadily drop. If I work in better areas...middle class and affluent sections..my ratings will steadily climb. So I have to weigh keeping my rating up versus taking questionable versus maintaining high acceptance rates and low cancel rates. Some drivers on here have 4.9+ ratings but they are driving in "nice" areas with "nice" people all of the time.
> 
> You can be the nicest person in the world but if you work in a low or lower middle class area it is very difficult to keep ratings up because the passengers are a complete mess. Taking people to a payday loan store or a popeyes is very different than taking a business professional to the airport or a father and son to a football game. The first group is living life on the edge and will ***** about every little thing and the cost of the ride. The 2nd group is respectful and will even leave you a nice tip along with 5 stars.
> 
> I don't want to sound racist but this is class of society. There are certain areas of the country where you just get a better class of people. Then there are tough areas where most of the people are poor. I think if Uber did a study of economic background of their passengers and the ratings they give out you would see a disparity. The top drivers in my area are 4.85 .. so 4.78 is pretty good. These 4.9+ drivers would not be able to maintain their ratings if they drive some of my passengers around.


Do you think ratings are what draw people to use Uber? NO! It's cheap a$$ rates! Do you think the competition (cab drivers) give a [expletive] about what you think of them? And yet people STILL opt to use them. The rating system is BS. Do you think that Uber will compensate for a low rating because of the price of the ride, a glitch in the app, etc? Many of your ratings are due to the pax dislike about fares or something else beyond your control. I started giving ALL pax a 1 star no matter what. That's when I noticed my rating quickly drop from 4.87 to 4.80 after have 4.87 for 9 months. Here's what you didn't know. Many paxs --especially those from Bollyville--will not rate you until they go online a see the rating you gave them. DA Uber makes the driver rate immediately but not the pax! How $hitty is that?? They had the brains and balls to revolutionize an industry but NOT work out the nuances that cause good drivers to become disillusioned, dissatisfied, and ultimately deactivated!


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## Sgt_PaxHauler

steveK2016 said:


> But I think the true rating system should be "Would You Ride With This Driver Again? Yes or No?" that way there's no subjective "4 is still a good score..." mentality. Then base the score on your % of yes versus no, so if you have 99 yes versus 1 no, then you have a 99% driver score. You lose that subjective crap of 4's being acceptable while truly getting to the root of why there's a rating: whether or not someone should be a driver. That should be based on a simple question to their passengers, would you want to take that ride again?


Here in Austin, Fasten & FARE both use a thumbs up/thumbs down rating system, so that drivers don't get 4-starred to deactivation. UberEats, in fact has a thumbs down-thumbs up rating system separate from the star system for pax rides. I find it to be much fairer to the driver, while allowing the rider(or delivery customer) feedback on truly poor drivers.


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## DelaJoe

We are all on the same playing field. The purpose of the rating system is to weed out the worst drivers and it works. If you take the highest rated drivers in your area and knock off .30 that is going to be pretty much the bottom before you get suspended.

It is very hard to maintain a super high rating. All it takes is one jerk to give you a 1-star and you will drop several points. Then that 1-star sits with you for the next 500 rides. Once you get 500 rated trips everything becomes a rolling average. Your rating will not move much after that.

I have no issues with the system but there is a bias. I don't think all people that take Uber are cheap. I had 2 nice fares over the weekend that ended with 20 dollar tips. Then I had another fare at 4x surge. People use Uber for many reasons. They are going drinking. They are drunk. They need a ride into an area where parking is an issue. They dont have a car and need a ride somewhere.


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## Cndragon

Im very new.. only 2 weeks in but have about 130 rides so far and have a 5 star rating. Before this, I was in sales for about 15 years so used to dealing with people for a living. Like I said, Im new, so I definitely still have some greenness to me but here's what I have been doing so far...

Before every shift, I take my car to the gas station to squeegie the windows, plus I dust and wipe down the interior. I also keep a small brush in the car to clean up the floor boards (man I need a mini vac, but just cant afford it yet so...)

When someone gets in the car, I ask them how their day is going, if the ac is okay, if they have any music preference. Most people say its fine, but many seem surprised Id ask and thank me for it. I keep the pandora station on Top 40 hits, I hate it (would rather listen to classic rock lol) but its generic enough for most people. After asking them about their day / preferences...I keep quiet. If they want to talk, they will talk to me. When we do talk, I keep the convo on them, 100%. People love to talk about themselves, and will consider any conversation where you are interested in them a good one.

When I drop them off, I tell them to have a great day / night and maybe reference something from our conversation and tell them it was awesome to meet them. I get a lot of college kids, tourists and business travelers...I take a break while the bars and clubs are closing, but I start back up about an hour after that...lots of rides for the people working the bars / clubs / restaurants who have closed up and heading home.

Ive got lots more to learn, for sure...but this has been my experience so far.

ETA: Oh, and be a good driver lol that helps of course. If Im totally unfamiliar with an area and nav is being confusing...I just ask. Everyone so far is happy to tell me where to turn as I get closer to their destination.


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## AuxCordBoston

Cndragon said:


> Im very new.. only 2 weeks in but have about 130 rides so far and have a 5 star rating. Before this, I was in sales for about 15 years so used to dealing with people for a living. Like I said, Im new, so I definitely still have some greenness to me but here's what I have been doing so far...
> 
> Before every shift, I take my car to the gas station to squeegie the windows, plus I dust and wipe down the interior. I also keep a small brush in the car to clean up the floor boards (man I need a mini vac, but just cant afford it yet so...)
> 
> When someone gets in the car, I ask them how their day is going, if the ac is okay, if they have any music preference. Most people say its fine, but many seem surprised Id ask and thank me for it. I keep the pandora station on Top 40 hits, I hate it (would rather listen to classic rock lol) but its generic enough for most people. After asking them about their day / preferences...I keep quiet. If they want to talk, they will talk to me. When we do talk, I keep the convo on them, 100%. People love to talk about themselves, and will consider any conversation where you are interested in them a good one.
> 
> When I drop them off, I tell them to have a great day / night and maybe reference something from our conversation and tell them it was awesome to meet them. I get a lot of college kids, tourists and business travelers...I take a break while the bars and clubs are closing, but I start back up about an hour after that...lots of rides for the people working the bars / clubs / restaurants who have closed up and heading home.
> 
> Ive got lots more to learn, for sure...but this has been my experience so far.
> 
> ETA: Oh, and be a good driver lol that helps of course. If Im totally unfamiliar with an area and nav is being confusing...I just ask. Everyone so far is happy to tell me where to turn as I get closer to their destination.


It's hard to imagine that you have 130 rides and a 5.0 rating. Please post the proof!


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## Cndragon

AuxCordBoston said:


> It's hard to imagine that you have 130 rides and a 5.0 rating. Please post the proof!


Okay you kinda got me... it's 121 rides, not 130...!

I started Dec 2...here's the review of my two pay periods so far with my ride count at the bottom.


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## UberMensch2015

Cndragon said:


> Okay you kinda got me... it's 121 rides, not 130...!
> 
> I started Dec 2...here's the review of my two pay periods so far with my ride count at the bottom.
> 
> View attachment 81406
> View attachment 81407
> View attachment 81411
> View attachment 81412


Dear god you made 12 bucks an hour before expenses and you're paying 250 a week for the car?  Uber is just the absolute worst I'm so glad I don't drive anymore.


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## Cndragon

UberMensch2015 said:


> Dear god you made 12 bucks an hour before expenses and you're paying 250 a week for the car? Uber is just the absolute worst I'm so glad I don't drive anymore.


Yeah...I kind of royally screwed up... I dont like pool so I stopped accepting those once I found out acceptance rate doesnt affect my account. I need 75 rides a week and Uber will pay for the car, but only realized afterwards that I also need a 90% acceptance rate. UGH!

It'll be $215 from now on (the first payment included some initial fee or another) but Im battling whether accepting pool to have a higher acceptance rate is worth the $215 car credit. Im leaning towards no...cause Id rather pay the $215 than start accepting pool rides again. But...its $215. So Im torn.


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## UberMensch2015

Cndragon said:


> Yeah...I kind of royally screwed up... I dont like pool so I stopped accepting those once I found out acceptance rate doesnt affect my account. I need 75 rides a week and Uber will pay for the car, but only realized afterwards that I also need a 90% acceptance rate. UGH!
> 
> It'll be $215 from now on (the first payment included some initial fee or another) but Im battling whether accepting pool to have a higher acceptance rate is worth the $215 car credit. Im leaning towards no...cause Id rather pay the $215 than start accepting pool rides again. But...its $215. So Im torn.


You're paying 860 bucks a month for a car? I... I just can't even anymore.


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## Cndragon

UberMensch2015 said:


> You're paying 860 bucks a month for a car? I... I just can't even anymore.


Dont judge me! You dont even know me! You dont even know!!! 

Lol no seriously...yeah its insane. For sure... but my car died and I have none at the moment so Im doing this Enterprise rental thing. If I can manage to keep my acceptance rate at 90% and do 75 rides a week, I get a credit to pay for the rental.

But the cost is actually comparable to when I did have a car...I didnt have payments, but it was 10 years old, I was putting in about 300+ in repairs every month (with more on the list that I couldnt afford) my insurance was $250 a month because of the requirements of my last job to have a certain type of policy, and I was spending over $100 in gas every week. So with a car I didnt have payments on I was spending about $900 easy a month. And the job I had was not in any way paying enough to make it worth it. I was actually relived when my car died and I had to quit my job. Huge load off.

So...as crazy as it sounds...this is actually not bad taking all that into consideration. I refuse to lease a car esp thorugh Ubers leasing program, and dont have down payment money to put down on one now. Id anyway rather save up and buy a decent used car outright instead of spending twice the value of a car in interest. So thats where Im at at the moment.


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## UberMensch2015

I'm not judging man, I just genuinely hate Uber/Enterprise/Whoever is the financing agent behind this deal. This is usury. There is no way that this rate for a lease/rental/whatever is fair. I FINANCED a luxury car once at 750 a month, that car was worth 60k. They are targeting people with limited resources and bad credit. Its predatory. I just feel for you man. 

Even if its your only financial route that doesn't make it any more moral for them to create such a trap. I hope you can find a real job soon, one that pays you and doesn't demand you pay them.


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## Cndragon

UberMensch2015 said:


> I'm not judging man, I just genuinely hate Uber/Enterprise/Whoever is the financing agent behind this deal. This is usury. There is no way that this rate for a lease/rental/whatever is fair. I FINANCED a luxury car once at 750 a month, that car was worth 60k. They are targeting people with limited resources and bad credit. Its predatory. I just feel for you man.
> 
> Even if its your only financial route that doesn't make it any more moral for them to create such a trap. I hope you can find a real job soon, one that pays you and doesn't demand you pay them.


Yeah, that really is the truth. The options are incredibly horrible for someone caught between a rock and a hard place as I am. I consider this the least offensive of my options since Im not locked into any sort of contract, and I can just return the car and be done with it at any time with no further obligation unlike the leasing or financing options. But its not ideal...not by a long shot.


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## Reversoul

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


Hope your driving is better than your use of punctuation and grammar.


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## fiyawalker

Reversoul said:


> Hope your driving is better than your use of punctuation and grammar.


Lol


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## steveK2016

UberMensch2015 said:


> Dear god you made 12 bucks an hour before expenses and you're paying 250 a week for the car? Uber is just the absolute worst I'm so glad I don't drive anymore.


All his expenses are paid from that, as the enterprise costs usually includes maintenance and insurance. Still not a great deal, but outside of gas, he's got nothing else. Plus I'm sure since this deal is a rental specifically for Ubering, that most, if not all, of the costs of the rental is tax deductible.

He isn't doing too bad outside of that... if he could save more on his vehicle cost, he'd be doing a lot better than many of the other drivers here.


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## freediverdude

$215 a week rental includes insurance too? Geez maybe I should do that instead of this Xchange lease at $185 plus $250 a month insurance.


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## Cndragon

Yup... the $215 includes insurance..everything really except gas. I can keep it however long I want. If it's due for any maintenance while I have it, I can take it to any Firestone, no cost to me.

And I can exchange it out for another car if I want so if I don't like it anymore or they have something better or newer, I can just trade out. So there are some pluses that help make the cost less painful.

Right now I have a 2016 Hyundai Elantra...which is great cause I'm very tall and the legroom is perfect. But if something more fuel efficient is ever available, I'd jump on it. 

Side note: I'm a she


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## jfinks

Cndragon said:


> Yup... the $215 includes insurance..everything really except gas. I can keep it however long I want. If it's due for any maintenance while I have it, I can take it to any Firestone, no cost to me.
> 
> And I can exchange it out for another car if I want so if I don't like it anymore or they have something better or newer, I can just trade out. So there are some pluses that help make the cost less painful.
> 
> Right now I have a 2016 Hyundai Elantra...which is great cause I'm very tall and the legroom is perfect. But if something more fuel efficient is ever available, I'd jump on it.
> 
> Side note: I'm a she


Do you have big hands?


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## Cndragon

jfinks said:


> Do you have big hands?


I'm pretty sure this is a trick question...

Alright well, the answer is 42.


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## stephan

dnlbaboof said:


> are you a smoker, thatll cost you if the car smells like smoke, vacuum your car every week and offer a phone charger(its good to have one anyways for emergencies)


Why offer ,for mesirable a dollar ^ mile ,i Don't offer nothing ,keep your car clean that's it,my rating is 4.7 ,and average rating is 4.4 4.5 in this town, lot of crappy pax lol. Just don't accept ping from low rated ppl and bad neighborhood. You will be fine, my rating was once 4.1 I'm on more than 700 trips


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## RugbyJim

Cndragon said:


> I'm pretty sure this is a trick question...
> 
> Alright well, the answer is 42.


_My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre," Ford muttered to himself, "and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes." _


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## Keyzer Soze

X-X_Driver said:


> Hi. I saw your original post last night. I truly am sad that this happened to you. The majority of people posting on here are very sincere. Most of us are very frustrated at one issue or another because most of us started out motivated and even excited to be doing this - for whatever our personal reasons. You will run into some sarcasm here - mostly because of the built up frustrations, feelings of helplessness, and the great disappointment that Uber has caused for most of us - and seems to keep doing over and over again. So - don't take any critical comments too personal.
> 
> That said, I do have a pretty good sense of what you are feeling and going through. A friend of mine (also an Uber X driver) had a similar experience and I want to relate the highlight (low lights) of his cirumstances, just so you can know what's coming and make the best decisions for you. I'm not here to tell you what to do.
> 
> We're all aware that the rating system stinks and is totally out of whack for a lot of reasons. There was a rather significant discussion about it a few weeks ago - which you can find here:
> 
> https://uberpeople.net/threads/5-st...rs-have-7x-more-votes-than-good-riders.49330/
> 
> Here's a summary of my friend's experience. Started out - all 5's with one 3 for first three nights out. Then worked a few late nights and got some 3's & 4's from the bar crowd. Overall rating was something like 4.7. Then my friend picked up a very intoxicated person who asked to be taken to the hospital. Trying to be a nice guy and a good driver - they took the ride and the pax made a terrible mess - urine and some fecal matter. Apologized profusely at the hospital. Friend reported it to Uber. Basically had to shut down for the night. He was parked outside the hospital trying to do a basic clean up and was approached by an off duty-nurse and her boyfriend. They asked for a ride because boyfriends car wouldn't start. Friend told them of the problem They assured him they didn't mind as it was 12:30 AM and needed to get home and come back in the morning for boyfriend's car. In hindsight, friend should never have agreed to that. Rookie mistake. End result - both the intoxicated passenger AND the nurses or her boyfriend gave 1* ratings (for different reasons I assume). Friends rating plummeted to something like 4.24 because he had so few rides.
> 
> Friend wrote to Uber support - also rookie mistake - and received probably a canned reply telling him not to worry about a couple low ratings- that he was doing a great job, they understood his sample size was low and to keep on driving and to keep up the good work. Two days later, as he was signing on to go drive - he got the deactivation message. Out of 27 rated rides, He was at a 4.29 (and climbing) but because he dropped below 4.3 at ride # 25. he was deactivated but could take a class and all would be OK.
> 
> Friend paid $100.00 to take the class and said he had a great person sit and give this canned presentation and felt it was worth the money to get a second chance (despite the cost) since he knew where there problem came in and knew he wouldn't allow that to happen again.
> 
> So he was reactivated. Now for the messed up part. Uber did NOT reset his rating. They told him that he had the next 50 rated rides to bring his 4.29 rating up to a 4.6. If he could do that - all would be good. If not - he would be permanently deactivated with No Recourse. He called me screaming and crying.
> 
> We sat down and did the math. Out of the next 50 rides he would have to have at minimum 40 5* ratings with allowance for about 10 4*'s and 3"s mixed in. That's tough to do simply because of the various factors that cause Uber pax to rate rather randomly most of the time.
> 
> My friend is still active with Uber (now having second thoughts since the rate cuts) but he can no longer risk doing late night runs during surge times because the risk of low ratings increases. I keep advising him to personally go to the local office to discuss this nearly impossible situation and so far he hasn't done so. I hope that he will soon as he really is a pretty good guy and has a lot of 5* comments from riders.
> 
> At the moment he's taking what he considers "safe runs" from the airport mostly but he's not yet reached his 50 runs yet and well.. it's now become a question of whether to "go out in a blaze of surge glory" (perhaps impossible now with rate cuts) or to try to carefully choose more mature pax who are more likely to appreciate service and rate higher (hopefully).
> 
> I'm feeling bad for him. Tried to do a couple nice deeds and got hit hard - still may be deactivated and he was one of the most excited people Uber ever had on their team when he started.
> 
> Again, not telling you what to do. I can't. The course apparently is easy and something like 2 hours long - but the main point is - you need to do some serious math and planning to get out of the hole in the 50 rated ride period they will most likely give you too. It would have been really helpful for my friend to have had guidance and some warnings before the deactivation at ride # 25 and to also know he wasn't going to truly get a "fair" second chance after the class.
> 
> Also - here is what I consider an excellent video from YouTube that really demonstrates and explains the dynamics of the rating system. It's worth a few views by most everyone:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry this was so lengthy. Hope it gives you some things to think about. You can do this but there needs to be strategy, time, planning, and patience involved.
> 
> Best of luck to you


Good lord, if anyone needs a 17+ minute video to explain elementary school mathematics... lol. The guy in the video is all excited about his "calculations", not only did excel do it for him, at the end of the day it's still elementary school math I love it!!!


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## Pig Pen

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


I think a spoonful of the truth is what you need. If you got deactivated, it means you're not as good of a driver that you think you are. Just saying. There's 1000's on these board who have never been deactivated.


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## kdyrpr

You probably had dozens of negative comments along with the rating. Plus your post is the longest sentence ever on this board.


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## freddieman

4.1 rating.....there is a big flaw in how u uber.


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## AvengingxxAngel

We all hate the rating system, it's not always fair on drivers, especially when someone is having a bad day and get nit picky about everything you do. 
30 ratings and 17 are 5 Stars....That's not a good outcome. There must be things you can do to make room for improvement and if this is your source of income then you should definitely do that driving course or whatever was offered.
I feel bad for you and hope things work out. Good luck!!!!


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## sledrunner

Hey man Im with you. I just got deactivated for low rating and I've been doing everything they say to do. Its best to just to get a new job in the long run but if you have to take the class then just do it and do uber until you find new employment. That is my plan now.


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## Uberglenn

Matt Uterak said:


> Not a shill at all. I stopped driving recently after a Pax accused me of being under the influence while driving him. I will reevaluate in the next month or so, I will still get my one ride in every 30 days.
> 
> But clearly someone who falls in the bottom bracket of ratings is doing something wrong. Like I said before on this board, I rarely wash the outside of my car, haven't vaccumed in weeks, I'm ugly and smelly, my car is full of dents and is one year from being off platform, I still maintain a high 4.8x rating.
> 
> 4.1 means something is wrong. It would be nice of Uber to provide specific feedback or require the rider to do so if the rating is below a 5. It ain't going to happen because the company is predatory by nature. They want free labor and market saturation.
> 
> I am fortunate that this is not my primary income.


How many total rides did you have


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## JPU

And if they say everything is fine? If people rate which is very rare... out of 67 on new years eve week i got 27 which 6 of them were 1 to 4 stars for absolutely no reason at all.. except i was talking to another driver and they say surge is a sure way not to get a 5 star.


Emp9 said:


> Rating system stinks but something your doing wrong. Car smell not clean. you smell. Bad knowledge of city you drive in. Music too loud. Type of car. You have to figure out what it is. No offense to OP but pax sometimes expect you to entertain them. Also many think they are good drivers but driving with a pax is different you have to drive more smoothly. Ask if they are comfortable with heat music so on.


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## MadTownUberD

Don't depend on Rideshare for income. It's basically a video game, except with real people.


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## cratter

MadTownUberD said:


> It's basically a video game, except with real people.


Funny you say that. I've told a couple pax that, when they ask if I like driving for Uber.

It reminds me of the days of playing "Crazy Taxi" at the arcade.

Or I say "its like live reality tv right here in the vehicle at 2 am." (taxi cab confessions hbo)

Last week, i dropped pax off at AA. The day before he blacked out and woke up in jail. Apparently he refused to pay his taxi driver and then proceeded to punch his face in...

And when I drove a passenger two hours from my local hospital to the "state hospital," I felt like a "ground pilot."


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## Phantomshark

I’ve only been doing this for a month but my Uber rating is 5.0, Lyft is 4.93. I really only do a couple of things, I’m not the worlds greatest conversationalist. If anything I’m a little awkward in social situations. It’s just a matter of being polite. When I get in I tell them there’s candy in the back, and water into pockets (I get a giant bag of DumDums at BJs wholesale club really cheap, and I throw a handful at a time into a ziplock bag I keep in the center armrest in the back seat, in plain sight when they get in). About 20% or less of the people actually take a dumdum, and I’ve only had one or two people take the water, but they all seem grateful that I have them and offer them. I tell them if they would like a different setting on the thermostat, or a different channel on the radio station to just let me know. I have the 60s 70s and 80s hits on my Pandora, and I’ve never had anyone ask me to change it. That’s it. And if you attempt to make small talk, and after a couple of questions they don’t seem to be getting into the conversation, just stop talking and drive quietly. Some people like that. I’ve had people tell me their other drivers try to hard to make conversation. You can try a comment or 2 later in the drive to see if they are chatty now, but not everyone is.

This is beside the basics of have a good Dustbuster in the car, I keep mine in the trunk, and look back after everyone gets out to see if there’s anything on the floor or the seat. Also keep a can of Febreze in the driver side door, and give a little squirt every time someone gets out. There could be an odor that you’re not noticing because you’ve been riding with it for a while.


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## R James

Do you talk too much? Broken English? Do you smell or does your car smell? Do you talk about politics or religion? Do you complain about stuff when you talk? Are you polite and at least quasi-friendly? Does your car have any body damage, torn seats, messed up interior or is it dirty? Stained seats? Do you drive conservatively?

I ask you all of these questions because it's quite possible that YOUR standards are lower than your passengers'.


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## mrpjfresh

Can we get a mod to consider putting a lock on this thread? Lol. This gets bumped every month or so and the OP hasn't been seen in over 2 years. It wouldn't be such a huge issue, but he has that creepy, darkroom picture that makes him look like the Zodiac Killer or something. It's that questionable judgement that probably got him deactivated in the first place.


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## evil

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


 Do you know how to structure am English sentence? There is such thing as commas and fullstops...


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## Tom Harding

Lawrence Levitt said:


> Hi all i was working for uber in the Greenville SC market and did 47 completed trips of which only 30 was rated and just 17 at the 5 stars and my rating dropped to 4.1 so my account got deactivated and was told i need to take a class that will cost money i can't afford just because someone rated me poorly i am a very good driver and the system is unfair i think a better way must be set up in place of the rating system uber now uses and if a rider has a problem with a driver it can be handled by uber and the partner so he can learn from his mistake and because a better driver.


I drive in NW Indiana. Starting out at 5.0, but after 100 rides I was down to 4.5. When I asked Uber why my ratng was declining, they said it was "cultural differences". I figured out where he 5 star rating people were and those that rated less, after a warning. For me, poor areas rated poorly, were the more affluent areas rated better new riders to Uber rated poorly, where the more experienced riders rated better. 
Your friend should use Mystro with a steeing of 4.7 for riders rating. That might help, otherwise don't take a rider that has a poor rating or a rider that has a 5 star rating (that's a new rider). He should carry a Iphone and Android charging cable, a USB port to plug into. Greeet the rider with a positive comment, and be nice in general. And lastly NO SMOKING in the car and keep the car clean and order free.


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