I'd posted this over on the reddit /r/uberdrivers subreddit, but figure I might get a more accurate answer over here..
Crossposted to /r/uberdrivers on reddit...
I've read here and elsewhere that UberPool rides are not desirable (many comments I've read elsewhere on this topic were FAR less complementary). I'd taken a few and was kinda ambivalent about them until today.. I got one today that blew my mind.. Recieve ping, notice its a pool, and shows I'm about 5 min away from the rider, with the pickup point in the 7000 block of NORTH Pecos (this is important) I drive to where the navigation tells me to and arrive, or arrive as close to the location as I can.. Navigation map shows the pin on the other side of what can only be described as a "closed road barracade", with NOTHING, as in no street/dirt road on the other side of the barracade. I call the rider by phone, and where ARE you? I'm as close to the address in the app as I can get.. Rider says "I'm at so-and-so doctors office"... Umm There is NO dr office anywhere near where I'm sitting.. We talk a bit more and I find rider is at the same 7000 street address BUT ON SOUTH Pecos.. This being somewhat close to 20 miles away at the other end of the street. I advise the rider of this, and suggest we cancel and she pull up another driver, hopefully closer.. I cancel using the "don't charge rider", but later, when checking my days rides, I find that rider has been charged the cancellation fee. I've contacted Uber to get that fixed..
Now to my actual question.. Is there ANY way to get Uber to opt me out of Pool rides?? I've been reading over at the uberpeople forum that a lot of drivers in Atlanta have managed to get opted out of pool, by spamming the hell out of support with a nicely worded letter demanding to be opted out of Pool with a nice tidy list of the reasons. I've only been driving for Uber since July 1st, but I'd MUCH prefer to stay with UberX rides only... Anybody know or have done this??
I'm a strictly a VERY part-time driver (mostly a max of 2 days/wk and only 3 or 4 hours on those days) and don't give a crap about any of these "promotions" that I keep hearing about. If getting Pool turned off is going to be a pain and then have it *magically* turn back on whenever, I guess I'll just use the tried & true "ignore" and let them time out.. I don't expect to be driving for either Lyft or Uber beyond the end of September due to the ****ing that Carson City gave us part-time drivers. I don't care to flush $225/year down the toilet for the little $$ I make driving for Lyft/Uber..
Thanks! was afraid of that.. I guess I'll just use the ole "let it timeout" when a pool ping comes along...
You should just accept the cancel fee. It was the riders fault for not properly inputting their pick up location. That happens ALL the time and you deserve to be compensated for the time and effort to pick them up.
That being said, Steve is correct. I personally took on the quest of opting out of Uber pool. I wrote many emails spelling out my reasons for the request. We played email ping pong until I insisted they escalate issue to a manager. I was successful (after much frustrating communication) in opting out 3 times. Only to be put back in 2-3 days later. White flag!
Accept that which you must to keep your accept rate good if you are pursuing quest or other promo. Jump on that cancel collect at 2 minutes. Realize not all pool riders are bad. I encounter many that are nice, some even tip.
Welcome to the forum!
I've never cancelled "Do Not Charge Rider" and seen a cancellation fee. It may be that the pax just beat you to the cancellation, so they were charged.
A) bottom of the barrel customers who often make drivers wait excessive lengths of time before coming out.
B) good for Uber and terrible for drivers in that it often makes rides take twice as long without drivers making double the money. Uber gets their full cut on two rides but the drivers DO NOT!
Not to mention the awkwardness of having two drunk gangbangers in the back seat while grandma is on her way to the doctor's office.
A) bottom of the barrel customers who often make drivers wait excessive lengths of time before coming out.
B) good for Uber and terrible for drivers in that it often makes rides take twice as long without drivers making double the money. Uber gets their full cut on two rides but the drivers DO NOT!
Not to mention the awkwardness of having two drunk gangbangers in the back seat while grandma is on her way to the doctor's office.
My best pool experience was having three ladies arriving at the airport and being dropped off on the strip at Ceasars, Paris and the Pallazo. $18 trip, but no tip. Most people choose pool because it is cheaper, and they are hoping no other person is in the car. I too try to ignore many of the pool request, just not worth my time or effort.
I kind of feel sorry for new drivers who don't really know how to say no to pool rides. Poo riders at strip or airport are not that bad the evil ones are the locals ones.
Don't worry about Uber or what a rider is charged. Uber does't care about us so why are you worried about them? If the PAX can't email Uber a get a refund then they deserve to pay the cancel fee. You can't fix stupid!!
I had to take a bunch of Pools this weekend for a Promo Quest. I have to say, it was not bad at all.
No issues with finding Pax, they were mostly there waiting or frantically looking for me afraid I was going to cancel. A nice change from the casual, wait until 4 minutes on the clock, UberX Pax. I did have a few No shows, $3.75 for 2 minutes of my time instead of 5 minutes wasted, mostly due to misplaced pin GPS.
On the Fare, More than half the time, Uber lost money. Their system really sucks at Pool surging. They match up Pax after who aren't paying surge and all the additional rides do is make me long haul the original surged fare, fine by me!! The other half it was boost so it was still more than normal UberX.
Last weekend I received 8 pool requests in a row within 5 minutes. I was near Linq, and all were "8-10 minutes away" (would've been 20+ in that traffic... at Paris, Caesars, etc.). Uber did not like my acceptance rate dropping so fast, so I got my first email.
Last night I spent 40 minutes taking two couples from downtown to Bellagio then Mandalay. Second rider was added at the moment I was stopping new requests. No tips, $18 for me. On a 1.5x surge...
Other than that, I'm with Michael. Had no issues taking a few pool rides to hit that promo a little faster.
I recieved what I consider to be an inappropriate PM from LAuberX on August 9, 2017.
Because of that PM, this comment is currently under edit.
The owner of uberpeople.net should be aware of this over-reach from LAuberX,
as this edit of my content contribution is the direct result of the PM I recieved.
Check back soon for edit updates while this content is updated.
I've started accepting more pools now. I immediately stop new requests. At this point what's the worst that can happen on the strip? An actual fare or a 2 minute cancel fee?
Actually I accept the other pool riders with not much problem. I do keep an eye on the timer and at 2 min they be canceled. Sometimes I will get another rider and don't notice it or am too far away to get them. I call em and they cancel. Of course there is the one phone that goes direct to voice or is a foreign number.
I'd posted this over on the reddit /r/uberdrivers subreddit, but figure I might get a more accurate answer over here..
Crossposted to /r/uberdrivers on reddit...
I've read here and elsewhere that UberPool rides are not desirable (many comments I've read elsewhere on this topic were FAR less complementary). I'd taken a few and was kinda ambivalent about them until today.. I got one today that blew my mind.. Recieve ping, notice its a pool, and shows I'm about 5 min away from the rider, with the pickup point in the 7000 block of NORTH Pecos (this is important) I drive to where the navigation tells me to and arrive, or arrive as close to the location as I can.. Navigation map shows the pin on the other side of what can only be described as a "closed road barracade", with NOTHING, as in no street/dirt road on the other side of the barracade. I call the rider by phone, and where ARE you? I'm as close to the address in the app as I can get.. Rider says "I'm at so-and-so doctors office"... Umm There is NO dr office anywhere near where I'm sitting.. We talk a bit more and I find rider is at the same 7000 street address BUT ON SOUTH Pecos.. This being somewhat close to 20 miles away at the other end of the street. I advise the rider of this, and suggest we cancel and she pull up another driver, hopefully closer.. I cancel using the "don't charge rider", but later, when checking my days rides, I find that rider has been charged the cancellation fee. I've contacted Uber to get that fixed..
Now to my actual question.. Is there ANY way to get Uber to opt me out of Pool rides?? I've been reading over at the uberpeople forum that a lot of drivers in Atlanta have managed to get opted out of pool, by spamming the hell out of support with a nicely worded letter demanding to be opted out of Pool with a nice tidy list of the reasons. I've only been driving for Uber since July 1st, but I'd MUCH prefer to stay with UberX rides only... Anybody know or have done this??
I have had several bad experiences with Pool. More than anything it is a ridiculously low fare and seldom worth the effort. It is especially bad for the PAX who either don't understand English well or don't understand pool. I have had many that were upset to learn we had to pick up other passengers. Uber rates are so low anyway that they ought to just eliminate pool.
Uber Pool= feels like drowning.
Ratings suffer and very awkward seeing two cheapos conversing fake conversations. I avoid airport pool. Lyft line is somewhat better..at least it feels that way.
IDK... I've tried that... But the second and third passengers don't come in as requests as I don't get to choose whether or not to accept it I just get a message that says next rider added... my app recognizes a pool ride as one trip no matter how many passengers there are... Even when I go to my trip history I click on one pool ride and it shows the individual trips within that pool...
Only happened to me the one time. I wish that was the worst glitch I've ever experienced with the Uber app. Yesterday it kept kicking me offline after about a minute online. Reset phone, still did it. Uninstalled and reinstalled driver app. Fixed the problem. For a technology company, their technology isn't always great.
My acceptance rate is rarely above 70% because of POOL. I refuse POOL because most of my bad ratings and experiences came from them. Most rides are down the street anyways so...nope!
B/c when you accept additional riders on Pool, Uber takes nearly the entire fare. You know that, right?
During a quest (the only time I accept Pool requests) last week, I had one where the Riders paid 28.24 and I got....7.65 (just 27% of the efing fare!) I had one the week before where the Riders paid 33.80 and I got....10.50. This is the norm for when you do multiple rider Pool rides, NOT the exception.
Yes, if you go offline (or don't accept Pool at all) they will send them to another driver - who may be foolish enough to take multiple pool rides when not on a quest. If they're happy giving 73% of the fare to Uber, so be it. You can't fix stupid. But I'm going to pass.
If every driver understood this and acted accordingly, NONE would take multiple riders. End of problem.
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