Uber Fucked Me Over, Again

A couple months ago I was out driving when I picked up a guy and had to take him to Charleston, West Virginia. Sure, that’s a long, four-hour ride. So naturally I was excited because that’s a nice pay day for me, even though I would be on the road for 8 straight hours.

When I got to the location and dropped the guy off, I had very little gas and no money. But that’s okay, Uber’s about to pay me, right? Wrong. Instead of giving me the $240 they predetermined I was going to make, and told me I was going to make, they had to review the ride. When I called them on it they said it could take up to 24 hours to process. I told them I didn’t have 24 hours, I needed to get home, I was in another state, and I had no money or gas. I couldn’t even get a motel room. They claimed to understand totally and began to tell me how the process works of them checking the fare to make sure it was accurate and what not. You know, info I didn’t give two fucks about.

Luckily my wife had my mom wire me $40 so I could fill the tank and drive home.

The fuckery didn’t stop there. When they finally paid me they only gave me $160. When I contacted them they said after they reconfigured what I was supposed to make, they discovered that THAT was what I was supposed to make. So they were $80 off with their own calculations. I wonder how many other drivers they’ve done that to.

That was a few months ago, as I said. Well, they just pulled one over on me again. Thankfully it was for a lot less than $80. But still, they’re really pissing me off.

They had a promotion where if you made 50 trips you were guaranteed $450. If you drove 50 trips and didn’t earn at least that, Uber would make up the difference. Can you guess where this is going?

Today was when I hit the 50 trips. When I started the day I was at 47. Not my counting, that’s what the Uber app told me. I was at 47 of 50 and I was sitting at $420. I thought, depending on the rides, I could easily make $30 on my own and their promotion wouldn’t mean shit to me like all of the other ones they run.

Instead, I got 3 rides and only made $17, so Uber owed me $12. I went to the promotion thing on the app to see what was up and it said I still had one ride to take, which I didn’t. I know what 50 minus 47 is. That’s 3. I can count to 3, and I took 3 rides and that should’ve been that. But it wasn’t, they said I still had one to go.

So I took another ride. And wouldn’t you know it, that still didn’t cover the $30 I had to make to reach $450. I went back to the promotions part of the app to see that particular promotion was gone. Completely gone. Nowhere to be found. My stats were gone, everything. So I guess I’m not making that extra $12. Fantastic.

Fuck you, Uber.

Uber Update

It is now August and I’m still unable to drive for Uber. I’ve stopped into their Greenlight office three times and contacted them through their online support. I’ve been told 4 times that my issue has been escalated to top priority, and it has been a month since I’ve been able to drive.

So what does that mean? Them telling me they’ve escalated my issue is just to shut me up, it means nothing. They’ve also told me their “specialists” are working hard to solve my issue, which is also a lie. All they have to do is look at my title, see that it’s not salvaged, and BOOM I’m done. It literally takes a couple of seconds, not four weeks.

Oh, and each time I’ve spoken to their online support, which today alone has been quite a few times, I’ve spoken to someone different. It’s kind of hard to build any kind of trust with who you’re talking to if every time is someone new.

This is all complete bullshit. My wife is out of work for another week, and we’re completely broke. Completely. We’ve been surviving because of our awesome families, but it shouldn’t have to be this way. I should be working, and Uber is 100% to blame for this bullshit. If their crack headed system didn’t flag my car as salvaged when there’s no reason for it to, none of this would be happening.

I urge you, if you plan to drive for Uber, to consider all of this. It could easily happen to you. If not this, them something else. Dealing with this headache is just one more in a long line of headaches. I haven’t had this kind of problem with Lyft, yet until they get their payment situation fixed, I can’t drive for them either.

Uber And Lyft

I mentioned earlier about my issues with Uber and that I wasn’t happy driving for Lyft. Here’s an update on that.

The problem with Lyft was all about my payments. And the app sucked. I can’t imagine trying to get used to it.

The payments issue was this. In order to get paid weekly, I had to enter a bank account for direct deposit. I used my Walmart Green Dot card, and that was fine. However, for Express Pay, I couldn’t use that account, or any prepaid account. So I had to use my Woodforest account, and it worked for the first Express Pay, but refused any further Express Pays.

Express Pay, or whatever the hell they call it, is when I get my money right away instead of waiting for the weekly pay. It’s free to do with Uber, but Lyft charges 50 cents per payment. Also you only have to make a dollar with Uber to use it, but with Lyft you have to make at least $5.50.

So, my first Express Pay worked and went to my Woodforest card, right? Well, not entirely. It worked, but the money went to my Uber prepaid card. That information isn’t anywhere on my Lyft account, so I don’t know how they did it, but they did. At least I got my money. On a side note, Woodforest is the worst bank ever. Don’t go there unless you absolutely have to.

The second Express Pay that didn’t work, also went to my Uber prepaid card. I have no idea, and apparently neither does Lyft. The Express Pays are supposed to take anywhere from an hour to a day or two to get, but they’re taking almost a week to get. Never mind they’re going to the wrong card, but again, at least I’m getting my money.

Uber’s Express Pay is immediate, so if I withdraw money, I get it right away, not a couple days later. I never thought I’d say this, but Uber has their shit together and Lyft does not.

I’m Back!

WOOHOO! We have internet again! I feel like a whole new person. And I NEVER want to go three or more months without internet ever again. Holy crap that sucked.

In that time, I thought long and hard about many different things to blog about, and I bring you good news. I’ve forgotten all of them. But, hopefully I’ll spend more time on my computer and I’ll have more to say here.

I will tell you though, that I got a new job. It’s cool. I flip burgers at Freddy’s Steakburgers and Frozen Custard. Not something I ever dreamed of doing, but it’s helping me pay some bills for now. No shame in that.

I’ve also switched from driving for Uber to driving for Lyft. Why? In their unlimited wisdom, Uber said the new title I got for my new car is a salvaged title and I can’t drive for them with a salvaged title.

First, the car isn’t new, it’s new to me. However, the lot I bought it from doesn’t deal with salvaged cars. The reason? What they told me is, you can’t get plates for a salvaged car. I don’t know how true this is, but the lady I spoke with called the BMV and said that’s what they said.

Second, if you can’t get plates for a salvaged car, then I shouldn’t have been able to get plates for my car, which I did, which Uber knows.

Third, the title doesn’t say salvaged on it anywhere. Apparently if a car is salvaged it says so on the title.

Last, when I had my 30 day tags, that title worked just fine for Uber, so why wouldn’t this one, that came with my license plates?

Uber’s a bunch of jackasses. Apparently they’re doing this to drum up business for CarFax. Because the only way I can drive with them is to prove my title isn’t salvaged by spending $40 of money I don’t have to get a piece of paper from them saying my shit isn’t salvaged, which I just gave four reasons it couldn’t be salvaged for free.

Now I drive for Lyft, and I’m not happy at all, so I barely drive at all now.

The wife and I are going through tough times now, but we’ll get through them. We always do. But this whole Uber thing is really contributing to things being tough for my wife and I. Which makes me even more mad at them for being such jackasses.

So uh, yeah, I’ll be around more now that I got net again. Yippie skippie!

Happy Birthday!

Here’s a trick question. How many birthdays have you had?

The answer is one! Cause you were only born once. Our birthdays are just days to celebrate that one day. Like today is the day I use to celebrate my birthday.

Only this year, it’s kinda EH. Just like Halloween was. I attribute it to two things. One, I’m on so many meds now I kinda don’t feel shit anymore, which sadly is a good thing. And two, I’m now 38, and I guess the thrill has burned out. Which upsets me. Well, it would if I could feel anything. Thank you meds.

So, what do I have on the docket today? Not a damn thing. That’s what happens when you’re a broke son of a bitch. But I have had an interesting day so far. Let me share. It’s kinda boring (so NOT interesting…), and all over the place, so if you don’t read it (highly recommended) I’ll understand. I really don’t want to type it, I just feel the need to type and have nothing better to say.

I woke up wide awake at 3:30 this morning, so I decided to get a jump on Uber. I was out the door by 4, stopped to get some coffee and gas, which really, coffee is like our own gas to get us going. Makes sense now why gas stations sell coffee.

I did some Ubering and made some money. I made just enough to get my tags renewed today. I would’ve stayed out and made more, but the wife had a job interview at 10. I was late picking her up, which I didn’t even do, so she had to get another ride. She showed up late to the interview. I hope that doesn’t fuck her from getting the job, it’s a good job.

At one point we stopped at Rally’s to get some grub. Here’s a little Yelp review for you (that actually isn’t on Yelp). This Rally’s is one of the worst I’ve ever been to. When we first started going there, it was decent. Not great like this one, but decent. And then all of a sudden it went completely to shit. IF they’re taking orders and not closing hours before they’re supposed to, and IF they have burgers to sell, it’s going to take some serious time before you get your order after placing it.

Depression Level – High

I left early this morning to do some Uber. I had 7 trips in 4 hours, 5 of which were Uber Eats. I should’ve had 6 Eats deliveries but…

The first was from Norwood McDonald’s, and it was a terrible experience like every Uber Eats from McDonald’s. I’m officially done with Uber Eats from there. Any of them. If you want McDonald’s, take yourself there and endure the pain of waiting too long for terrible food. 

The next 3 in a row were from the Hyde Park McDonald’s, except the last one took so long that after notifying them I was there and 20 minutes of waiting, I canceled my participation in that order and left. I got nothing for that wasted time.

Just as I left, they summoned me back for another order and I declined.

Shortly after, I got another from the Norwood location. Again, I stood there waiting far too long for far too little money. I get about $4 for one Uber Eats delivery. So yeah, you better be quick or go fuck yourself. I expect to make $20 or more an hour doing Uber or I’m not making money. 

Thats when I decided I’m not doing McDonald’s any more. Fuck them, their service sucks, and Uber should boot them from their Eats service.

My last delivery of the day was from a sandwich shop called Which Wich, and I’ve never had any issues picking up from them, so I happily took it.

Come to think of it, of the dozens of restaurants I’ve had to pick up food from while doing Uber Eats, literally the only place I’ve had an issue with is McDonald’s. Because they literally don’t give a shit. 

I delivered the Which Wich order to the business building I was told to go to, except the front door was locked and there were no cars in the parking lot. I called the girl. She said to herself “dammit I did it again” and then told me she works two jobs and I had to take her food to the other one. She said she would tip me extra for the trouble.

I took it, had to call her again because I couldn’t find her. Once I got to her she barely said thanks and that was it. Still, several hours after the delivery, no tip. 

At that point I gave up and quit for the day. That’s twice now someone has said they’ll tip me through the app and hasn’t.

I don’t care if you tip me or not. Just don’t say you will and then don’t. Also, fuck you.

To compare, yesterday I made almost double what I did today in the same amount of time. Yesterday was what I expect to make when everything is going fine. Today is what I expect to make when dealing with McDonald’s.

I went home and picked up the wife so we could get something to eat. She chose Taco Bell, and they fucked up her order, which we found out when we got home, and she didn’t eat hers. I had to go out to pick some things up, so I had her tell me what she wanted and I’d get it. This time, Wendy’s.

She’s always wanting something sweet, and she picked Wendy’s because she wanted a vanilla Frosty. I ordered her food, then the Frosty. They told me their Frosty machine was down.

Depression level? I sat there thinking about putting a bullet in my head.

Now, for all you regular people out there, that day doesn’t sound too bad, does it? You can get through it.

I can’t. This is what I deal with regularly. A bullet in the head sounds so much better than dealing with all this menial bullshit. Every time.

I drove two miles to the next Wendy’s to get her small vanilla Frosty for $1.19 and thought about killing myself the entire time. Over that.

Bill Burr may have joked about it, but it’s serious to me. All this shit just piled on to hold me down. All of those issues topped with all of the idiots on the road pissing me off, one day I’m going to snap. Just so you know. So you can then say, “I knew him before he killed 35 people for not using turn signals.” 

One-Liner Wednesday – On Writing

Since I drive for Uber, I usually get into the general conversation of “So, do you do this full time?” To which I always reply, “No, I’m a writer.” Inevitably I always get asked, “OH! What do you write?” Since I’m an ass, I started answering this question with…

“Words, mostly.”

One-Liner Wednesday is a product of LindaGHill

Ubering A Millionaire

From time to time I get requests from people to take them somewhere “off the clock.” I log out of Uber and they pay me cash. If I can do it, I do it. I have one repeat customer who always pays me well, and I’ve had some other awesome folks keep my number just in case. I love it. Not to brag, at all, but I hear all the time from my riders that I’m the best Uber driver they’ve ever had. Or the coolest. It truly makes me feel good. It’s a shame I hate being around them. Not because of them, but because of the anxiety I live with that makes me hate being around people. Every time I hear one say I’m awesome, it takes that anxiety away a bit.

My wife works in a hotel and she’s regularly calling me to take one of her guests somewhere, usually off the clock. And because of where she works, sometimes those people happen to be really cool people who do big things. A few months back I took a guy from her hotel to our major airport, and he was one of the main people in charge of bringing the new Amazon Flex delivery service to all of the Amazon locations.

Today was yet another one of those days. Jen called and said she had a guy who was going to the Cincinnati Eye Institute and would later need a ride to the airport. When it came time, I went and waited for him, then picked him up. An older guy, half blind because of whatever procedure he had done, he turned out to be really cool and told me all about his life. I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this, which I don’t suspect he would, considering there’s about to be a book published about his life. Here’s the short version of it all.

More Uber Buffoonery

Recently the CEO of Uber stepped down and since then the company seems to be getting better to work for, which is good, because I already work for them, and even though I’ve been approved to work for Lyft, I’d rather just stay with Uber.

While the changes haven’t all taken effect yet, some have, and it has been obvious. Things have been great these last couple weeks. Until tonight.

The other day I was completely broke, and since I like to eat, I decided to go out for a couple runs and make a little cash. I went down to CVG, Cincinnati’s International Airport (hint, it’s not in Cincinnati or even Ohio), to pick someone up. Those rides are great, because they can be going anywhere and the money can be good. An added bonus is, there’s something to talk about. “Where you coming from?” “Staying long?” “You should’ve went somewhere else.” “Oh, you live here? Sorry to hear that.” Just the basic small talk.

I got one ride and made $17, which is a pretty good fare, especially with no surge. So I decided I was going to try and hang out there more often instead of driving all over the city hoping to get a ride and wasting gas.

Getting An Uber

There’s one thing that pisses me off more than anything else with riders, and that is where to pick them up. Most often the issue comes from them being at a business location, but not putting that business in their pickup location.

Most people just use the option to get picked up from where the GPS pin says they are, and then the driver gets an address. That’s awesome, at least we get an address. That works when picking up from a residence, most of the time. But when they’re leaving from some store in a shopping plaza, that pin/address thing sucks.

Not all businesses have their address visible on the front of their buildings. If you’re at a BP gas station, put into your location “BP” and guess what… it will pop up exactly where you’re at. I know! Technology! Then the driver will know exactly where to get you from and there won’t be any confusion.

Typically it’s not too much of an issue, but I’ve had people yell at me for taking too long to get them. Or if I pass their spot and have to circle around the block they’ll call me and ask if I’m lost. Well yeah, I am lost because you didn’t PUT IN THE NAME OF THE FUCKING BUSINESS WHERE YOU’RE AT!