Complaint Review: Uber - Internet

My husband is a Vietnam Veteran.  Once he married me, his pension was reduced by 50% with no warning.  Our car had only 47 days remaining before we would have no transportation.  We are caregivers to my 88 year old mother.  So a friend recommended Uber. 

The new problem was that we needed a vehicle.  So, they gave us a number of car dealerships that would assist. We found the perfect vehicle and decided that we would NOT finance through Uber, but through a bank instead.  We did not want to have to drive for the company in order to pay our car note.  We wanted the option for my husband to drive when he wanted to.  Because Uber claimed not to be employer.  Uber claimed that my husband could drive whenever he wanted to. 

Now, my husband is a minister.  He is someone who speaks to total strangers on a daily basis.  This took some getting used to when I married him.  Because I am not the type of person to do such a thing.  Yet, I began to admire a person who could be kind to everyone he meets.

He provided his riders with water and mints every single day.  I rode with him so I saw him in action.  I watched as certain riders would berate him, disrespect him and treat him with total disregard.  Now, this was only a few of them on a weekly basis.  Most riders were kind and respectful.  Yet, I found that riders know that Uber sides with them period.  So, it was often a scheme to create turmoil to keep from paying the driver.  I watched in amazement while some people actually plotted this right in the back seat of his car!

Uber proved to be a company that does NOT support its drivers, period.  It is an out right lie that you can drive when you are able to.  If you do not drive for this company when THEY want you to, you are penalized with low ratings.  On a number of occasions, he was notified that he received 12 out of 15 five star ratings!  He was sent comments by riders on how much they enjoyed his service.  So, I am certain his negative ratings were few. 

Once he obtained his vehicle (without Uber holding the lien) his problems began.  He was accused of being discourteous to a rider and sent to a $50 courtesy class.  My mother and I were amazed.  In fact, she questioned whether he was going to teach the class!  He told me about the type of drivers that were in the class with him.  The prejudice and racism that drivers face in Georgia is just disgraceful.  People do not want to talk about it.  But, that does NOT mean it is not taking place. I do not believe only African or African American or Muslim drivers are the only ones that are supposedly discourteous to riders.  In fact, Muhammad goes out of his way to treat each and every person he meets like he or she is a special person.  I don't think that matters a bit to Uber.

He was deactivated with no warning until he took the class and he also had to sign a form stating he would not sue Uber for any reason before they would activate his account.  I don't care how good he was to riders, they would not raise his rating.  He told them he could NOT drive during the hours of 11pm to 4am. He is a 63 year old senior citizen and he is not comfortable driving people back from bars at all times of the night.  He also had to balance driving with my mother's doctor's appointments as well as his own VA appointments.  Yet, Uber kept distressing him with text messages and emails showing his low ratings for not driving at peak times. 

He began to noifiy them of the riders who were becoming troublesome.  There were a few that were just truly terrible.  One woman got into his car smoking a cigar and barking orders at him after she kept him waiting downstairs for her for a long time.  He began to rate his riders honestly.  In the past, he rated even the worst riders in a good manner.  But, the ridership began to decline.  It was almost as if they were selecting riders for him that would give him bad ratings.  Often, we sat in "surge" areas for a long time without getting one signal for a rider!  They also rate you for NOT driving during "surge" periods.

Finally, we had family over for the 4th of July weekend.  Our first great grandchild was born 2 weeks ago and our children brought him to visit us.  My husband needed to spend time with his family.  He received many text messages to drive for Uber.  He would not do that with family staying in our home.  On Monday morning he woke up to find that his account had been deactivated.  This, after Uber pressured him to spend money to have new business cards printed from Vistaprint to promote their company.  He just ordered them last week. They claimed they reviewed him after 50 rides and he had not reached a 4.6 rating.  So, they terminated him completely!  He was so hurt because he had done all he could to do the right thing by Uber and its riders.

It is time that Uber and others see the stress that they cause not only the drivers but the family members of the drivers.  We are all affected by Uber's total lack of consideration for its drivers.  They say they are NOT employers but they are.  They act in that capacity without providing ANY of the benefits that actual employers provide for their employees.  Uber should be ashamed of the company that they are.  My husband will heal from this experience.  They have NOT brought us to our knees.  But, I pray that the powers that be will one day bring the company to theirs.