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I think anyone who has taken Uber and Lyft a lot knows that they allow drivers to abuse the system for their benefit, with no recourse for riders. A few incide

I think anyone who has taken Uber and Lyft a lot knows that they allow drivers to abuse the system for their benefit, with no recourse for riders. A few incidents that have bothered me: 1. Having an Uber refuse to take me to the airport from downtown Chicago 2. Lyft not giving me an automatic refund for a pickup in SOMA when the driver had been heading down 101 for 10 minutes and was showing no signs of turning around. 3. Every Uber driver cancelling rides at LAX to force surge pricing. I'm not suprised that Uber drivers do not want to deal with riders with disabilities. Since Uber and Lyft are not profitable they can't even afford to kick any drivers off the platform other than drivers that pose a risk of physical danger to passengers. Until Uber and Lyft implement a system that actually can result in negative consequences for unethical drivers, I have no sympathy for any losses these companies incur.

fastball 6y ago
So the bad behavior is on the part of the drivers, not the company, but you prefer the company to get punished?
- shuntress 6y ago
  The drivers represent the company and all interactions with the driver are setup through the company. So, yes. ie: If a driver snatches my backpack and drives away, I expect Uber to replace/return what was stolen from me by their contractor. Not for them to just tell me to take a hike and deal with it myself.
  - fastball 6y ago
    So there is absolutely nothing a company can do to absolve themselves of the poor behavior of employees? By that system, Uber would still be at fault if they explicitly told all drivers "you are not allowed to deny service to someone with a service dog under any circumstances", and a driver did anyway.
    - airstrike 6y ago
      It's called the cost of doing business.
      - valuearb 6y ago
        It's called suing deep pockets, not the persons actually liable.
    - shuntress 6y ago
      I'm not saying the company is necessarily at fault. What I am saying is that I deal with the company not the individual (especially in this case as that is literally Uber's entire business). If an Uber drive assaults, injures, and robs me I expect Uber to get back to me with "We have brought this matter to the appropriate authorities please follow up with [individual] at [my local police]" rather than "That wholly independent contractor's name is [driver name]. Good luck" edit: I would also expect a good company to cover any expenses I incur from the incident as well as replace stolen property.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      Not really. The only thing a company can do is let their commercial liability insurance bear the costs. That's why it's such a big deal to document, document, document and force all employees to undergo certain training repeatedly throughout the year. That way the business can show the insurance companies that they did all they could to prevent the employee from the error so that the insurer is liable for the expenses.
    - grumple 6y ago
      > So there is absolutely nothing a company can do to absolve themselves of the poor behavior of employees? Let's disregard the absolutism for a bit. Generally companies are held accountable for the way their employees behave on the job. If they don't make or enforce policies, that's on Uber. It's clearly a widespread problem for them. The saying goes "the buck stops here" despite what these companies may do to avoid responsibility.
    - Brian_K_White 6y ago
tmpz22 6y ago
I was a victim of "vomit fraud" where the driver sends in fake photos from an identical model vehicle of interior damage and pockets the money. I now take photos of the interior of the car before and after. Uber charged me for the "damage" same-day and reversed the charges two days later after I sent them article after article on the issue and pointed out it was a Sunday noon drive not a late night Friday escapade. What's worse is that good drivers who do have their vehicles damaged now likely have to go through more hoops to get reimbursed.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Sometimes, it sounds like we should all have a 24/7 GoPro cameras attached and running all the time.
  - teddyh 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance
  - asdff 6y ago
    There needs to be some lighweight app so you can just stick your phone in your shirt pocket for the day and it would become your own body cam
yks 6y ago
It sounds like Uber/Lyft will eventually degrade to the level of service of the regular taxis of old, when the default expectation of interaction is to get scammed or worse. Which means that another disruption opportunity is coming soon!

fastball 6y ago

So the bad behavior is on the part of the drivers, not the company, but you prefer the company to get punished?

shuntress 6y ago
The drivers represent the company and all interactions with the driver are setup through the company. So, yes. ie: If a driver snatches my backpack and drives away, I expect Uber to replace/return what was stolen from me by their contractor. Not for them to just tell me to take a hike and deal with it myself.
- fastball 6y ago
  So there is absolutely nothing a company can do to absolve themselves of the poor behavior of employees? By that system, Uber would still be at fault if they explicitly told all drivers "you are not allowed to deny service to someone with a service dog under any circumstances", and a driver did anyway.
  - airstrike 6y ago
    It's called the cost of doing business.
    - valuearb 6y ago
      It's called suing deep pockets, not the persons actually liable.
  - shuntress 6y ago
    I'm not saying the company is necessarily at fault. What I am saying is that I deal with the company not the individual (especially in this case as that is literally Uber's entire business). If an Uber drive assaults, injures, and robs me I expect Uber to get back to me with "We have brought this matter to the appropriate authorities please follow up with [individual] at [my local police]" rather than "That wholly independent contractor's name is [driver name]. Good luck" edit: I would also expect a good company to cover any expenses I incur from the incident as well as replace stolen property.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    Not really. The only thing a company can do is let their commercial liability insurance bear the costs. That's why it's such a big deal to document, document, document and force all employees to undergo certain training repeatedly throughout the year. That way the business can show the insurance companies that they did all they could to prevent the employee from the error so that the insurer is liable for the expenses.
  - grumple 6y ago
    > So there is absolutely nothing a company can do to absolve themselves of the poor behavior of employees? Let's disregard the absolutism for a bit. Generally companies are held accountable for the way their employees behave on the job. If they don't make or enforce policies, that's on Uber. It's clearly a widespread problem for them. The saying goes "the buck stops here" despite what these companies may do to avoid responsibility.
  - Brian_K_White 6y ago

tmpz22 6y ago

I was a victim of "vomit fraud" where the driver sends in fake photos from an identical model vehicle of interior damage and pockets the money. I now take photos of the interior of the car before and after. Uber charged me for the "damage" same-day and reversed the charges two days later after I sent them article after article on the issue and pointed out it was a Sunday noon drive not a late night Friday escapade. What's worse is that good drivers who do have their vehicles damaged now likely have to go through more hoops to get reimbursed.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
Sometimes, it sounds like we should all have a 24/7 GoPro cameras attached and running all the time.
- teddyh 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance
- asdff 6y ago
  There needs to be some lighweight app so you can just stick your phone in your shirt pocket for the day and it would become your own body cam

yks 6y ago

It sounds like Uber/Lyft will eventually degrade to the level of service of the regular taxis of old, when the default expectation of interaction is to get scammed or worse. Which means that another disruption opportunity is coming soon!