There’s a Twitter thread going viral about a really terrible Lyft experience…
Continue reading: Lyft Rider Reports Dangerous Driver, Gets Banned
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
People still use Twitter after Musk took over? Amazing that folks feel the need to recount their entire life through tweets. Never understood how once something hits Twitter, we automatically side with that person like we have some emotional attachment to what they're saying as truth. Not saying she is lying, but just like the Ritz situation, I'd rather let due process play out instead of jumping to conclusions without any evidence besides a victim recap through tweets.
@Ben, it looks like someone with a brain finally read the complaint, reactivated her account, and refunded her for the ride. Of course, it probably only happened because it went viral...
I wouldn't be surprised if the decision was made and subsequently reviewed by offshore agents that are basically drones.
Looks like someone stateside took another look and realized that the decision was badly made.
Did she call 911 ? Is there a police report ? Glad she’s unharmed regardless of what really happened.
As an Uber driver I’ve been suspended before for false allegations. A passenger reported I sexually assaulted them. After an interview and investigation I was reactivated. It’s surprising the lengths some people will go for a free fare.
I don’t use Lyft but just Uber. The only service I use is Uber Black. I know it is more expensive but at least they usually have more professional drivers. My safety and the safety of my family goes way beyond saving money and getting a stupid driver with a s..ty car driving me around.
Yikes! Probably 5 years ago I had a [somewhat less] frightening experience in Seattle. Despite my giving the driver comprehensive directions after he took a wrong turn, he ended up turning onto RAILROAD TRACKS and nearly got the vehicle stuck. Once he got us out, I got out of the car and walked the few blocks to my destination. I notified Lyft customer service and received a compenent response within an hour or two noting they’d flagged the driver for a safety review (whatever that means) and set it up so I’d never be paired with him again, anymore you can’t get a real response from anyone. I recently waited 20 minutes for a driver that was about 5 minutes away from me in drive time and stationary. I reached out to the driver, got no response, waited another 5 minutes and canceled the ride. When I disputed the refund I got an auto-response that they’d make a “one time exception” because the driver was “on their way.” Any human review would have showed I’d waited long than the whole trip should have taken.
Unfortunately this seems to be the way everything is going - AI or incompetent support because they know we don’t really have that many options. This is particularly true since many drivers use both platforms.
you can still do that in places where you could have done that pre-rideshare. rideshare expands ride-on-demand to less densely populated areas. it also reduces racial discrimination (taxi drivers less likely to pick up hails from people of color).
you might also educate yourself on this topic (search wikipedia): rosy retrospection
lyft has black cars too. you may have a unique situation but in general the regular drivers on lyft or uber are plenty safe. this story is news because it is rare and therefore newsworthy.
Ok, assuming the facts of this is true (and I have no reason to believe otherwise), what the driver and Lyft did are both unacceptable. That said, I also question her own decision-making abilities.
Why would she jump out of a moving vehicle? Things could've ended up REALLY badly. She has both the license plate and the make/model/colour of the car in her Lyft app, she should've called 9/11, let them know there's a kidnapping in progress (because that's exactly what this is), and let them know all the details of the car, driver, where the car is currently and approx. what address the driver inputted.
Police would've been able to find them within minutes, and the driver would've just chickened out completely and dropped her off (and probably give some BS excuse). Let me repeat: Jumping out of a moving vehicle is stupid and should be the absolute last resort.
I complained once about a Lyft driver that get kept getting lost on a 2 mile ride despite me trying to tell him where to go. His GPS wasn't operable. I wrote an email to Lyft and got a refund. Now the other night at MIA (a true nightmare of an airport to get a ride share) the app said the driver was there, didn't see him/her, they didn't answer my call or text and I got charged $6. That piss me off by $6 isn't worth the hassle of a refund.
Had plenty of bad experiences with regular drivers. Dirty and smelly cars, inexperienced drivers, had to ask to turn AC and got a reply that wastes gas, once in Chicago I found a bottle on the floor next to my feet that looked like pee. I asked the driver and he smiled and said he didn’t have time to find bathrooms in between rides. Just to name a few. Never ever had an issue with Uber Black, clean cars, professional drivers, way better experience.
right, the regular rides are often filthy uncomfortable cars with drivers not familiar with the city, because they live in a far flung suburb and commuted to the city to work for rideshare.
however i have not found these rides to be materially unsafe.
you have to ask yourself is the discount worth it. to me, it's an easy no. given that black cars are easily double or triple the price of a regular ride, which is not exactly cheap for most travelers, i would say grin and bear it.
I would either file a police report or shrug it off. Complaining to Lyft only is not the way to go unless she was seeking free product or small time compensation.
It depends. Depending on location and time of the day, I have found Uber Black to be no more than 40-50% of regular Uber. Another alternative is Uber Electric which 95% I get a nice Tesla. At the end of the day it is all about safety. I simply don’t put myself at risk to save money.
"I recently waited 20 minutes for a driver that was about 5 minutes away"
Sounds like you're a victim of rideshare cancellation scam.
"Any human review would have showed I’d waited long than the whole trip should have taken."
On thing rideshare companies don't tell you, they have driver shortages.
Even if humans are aware, they would keep the driver active and give you unlimited “one time exception”.
You had no issue doubting the system and the government when it came to COVID, but when it's women being victims it's all suddenly "hey just because they have a bunch of evidence, we should still wait to hear what the authority has to say".
That’s true. That’s how Uber won their early landmark battles with city officials and taxi companies. Discrimination .
I see women with bassinets on Park Ave trying to hail taxis. Just like their mothers and grandmothers did.
Lyft & Uber "customer service" is an oxymoron. With the prices they charge now, they need 24/7 US based PHONE NUMBERS. It's crazy how their rates have risen and service/benefits have considerably fallen.
While I am sympathetic to the victim, this story is lacking a few details. She says she got an alert from Lyft saying she was going in the wrong direction and could alert them for help, but doesn't sound like she did that. She also didn't call 911. There were a few basic steps she could have taken before the extreme step of launching herself out of a moving car. I hope we hear the other side of this story
This is a common scam at MIA. I stopped using Lyft as a result; they never agree to refund the $6 despite it being a known scam. Can send screenshots and other evidence and they don’t care
I'm convinced Lyft customer service run by bots. Try contacting them and all you get is a loop when you ask for something. Try asking for a manager and you'll be put in a queue and it'll timeout.
Moral of the story: don't support Lyft. And I hope they get sued for these terrible incidents
@GoldmanSachs what is your beef with @Santastico? They prefer Uber Black (as do I) for very valid reasons - and then you come in man-splaining the news and how they interpreted it is wrong. We're all free to do what we want with our money. If we prefer Uber Black - that's our right. Get down off your soap box.
"I was notified via text by Lyft ................ with a link included in case I needed help".
Did she use that link to report what she was experiencing?
Would you spend 1 minutes on text typing what happened, or would you 911 so that the driver can hear you, or would you choose to leave the confined, dangerous space first?
Other side of the story needed for sure, but Lyft at least know where the car is going.
This is an America problem. We realized 50 years ago that cars, whether hired or otherwise we're not the best solution (and neither are ev's on the road or in a tunnel under a desert). So we have much much better bike infra and transit. America is a great place to make money but not a nice place to live. Enjoy suckers!
But, if we give up Lyft and Uber . . . why . . . we would miss out on all those statement credits. Hmmm.
It has never happened to you . . . until it happens to you. These companies don't give a flyin' (xxxx) about their customers . . . it's about the money and nothing more . . . and anyone who still uses them is asking for it.
Yes, let’s return to the halcyon days of taxi companies caring so much about our welfare, if you could even find one of them when you needed one. The taxi companies aren’t in it for the money. They provide a free community service.
@Alonzo "Due process and "lawful evidence"? As far as I have seen there is no legal case (yet), so these terms are irrelevant.
But I'll bite anyway--what other "lawful evidence" is really needed? The car was going in the opposite direction of the destination to the point that Lyft automatically alerted the passenger of this fact. And then she jumped out of a moving vehicle, which when coupled with the fact that the car was headed in the wrong direction is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that something wasn't right.
I'm making the assumption that she is going to start a legal case. Otherwise, is she just recounting her story on Twitter so that others are aware?
And as far as evidence, what crime would the driver be guilty of? Lol, he drove in the wrong direction. Not a crime. She jumped out of a moving vehicle. Albeit to save herself but still. Again, my point is why recount all of this on Twitter. Lyft ain't reading that shit. Either file a police report or shut up.
Seems to be quite a few half wit incel apologists that frequent this site. I guess when you don't have a life you gotta stay busy somehow.
I almost always take taxis from the airport it's almost always cheaper and faster than a ride share. One time in SFO Uber was $55 for a two mile trip, the cab was $13.
Online companies count on the majority of their customers being stupid and lazy.
Think I've experienced similar last week with Lyft when trying to get a ride from BOS airport to home.. three drivers in a row picked up the ride request, the app stated they were finishing a current ride, then cancelled after 5-10 min.
Hailed a ride with Uber, paid about $30 more, but I got a driver in 5 min who actually arrived to give me the ride...
I don't think she did everything right. She should have tapped on the help button. But I am happy she decided to bail. I would suspend the customer reps for banning her. That was not right.
I too woke up one morning to an email from Lyft informing me that my account had been deactivated because of "alleged drug use" in a Lyft vehicle. My crime? Using my asthma inhaler! The Lyft driver, who was probably driving a donkey cart before Lyft, thought I had some drug paraphernalia and was using it in his car. I had to write an email back to Lyft explaining this and then they wrote back requesting that I "formally acknowledge and abide by their Terms of Service", which they still insist I somehow violated. In the end, I got my account re-activated even though they made me feel like I was somehow at fault. But it was clear that Lyft takes the side of the driver first in any dispute
Imagine believing any real help would have come to her with that.
These companies have 'support' in name only. And most certainly no real time support. She could have been raped and dead by the time anyone helped.
Majority of companies in particular large companies are all about the canned response first and actual customer support second even if it leaves a bad impression on the customer. Companies just either assumes they can make it right or as long as they don't get sued who cares.
Glad this lady didn't have a worst incident in this age of nut bags.
I agree, the rideshares are getting more expensive, the cars are worse, the driving is often horrible and they're giving a smaller share to the drivers. Many drivers don't rate drivers have no problem giving bad ratings for no apparent reason. Like @Lucky I'm always there before the driver arrives, I'm polite and quiet and don't slam doors. Yet, a recent driver gave me a four star rating and I don't know why. All I can figure is that my trip was short, which seems to upset a lot of drivers. It would be nice for drivers to need to substantiate their reason. Meanwhile, I feel like I need to give drivers a good rating so they stay working because there aren't enough drivers out there as it is.
So, in the typical mode of capitalism, rideshare replaced taxis because they were better and are now it a race to the bottom. Taxis are even worse and rideshare is as bad and more expensive. We can only hope for new, better rideshare services, or something.
I do agree that black is better and generally cheaper than a scheduled car. Unfortunately my employer will have a fit if I use black regularly.
The cars have cameras, so if the passenger or driver is making up a lie, the platform can and should check to prove it. There is no reason that the passenger should have jumped out. The passenger should have asked for the driver to stop and/or send a message to Lyft to do so if the driver was not listening.
I think people need to consider the type of person that would drive an Uber or Lyft car. There is almost no money made in that. Consider the expenses to maintain the car and the percentage that the the company takes. The amount left to the driver is very little. Many people think it is a good way to earn extra money but if you calculated it, actually it is not. The companies do not have some sort of standards for the vehicles and for the drivers making it overall inconsistent.
If capitalism (and recent labor shortage) teaches you anything, if there are no money to be made and workers have better alternative they would stop driving Uber or Lyft.
They still make money, just the incompetent ones don't.
I had some free time recently and decided to drive for Uber as my first blue collar job since high school. I rented a hybrid thru one of Uber's partners. The car plus gas was $100/day. My average hourly income was $32/hr. So an annual net income in excess of $100k is possible. Besides that, it was loads of fun.
I call BS on this story. The rider sounds about two out of three sheets in the wind. It's not unusual for a driver to use Waze instead of the driver app, especially if there is heavy traffic. That means routes the rider is unfamiliar with. If banning drivers that miss turns was a thing, then there would be no drivers. Bad driving is a pattern and Uber/Lyft's AI can pick that up quickly. If the driver didn't have a bad record, then banning this rider is the safest thing for both parties.
Lyft is a trash company. I had a driver miss turns repeatedly to the point where I was charged $80 for a $50 quote.
I reported it to Lyft and their bot told me to go f&%k myself (not in so many words, of course). I disputed the charge through Chase and they told me that there was nothing they could do without some sort of proof of the correct charge. I deleted my Lyft account.
Moral of the story, always screenshot the quoted fare and route when you get into a rideshare.