How Uber Ride Cancellations Affect Drivers
If you’ve ever called Uber and waited longer than you’d like, you might be tempted to cancel your trip altogether. In the end, you can pay a small $ 5 fee for your driver’s time, which is a likely worst-case scenario. But there are several reasons why existing Uber policies, in particular, are not so great for drivers when you decide to cancel at the last moment.
Take, for example, the fact that the app gets at least a fraction of each commission when a rider unsubscribes. In a recent Reddit thread, u / old-wave said they received just $ 3.75 out of their $ 5 total for every Uber cancellation. (Meanwhile, apps like LYFT don’t pocket any part of the rider’s account cancellation fees that are owed to the driver.) The $ 1.25 might not be significant, but given the recent wave of criticism directed at Uber for its low wages and general working conditions, its has tremendous implications in the long run.
It is also not entirely clear whether Uber or the driver will pay off the fee if the passenger disputes the cancellation fee and receives a “refund” – usually just a loan for a future trip. During my recent use of Uber and trying to challenge the cancellation, I received a warning saying that the driver could lose if I chose to challenge him. (I decided to cancel because the Uber app didn’t show the status of my trip, but it made me pay a toll. When asked specifically about the problem with Uber “crashes” and the culpability of the cancellation, the Uber representative did not answer my question directly, but instead This directed me back to their website explaining their cancellation fees.)
To make matters worse, Uber has the right to withhold a portion of the cancellation fees for its drivers in full if they believe the payments were made “in error, [were] fraudulent or in violation of the driver’s terms.” However, according to one former Uber driver who came across this firsthand, sometimes cancellation fees are withheld for no apparent reason.
“I had three occasions where I waited more than five minutes before canceling, took screenshots to prove that I had waited all the time, canceled the trip, and then never received my royalties …” he said. “This is completely different from the consumer side, where if a passenger simply says:“ My driver was intoxicated ”without any proof, the passenger receives a refund, this driver may lose payment for this trip, get their account immediately blocked for at least three days and maybe even [become] permanently deactivated. “
What does this mean to you? Well, if you do cancel your trip, understand what it means to dispute any fee. Unless your driver has picked you up from the wrong location or made some other serious mistake in transportation, do not automatically request a cancellation fee refund in the app because it is easy and could probably work.