Uber long haul- I took cash from driver rather than report

I'm curious what people think of how I handled this. I had to go from airport to East Sahara HLE. Guy goes under tunnel and I saw he was taking interstate. I usually check Waze any Google maps to see which is faster. A good driver two trips ago asked me if I wanted Interstate when it was faster. This guy didn't even ask.

I asked him why he was taking that was as I know it's the long haul route. He first tried to pay dumb saying, "does GPS say a different way?" and then said this is faster."

I said Google maps showed surface streets faster and I said I was gonna ask credit from uber if it's over.

He asked me estimate and then said he'd give me cash back if it's more than the $13 something estimate. He kept trying to tell me it's faster and it would only be a Buck ot to more if it's even more.

I'm a points junkie and I understand why they try to scam tourists. I should've just reported him after and got the credit but I was fine with taking cash back and not reporting him.

Fare ended up being $20 something instead of estimated $13 something. He still tried to say those fares are only estimates but I know you should never be $7 over. $1-3 I wouldn't care but estimates usually after correct.

Guy wanted me to rate him before giving me cash.

Heres where I screwed up. I should've had him rate me simultaneously as I'm sure I got a one star out of this.
Guy said I screwed him with this deal as he again said fares are estimates. I said I would've screwed him more reporting him and getting credit from uber. I also said it's never $7 over.

Comments?

 

I think you may of been better off not even bringing it up and just reporting him. I had that happen to me one time and they just gave me a $ credit back.

 

I actually admire that you brought up the issue and gave him a chance to fix it, versus just reporting. Unfortunately, he was a clod, through and through.

If he actually gave you a bad ranking after blackmailing you for a good one, I'd still write in. You gave him a chance to fix it and take the high ground. I'd at least put up a small fight to ensure my ranking wasn't tarnished.

I am sorry for the hassle. I have a pet peeve about people lambasting companies/people on social media, without giving that company/person a chance to fix it, but your driver is showing why some people do. (Nit VMB, I'm talking sites like Yelp!)

Bottomline, kudos on trying to take the high road! I'm a big believer that it's better to take the high road and get scr*wed occasionally, than be rash and risk being the one doing the scr*wing over. Now you can write it with a clean conscience

 

I would have reported him and told him off at the conclusion of the ride! That kind of drek is giving Uber a very bad name.

 

I'm sad they're pulling the same shit cabbies pulled. Defeats the purpose of switching from cabs.

 

My long haul wasn't on purpose, the driver was just stupid and not knowing where to go.

 

i was long-hauled from airport to the Fremont. almost double the estimate. the LYFT driver kept making all sorts of turns to not be sitting in traffic. it was BS. i did not tip her, but next time i will speak up.

 

Might be that the blatantly dishonest cabbies are migrating from regular taxis to ride share. I don't think any agency has jurisdiction over long-hauling by ride share services so they do not risk a summons for doing so.

 

Always use the rate the driver. You are doing your fellow riders a huge favor. Uber gets rid of low rated drivers very quickly.
As others have said, report the long haul and Uber will investigate and very likely credit your account.

 

You handled the situation pretty well...It's been more than a year since I used Uber/Lyft in LV, but I recall in every ride I took, the driver had a GPS type set-up using his smartphone that displayed the route to the destination....if the proposed route didn't look "appropriate", I would suggest another route....I thought this was SOP with all rideshare vehicles?...BTW, my first Lyft trip was from LAS to the Luxor, the estimated fare according to Lyft was $7.00+/-....the final fare was over $14.00....the GPS route was appropriate (using Tropicana), although the driver seemed to use a strange route to get out of the parking garage before getting onto Swenson...I complained to Lyft, they refunded a $1 to my account...

 

Ugh, I hate it when people do this. You're screwing up the system of checks and balances for your own personal gain (if you can even call it that). Please try and take 2 seconds and think of the benefit of others next time before you handle another situation as poorly as you did with this one.

 

It is probably best to just report and get credit from Uber. But I am all for doing a deal "under the table" as long as everyone leaves happy. The only mistake I think was that he didn't rate you at the same time as well.

 

The ones I had were very professional. Some of them drove for both.

The one guy was part time but he was driving as a sideline. He had a really, really luxurious suv. He said he was a numbers guy, management at his full time job. He was driving to improve his people skills. He had taken courses but, something was missing. Somebody suggested driving for Uber or Lyft and he did it. Says he enjoys it. We talked about that the whole ride. I thought he was great so it's working. I thought our experience that was normal for Uber and Lyft. I'm concerned that it might not be.

Anyhow, the point I was actually going to make was; yes some cabbies are migrating over. The one guy was a former cabbie in Vegas. Another guy was a cabbie in his home country. They said they're happier and the customers are happier. If the happy and professional cabbies want to drive for Uber and Lyft, awesome. If the losers migrate over...that's no good. I hope Uber and Lyft can sift them out.

 

On my last trip, I used Uber for my trip back to airport from downtown. The driver asks me if I mind taking the freeway, as it would be much quicker than than LVB/Paradise. I knew it would be a few bucks more, but I gave her the green-light.
At least she left it up to me.

My ride from the airport to Gold Coast, however, was my very first Uber... and I let myself get screwed on that one. I was under the false impression that all trips were at fixed rates. Silly me. Anyway, he took the tunnel (without asking me).
Live and learn.
It was still cheaper than a cab would have been.

 

Most have the GPS mounted in plain site. If they don't, I would be concerned. The other concern is when they are using ear buds to listen to the GPS, especially if you cannot see it.

I would write Uber and ask for the credit for one. For two, you can do a rating correction by using the help section in the app and just say you rated him wrong by accident and they will adjust the rating on him. As a driver I have to rate a rider, as a rider, I don't believe you have to rate us, but I heard they were changing that. As a driver, if I see a rider with a rating below 4.7 I wont even take their ride USUALLY. Some drivers are now rating riders who don't tip low, I for one do not but some are. Just be cautious, if the rider is below 4.6 they are suppose to be kicked off the platform but then they have the chance to take a training class and get back on the platform. If I get a driver below 4.7 I am going to be concerned.

 

Never tried Uber and after hearing about this and other stories and think I'll just stick with cabs and take my chances.And I don't want to deal with the cell phone and meet up etc..sounds like an added PIA to the outgoing trip.And I know now if long-hauled,just tell the driver and work on price from there..
And I got a great cabbie on the way back to airport (BJ dealer at night at Palace Station or someplace DT,I forget) and we had a nice chat from Orleans to LAS via surface streets.
So a tunneler I called out on arrival and a decent guy on the way back..50/50 prop.

 

This may soon be a moot issue.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/23/upfront-uber-pricing-replaces-estimates-with-guarantees/

 

so the route component will be disregarded once the ride has begin? I get it, sort of puts the driver at risk if they deviate from what would be the fastest and most direct route

 

Don't let my story dissuade you from Uber. I still recommend it. It's cheaper and often more convenient and if you just report bad routings or hauls you get credited. I reported someone in the Philippines and got credit within a day.

I've only had 3 rides out of over 50 Ubers that had any issues. Had I taken taxi rides I bet I'd have a higher incident of had rides.

In the Philippines, I enjoyed Uber rather than really getting scammed with taxis there. Also, at least with Uber you have an easy way to track who drove you. This point applies here in the States too: way harder to remember the Cabbie number.

 

I thought Uber's premise was to cost less and know what the fee was going in. Why are they charging like taxi's?