Warning about Uber. Drivers who ask you to cancel.

Cliff Notes Summary: Don't cancel if the Uber driver asks you to cancel, you'll get hit with a fee.  Also, don't tell them where you're going if they call and ask.

I was in Panama for an overnight mileage/status run a few years ago and was staying at a hotel by the airport.  I was up at some ridiculous hour like 4AM or 430AM and since the hotel shuttle didn't run that early, I fired up Uber and requested a ride.  The driver was a few minutes away.

A few minutes later, his car hadn't moved an inch.

I figure, OK, maybe he accepted the ride first and he's waking up and getting ready to drive.  Then another few minutes pass with no movement.  I sent him text messages since T-mobile gives free international texts with no response.  I even busted out my high school Espanol for the text message.  (I suppose it's possible he had no idea what I said and thus no response?)

After 10 minutes, I start to fear missing my flight and cancel the ride and request another ride, which shows up quickly and I make my flight.

However, when I cancel a ride after a few minutes, Uber charges me.  I was like what kind of Panamanian bullcrap is this and got the fee waived after complaining. (In English)

Then one day, at SFO after a long flight, my then-fiancee or girlfriend called an Uber on her phone.  The driver again, didn't move for about 5 minutes, then he calls and asks where we are going, we tell him where and he says I don't want to go that direction, I'm trying to get home, can you cancel the ride?

What he was doing was waiting until the grace period passes where I can cancel for free, then he asks me to cancel so he can get the cancellation fee for not doing anything.  This is apparently a thing from when I searched online.  And some desperate, lazy people make money this way while sitting on their butts.

She passes the phone to me and I'm shouting at the guy:

"I'm not cancelling, I know how Uber works, why don't you cancel?"

That's when he starts to get sassy with me and says: "I can wait here all day, if you need to go home, you'll need to cancel"

Clearly, not the brightest tool in the shed, even on her phone, she could have easily fired up Lyft and gotten home but Lyft was a bit pricier so we used my phone to Uber home.  We kept checking on the ride and after about 30 minutes he eventually cancelled. And got penalized, I hope.

Uber's old toilet seat logo

I hear if the driver cancels too often, they get booted from Uber.  I thought of reporting him to Uber but my now-wife told me to not spend my precious time chasing that.  Wow, she's so wise! It may come across as sarcastic but I'm not, honestly.  (Hi wifey!)

So if an Uber driver asks you to cancel don't do it.  If you need to cancel, make sure you report it to Uber and try to get the fee waived.

P.S. Writing about Uber reminded of the time in Taiwan when the driver parked someplace about 2 blocks away from where we were (and yes, my location market in the Uber app was correct absolutely) across pretty much a highway like road where I cannot just cross and keeps calling me asking where I am.  At first I reject the calls, since international calls still cost money on T-mobile and I don't want to pay for an incompetent driver's retardedness.  But finally I pick up and my wife talks to him in Chinese and he wants us to get to where his car is now or he will cancel.  He did end up cancelling as it was going to take about 10 minutes to walk to where he was waiting.  I hope he got booted from Uber.