They are looking at average quality metrics. I think they should be looking at perc based quality metrics. That would have reflected a drop and the variability far earlier on. In this sense, it's akin to performance metrics — you want to find out what % of your users are experiencing what levels of service.
Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
81–90 of 90 posts
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#82> All of Uber's old school power users have gotten used to Uber and simply expect our service as a baseline at this point. What I mean is that as you have gotten used to Uber, your expectations of basic fundamental service have risen. Yeah ... no. I got fed up with taxi service in SF about 2 years ago and started using Uber. At first I was astounded: very clean cars, very nice drivers who were accommodating and pleas…
I can imagine, like you said, that the growth is forcing them to hire less qualified drivers as the pool of great drivers has already been tapped. Here in Dallas Uber is still a great experience, for now.
Same here in Santa Barbara. They hard launched a couple weeks ago and it still has a nice, earnest startup feel to it.
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#83We started using Uber this year to get to the airport. Though we are happy with the price, and very happy with the ease of scheduling, every single ride has made me uncomfortable with the safety and comfort of the service. Over four rides to the airport this year, these things have happened: 1) Three of the times the drivers claimed the AC wasn't working, and we had to drive on the interstate with the windows down. 2…
This is the problem with Uber. Most drivers, don't give two shits about the job. And it's hard to blame most of them if you understand the dispatcher-model they generally work under. It's very cut-throat and has high pressures. While this isn't an excuse on Uber's part, I think it's where Uber can step in and improve things. Originally Uber's goal was too make Taxi's an app. They've succeeded with that. Now they need…
Thats the thing tho, drivers have always been variable. Even before Uber. A lot of taxi dispatching companies get a lot of flack, but most have always been able to provide good service. All uber did was automate the job that is done by call takers. They havent really done much to improve the real problem in the taxi industry, which is unreliable drivers that constantly drop calls or act rude.
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#84That's confusing that he pulled a response to someone else's post into a standalone post, without quoting this Noah person for context. Here's the original complaint: ============================================================ I'm a huge #Uber fan, but the service has been getting really bad lately. Anyone else experiencing these issues? -App shows a car 2 minutes away, and when I reserve, it then says the car is 8…
The complaint about the time going from 2 minutes to 8 minutes and also the car getting further away before getting closer sounds like the Uber drivers are doubling as Lyft drivers or other taxi-like apps. They have every incentive to always have a passenger in the car. It sounds like they are communicating with Uber that they will pick Noah up while they are almost done delivering a passenger from another service.
What I've seen a lot of is drivers marking my ride as complete when they get within a few blocks of my destination. I originally wrote it off to the driver trying to earn a better rating in light of heavy traffic or navigation difficulties, but it seems to be becoming more routine. In a few cases they've accepted another fare before they even drop me off.
Recently I saw this for the first time on a trip to SFO, which actually makes a lot of sense - since its a fixed price, they're not giving anything up by marking my ride complete as soon as they hit the exit for SFO.
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#85It's a sign of strength in a company when the CEO can talk candidly about problems like this. Every company has problems, most worse than this, but they rarely talk about them except in the blandest, most evasive way. Conspicuous candor.
yeah! Agree with PG
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can confirm, I've heard this from drivers as well. As an anecdote, the one time I left a 1-star review, the next day I had a 20-min wait to get a car. Not sure if it was bad luck or I was getting penalized for leaving a bad review...
Yeah, well, my auto shop told me they were going to send me a survey about my visit and that, "anything less than a 10 is failure," so don't discount gaming the stats on the provider end.
That seems to be part of the program for vendors like Ford, where the employee asks the customer to call them if there is anything that they can't rate perfectly so they can fix the issue for them. They use the survey as a way of flushing out issues that the customer wouldn't otherwise voice so they can deal with them. It's less about collecting stats, and more about having an extra tool to get the customer to happy.
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#87I would really like to see an aggregate app that only handles the buy side of the market and let Uber, Sidecar, Lyft, taxis and others handle the sell side of the market. This way, you could have an app that shows you the rating of the companies relative to one another. Every vote for a driver would also be a vote for the company as well. If a company wasn't great, you can opt to stop seeing drivers from them.
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#88For me, the convenience of Uber was always in the predictability of when the car would arrive. Flywheel ( http://www.flywheel.com/ ) has finally effectively solved that problem for regular cabs, after half a dozen apps tried. Anecdotal conversations with taxi drivers indicate that they are pretty happy with the Flywheel service as well - it is definitely the best received app by drivers. Using an app that seems to tr…
How does FlyWheel differentiate from other apps such as, HailACab in Austin, that seem to offer the same three primary benefits?
You mention the experience for cab drivers. Do they have some sort of smarter queuing or other benefits?
It seems all these apps address the consumer facing side of things, but to truly address the driver side, wouldn't it make sense to leverage data to try and better predict needs or routes so that there is less time lost waiting or traveling between fares?
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#89We started using Uber this year to get to the airport. Though we are happy with the price, and very happy with the ease of scheduling, every single ride has made me uncomfortable with the safety and comfort of the service. Over four rides to the airport this year, these things have happened: 1) Three of the times the drivers claimed the AC wasn't working, and we had to drive on the interstate with the windows down. 2…
I must be very inexperienced - what's the problem with driving on the interstate with the windows down?
Re: Uber CEO responds to concern that Uber's SF service is decreasing in quality
#90We started using Uber this year to get to the airport. Though we are happy with the price, and very happy with the ease of scheduling, every single ride has made me uncomfortable with the safety and comfort of the service. Over four rides to the airport this year, these things have happened: 1) Three of the times the drivers claimed the AC wasn't working, and we had to drive on the interstate with the windows down. 2…
I must be very inexperienced - what's the problem with driving on the interstate with the windows down?
Road wind. At 40+ mph, a car with open windows is noisy and uncomfortable.