[PetrolRider]

So, another case of Uber fraud.

My wife is a regular user of Uber. So, few days back, I had some rewards points to be encased and they have this Uber promo coupon. Quickly got one of those and added to my wife' account. Till this all smooth and fine, the account shows the coupon available.

Wife, then took a ride, I was apprehensive of these coupon thing, hence immediately checked the bill. No coupon applied and the coupon also no longer exist in her account. Fired one email to Uber with details, right away. Almost a week passed, still no response.

[Rehaan]

Think i might have broken the record for farthest ever "completing a trip nearby"

Fact is, there were ZERO UberXLs available around, and after 5-6 failed attempts at getting one, the app graced me with this ride:

[IndieGooner]

I had to use an Uber yesterday and the app showed this on screen:


First thought on my mind was - How can a hearing impaired person get a driving license, let alone a commercial driver's badge?

After some confusion with pick up location the cab arrived. The driver was a pretty young lad of approximately 22-23 years. He was very talkative and for the duration of the short trip we were engaged in conversation. He had no trouble listening to me and was a safe driver as well. I assume he was wearing a hearing aid on his right ear which was out of my view. Despite my curiosity, avoided any questions about his disability as I didn't want to offend him.

Credit to Uber for opening their doors to a disabled person and for being considerate to his needs.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by IndieGooner

I had to use an Uber yesterday and the app showed this on screen:
Attachment 1654821

Credit to Uber for opening their doors to a disabled person and for being considerate to his needs.

There is a toggle button for hearing impairment in the driver's app. The major changes are -
1. Instead of just audio alerts, the phone will show visually enhanced alerts during pickup requests.
2. App intimates the rider to enter destination.
3. Turns off calls from riders


Here's what Uber says in the help section

Turn on this feature to notify riders that you are deaf or hard of hearing, ask riders to enter destination, and turn off calls from riders. To turn on/off this feature in the Uber Partner App, go to Accessibility settings, select "I'm deaf or hard of hearing" and "Use flash for requests" to enable visually enhanced alerts during rider requests.

Here's a screenshot




I think this is a very good initiative by Uber.

[mrvenka]

Once I was riding with Uber in similar situation (driver marked deaf), however during the ride I found out that the driver knew only Kannada (he spoke well) and struggled with Hindi and English. He said he opted for this option as life was tough for him earlier. I got down the car with a smile and was very happy for him & Uber.

Originally Posted by IndieGooner

First thought on my mind was - How can a hearing impaired person get a driving license, let alone a commercial driver's badge?

After some confusion with pick up location the cab arrived.

Credit to Uber for opening their doors to a disabled person and for being considerate to his needs.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by IndieGooner

I assume he was wearing a hearing aid on his right ear which was out of my view. Despite my curiosity, avoided any questions about his disability as I didn't want to offend him.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

There is a toggle button for hearing impairment in the driver's app. The major changes are -
1. Instead of just audio alerts, the phone will show visually enhanced alerts during pickup requests.
2. App intimates the rider to enter destination.
3. Turns off calls from riders

I can give some more material on this, having used 2-3 cabs with the message showing up that the driver is hard of hearing. The first time I didn't have much to say, he followed the directions correctly and the one or two times I spoke to him asking him to take a direction/stop he responded normally.. far too normally.

This made me curious, the next time I got a cab with the same notice.. I spoke to him in my normal voice if not lower than normal.. giving him directions and asking him to stop at the destination. AGAIN he heard every word.. this is more than normal hearing I'd say and if it is due to a hearing-aid then it's doing a great job at it. The third time too, same story.

Perhaps its just a cautionary notice, a disclosure in case the driver did not have a correctly working hearing-aid, or maybe the option was triggered by the driver just to avoid getting calls from the passengers (if the option is indeed, toggled without any proof required) or maybe there are degrees of hearing loss and the app classifies them all into one page. I feel strongly that one or two of them just toggled the option to prevent from getting calls.. they heard even when I gave directions in an almost-whispering pitch.

Maybe?

[IndieGooner]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I can give some more material on this, having used 2-3 cabs with the message showing up that the driver is hard of hearing. The first time I didn't have much to say, he followed the directions correctly and the one or two times I spoke to him asking him to take a direction/stop he responded normally.. far too normally...

Use mrvenka alluded something similar in previous post and this could be a possibility. The driver who came to pick me up had slurred speech as well. I do not know if this something related to his disability. Also, I was riding shotgun and that could have been helpful. Interestingly, this was the my only Uber cab where there was no music being played.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

So, another case of Uber fraud.

I had to take an Uber from Chennai Central to Tidel Park on Sunday evening. The roads - after a bout of rain - were lightly flooded. The estimate for this 14km journey was ₹ 340 in Uber Pool, ₹ 575 in Uber Go and around ₹700 in Uber X. The normal fares are around ₹ 130, ₹ 175 and ₹ 225 respectively.

I opted for Uber Pool at ₹ 340 and was waiting for the Indica that was supposed to pick me up. The driver, who turned out to be a young chap in his early twenties, called me asking for location and there began the problem. He was an out and out Tamilian who didn't understand a word of English or Hindi - two languages that I could speak. My Tamil is no better than Inzamam's English! What aggravated the matter was that the driver was not willing to locate me using the map and kept calling repeatedly. Both of us kept on blabbering but after four animated conversations, were none the wiser about each other's whereabouts. I then gave the phone to a traffic cop who guided me to the car that was parked a few meters away from the SBI ATM opposite Rajiv Gandhi Hospital.

After dropping two other passengers who joined us later, I reached my destination at around 10.30PM , almost 80 minutes from the booking time. That most roads were empty helped us in covering the distance quickly.

Why am I sharing this?

1. I would expect Uber to be a little more ethical and not charge a bomb at times of minor crises.

2. A little language training couldn't hurt the drivers much.

PS: I do not intend to disrespect any language through this post. My intention is to highlight the benefit of learning English - for the driver and learning the local language - for the commuter (morons like me ).

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

I do not intend to disrespect any language through this post. My intention is to highlight the benefit of learning English - for the driver and learning the local language - for the commuter (morons like me

I usually spare no opportunity to blame Uber but in this case the rates were quite justified.. Chennai is a place where an auto-driver had asked me for Rs.300/- in broad daylight to travel like 10-12 kms (these were pre-UBER) days & I happily paid for it. That the local autos are extortionate there is nothing surprising. I'd only assume that UBER like everywhere else, has brought predictability, stability and reasonable tariffs there and for 14 kms it Rs.350 is a bit on the higher side for pool but you'd have found yourself easily reaching for a Rs.500/- note and a couple of Rs.100's as well had it been an auto and with the pleasure of getting drenched as well. Guess my ego has not permitted me to pool in UBER thus far, but it is going to be the way going forward.. I'd have saved close to Rs.1-2k p.m had I pooled, I just don't do it fearing the potential obnoxious co-users that might follow.

As for language, well the problem exists everywhere and we just don't realize it until we find ourselves not knowing a language. In NCR too I've had several drivers who're from neighboring states who've just started and have no idea of English (OLA is the more popular one there), it never was a problem because I'm fluent in it.. some even have a mixed usage of Bhojpuri and luckily I know that very well too. TN is sort of a world of its own from what I've seen, so such problems would be heavier there.

I guess if one doesn't know the language the charm is in trying to connect the dots speaking gibberish to each other, kinda like Europe where staunch countrymen of France, Germany, Netherlands etc don't speak English at all but they can understand enough through gestures and certain nouns. That's how it'll always be. Hindi and later on English were supposed to be the bridging languages in India but its not going to work always.

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

1. I would expect Uber to be a little more ethical and not charge a bomb at times of minor crises.

2. A little language training couldn't hurt the drivers much.

PS: I do not intend to disrespect any language through this post. My intention is to highlight the benefit of learning English - for the driver and learning the local language - for the commuter (morons like me ).

Surge rate is something their business is based on. Not always, but sometime logging out of uber network and logging in again reduce the price a bit, don't know why,but happens sometimes .

Language, Uber drivers had to go through a induction program which includes language training. Not sure, if that practice had been abandoned or not. Sometimes driver' ego also plays above their senses. My wife' experience (she is an avid Uber user) explains us, if can not connect with driver by any means, be it language or driver not following map or any thing, best way to cancel the ride within 5 minutes and re book again. Why 5 minutes, it wont deduct any cancellation charges.
Rule of thumb for my wife, as soon as she books a cab, immediately calls him and tells him her location and if he can reach by agreed time. A negative in anything from driver side, she explains him that she is cancelling and then cancel and re book.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

As for language, well the problem exists everywhere and we just don't realize it until we find ourselves not knowing a language.

Unfortunately, this is the truth in India. Language is one thing apart from religion that kills humanity in our country and can flare up like anything on just a mention.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Think i might have broken the record for farthest ever "completing a trip nearby"

Fact is, there were ZERO UberXLs available around, and after 5-6 failed attempts at getting, the app graced me with this ride:
Attachment 1651648

Was visiting my Delhi office on a business trip and planned to leave office around 5:30 PM. After trying for Uber Go and X, got allotted an X which was "completing trip nearby" but the ETA was 33 mins. I realized that the ETA was due to traffic congestion in the area every evening. Slowly the ETA kept on increasing to 49 mins at 5:50 PM and I cancelled it.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I usually spare no opportunity to blame Uber but in this case the rates were quite justified...

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Surge rate is something their business is based on.

Agree that Uber is here to make money - and mint it too when possible. What irks me is their loot mentality. Please see the normal rates in the below screenshot and compare it to what I paid.



Moreover, at the time of booking I could see at least a couple of other cars hovering around the pick up point (in the map). So, it was not as if there was a dearth of cars.

As regards language, isn't technology supposed to nullify the linguistic difference/divide? The chap - ironically named Adam Smith - was unable to locate me using the map. And I too failed to pin his location because he kept moving around .

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Agree that Uber is here to make money - and mint it too when possible. What irks me is their loot mentality. Please see the normal rates in the below screenshot and compare it to what I paid.

It is kind of an extortion, the only thing that covers them legally is that they make the accurate final cost known before the trip even starts so the onus is on the passenger to accept it or not.. many times there is even an option presented to me when surge is on if I rated it 4* or lesser if "Expensive" played a role and I check that option out.. almost each time they've refunded some amount as credits. UBER is a feedback-heavy company and usually we Indians do not believe in feedback as we are used to the nations lethargic inefficient ways of getting things done, I try and give as much feedback as possible and I'm glad that unlike the ruthless auto mafia this one gives a way to voice concerns.

Moreover, at the time of booking I could see at least a couple of other cars hovering around the pick up point (in the map). So, it was not as if there was a dearth of cars.

The cars may have been non-pool, i.e either X or Go, the map will show any category that is available at first load.. only when the option is checked and the request is out will the true picture show up. Many times I relax and wait 2 minutes because I'd see 6-8 cabs on the map but once the request goes out they'd all vanish.. the new app update is hopeless in that way, the older version had accurate display.

As regards language, isn't technology supposed to nullify the linguistic difference/divide? The chap - ironically named Adam Smith - was unable to locate me using the map. And I too failed to pin his location because he kept moving around .

Ideally yes, but it happens to me once every ten rides or so. Not everyone is adept at reading the map, more so the beginners. Ideally if all goes well not one word needs to be spoken between rider and passenger but that is way too ideal. UBER is basically for the U.S market with its uniform language and ethics code but its quite surprising how well they've adapted to India's needs and how tight they're controlling the driver mafia which was simply horrible before they came in.. some kinks will need to be ironed out but they will do it very soon I'm sure.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Moreover, at the time of booking I could see at least a couple of other cars hovering around the pick up point (in the map). So, it was not as if there was a dearth of cars.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

The cars may have been non-pool, i.e either X or Go, the map will show any category that is available at first load.. only when the option is checked and the request is out will the true picture show up.

There was a discussion on this in one of US websites where one of the Uber executive clarified that the cars you see are not the real locations. Rather it is a screen saver kind of thing. It shows so many cars just to give comfort to a user that there are cars around. As rightly said by dark.knight, the real location appears once you book a cab.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

many times there is even an option presented to me when surge is on if I rated it 4* or lesser if "Expensive" played a role and I check that option out.. almost each time they've refunded some amount as credits.

+1

I've had a different reward: when my car was out for servicing that took much longer than expected, I used UberPool / UberGo / UberX heavily for my office commute and leisure intracity travel. Almost every trip was heavily surged since it was peak office hours.

At the end of this period (that Uber must've figured out when I stopped booking one), I promptly got an email giving me a 50% waiver on the next ten rides. The email explicitly stated that they observed that I had taken a significant no. of rides when surge pricing was in effect and wanted to give something back.

They probably took 50 from me and gave me back 10. But, good customer service!

UBER is basically for the U.S market with its uniform language and ethics code but its quite surprising how well they've adapted to India's needs and how tight they're controlling the driver mafia which was simply horrible before they came in.. some kinks will need to be ironed out but they will do it very soon I'm sure.

I think this is a win-win-win period: Uber, customers and drivers.

The incentives are anyway a fraction of what they were earlier. Just wait until investors tighten the screws and profits start to matter: fares will go up, and incentives will be negligible. That's when they will face the ugly side of the driver class.