Uber Driver Threatens Cancer Patient

[HardOCP News]

And the hits just keep rolling in for Uber.

Uber has a zero tolerance policy for abusive or threatening language on our platform, and as we have done in this instance, we immediately deactivate any driver found in violation of that policy. While the vast majority of Uber driver partners provide five-star trips with each ride, when a driver fails to meet the level of service and courtesy Uber riders know and love, we take action immediately.

 

[Ducman69]

How is that a strike against Uber? Sounds to me like Uber as a business model has a great way of policing their non-unionized driving members.

Cabbies on the other hand aren't rated, and cab drivers have been convicted of every crime under the sun, including the quite common problem of raping drunk women who decide to take a cab home by themselves.

 

[HardOCP News]

How is that a strike against Uber?

Uber has had quite the week / month / year for stories like this. Just today the company was caught tracking its users. This on top of all the bad press over treatment of its drivers, drivers treatment of passengers, VP caught saying they should dig up dirt on the press, etc. etc. etc.

We cover tech news. Uber is tech news. Saying Uber driver's behavior is okay because taxi cab drivers are worse is pretty flawed logic.

 

[Ducman69]

Saying Uber driver's behavior is okay because taxi cab drivers are worse is pretty flawed logic.

Isn't that how our entire political system works with Republicans vs Democrats; pick the lesser evil?

 

[oROEchimaru]

$30 credit is a smack in the face. if they wanted to do nice they would say something like free rides for a year during treatments or 500$ credit etc.

 

[copy_run_start]

Off topic, but I'm not a huge fan of showcasing the personal issues of people that were wronged by a business to make them more sympathetic. I realize that, in this case, the driver actually made remarks about her cancer to her, but (generally) it should be enough that the driver was completely out of line. I understand that there are things in life that are unimaginably difficult or painful, but seeing a headline like "Starbucks denies IRAQ WAR VETERAN the ability to breastfeed in the store," irks me. Might as well say stuff like, "Barnes and Noble refuses to online price match for CUSTOMER WHOSE DAD JUST DIED AND WHO DOESN'T HAVE MONEY FOR RENT BECAUSE HE DONATES 50% OF HIS EARNINGS TO AN AFRICAN ORPHANAGE."

Woman had to cancel because of a personal medical issue. Driver was unbelievably hurtful and personal with his attacks. Uber seem to do much. End of story.

 

[Scythe]

$30 credit is a smack in the face. if they wanted to do nice they would say something like free rides for a year during treatments or 500$ credit etc.

Uber shitcanned the driver, and gave her a small gift for her troubles. Why do you think it has to be larger? Seems fair.

If MickyD's screws up your order.....do you expect free food for a year? Hotel maid doesn't make your room, do you expect free rooms for year?

 

[Ducman69]

Amen, and that's really what gets me too is the double-standard that makes me feel like the Joker.

If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a cab driver will kidnap and rape a drunk woman, or hits a bicyclist twice on purpose, nobody panics, because it’s all ‘part of the plan’. But when I say that one little Uber driver texts something mean to a passenger, well then everyone loses their minds!

 

[overclock]

Why would anyone use uber? Too much liability. If the driver gets in a wreck his insurance won't cover anything that happens to you because the driver probably doesn't have commercial insurance. Too many problems.

 

[ir0nw0lf]

we immediately deactivate any driver

Maybe it's just me but "deactivate" sounds funny/odd used in that sentence. Makes it sound like the driver is a machine.

 

[Tawnos]

Why would anyone use uber? Too much liability. If the driver gets in a wreck his insurance won't cover anything that happens to you because the driver probably doesn't have commercial insurance. Too many problems.

It's cheaper than a cab, nicer, faster, more convenient, and generally pretty awesome. And the drivers are provided commercial insurance via Uber: http://blog.uber.com/uberXridesharinginsurance

 

[Ultima99]

Amen, and that's really what gets me too is the double-standard that makes me feel like the Joker.

If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a cab driver will kidnap and rape a drunk woman, or hits a bicyclist twice on purpose, nobody panics, because it’s all ‘part of the plan’. But when I say that one little Uber driver texts something mean to a passenger, well then everyone loses their minds!

Its all about expectations isnt it?

 

[Taco]

Why would anyone use uber? Too much liability. If the driver gets in a wreck his insurance won't cover anything that happens to you because the driver probably doesn't have commercial insurance. Too many problems.

As I keep saying, the only people against Uber are ones that have zero use for them, so should probably shut up, or refuse to try them. Try them once and you'd be a convert.

Uber and Lyft are an order of magnitude better, cheaper and more convenient than taking a cab. It's not even a discussion.

 

[wabbitseason]

Come on Steve, why the Uber hate? With a service this vast you are bound to have a few bad eggs. That has no bearing on the average experience, which is head and shoulders above that in the average taxi.

 

[SGA76]

You get bad eggs everywhere.
The mark of a good company is how they deal with them.

 

[StryderxX]

Uber uses some shady tactics to recruit drivers away from it's competition, they use "surge" pricing to charge more than twice the price of a regular cab during rush hours, admins can track and share your personal data and location information whenever the desire hits them and now this story where a driver insults and upsets a customer (I agree that being a cancer patient is irrelevant). All this plus the CEO of this company is one of the most arrogant and narcissistic public figures in tech. I for one will NEVER use this service but some folks do so to each his own.

 

[Ducman69]

My personal traditional cabbie story. Get smashed at wedding a couple years back, but knew I was going to so had cab # in my wallet. Tell cabbie the address, the subdivision name, how to get there. He mumbles something unintelligible in Somali or something, and starts driving, the opposite direction of where he's supposed to be going in this POS smelly car. I correct him, he pretends (was he) that he's retarded and finally turns around, then as I'm leaned back, he again takes a right where its painfully obvious he has to go left, and we are off track again for several miles. At this point, I try to guide him like a GPS device street for street, since luckily I've lived in the area for years. He still misses streets, and took me on the longest drive home I've ever experienced. I give him no tip for the hugely inflated fair, and he starts shouting at me and gets out of the car up in my face and I'm just waiting to get clocked and know I'm in no shape to even try to land a punch if it comes to that. Didn't do anything, all bark, but yeah I called the taxi company the next day (had better crap to do) and I can promise you nothing happened to that cab driver. While I was calling from the kitchen, others visiting staying with us were like did your cabbie take you all over the pace too? Yup, and the one other consistent thing from our stories is none spoke English properly and we weren't sure how they got visas, lol!

Only other cabbie story I have is from Singapore. I was inline skating and held on lightly bent over so I thought he didn't see me to his back bumper for a free ride, cabbie noticed though and slammed on the brakes locking up all his tires from about 40mph, sending me smashing into the back of his car. I fell off to the side a bit dazed, and he backed up abruptly... but I'm not convinced he even saw that I wasn't still behind him on the ground when he did. A douche move on my part, but way to try and kill a 13 year old boy.

Here's a great article comparing the few Uber complaints with cabbie horror stories:
http://dc.curbed.com/archives/2014/07/your-dc-taxicab-horror-stories.php

I got a cab because I was late to work at the restaurant I worked at, for a brunch shift. The driver asked me repeatedly if I would sleep with him and when I said no, kept offering me a higher price. He was clearly on drugs. He said he wanted a 'clean girl,' not a prostitute, which is why he chose me to ask.

"I once paid for my fare and got out, and then the cab driver followed me down the street screaming names at me because I 'only' tipped him $2 on a $9 fare. He claimed that since he picked me up late at night he deserved more and I was ripping him off. Sigh."

And of course all the stories of cabs not showing up causing people to miss their flights, not stopping when they are empty, refusing to go to certain destinations, or KIDNAPPING people and refusing to take them to where they asked to go and dropping them off where the cabbie wanted to go.

 

[dgz]

How is that a strike against Uber? Sounds to me like Uber as a business model has a great way of policing their non-unionized driving members.

Cabbies on the other hand aren't rated, and cab drivers have been convicted of every crime under the sun, including the quite common problem of raping drunk women who decide to take a cab home by themselves.

what? can anyone else confirm this? sounds like your typical Ducman69 hyperbole

 

[pothb]

Confirming what? that they rape drunk women? or that it happens commonly?

I think I read about one instance years back, but its too far back and my memory is not great, so I could be merging things together.

 

[RaRaMe]

In this story, it appears she was able to provide proof of what happened, but in other cases what's to stop someone from claiming something bad happened during the drive and getting the driver kicked off because of it?

 

[dgz]

Maybe it's just me but "deactivate" sounds funny/odd used in that sentence. Makes it sound like the driver is a machine.

Don't worry, though. They only deactivate drivers with less than 5 kids.

 

[Ducman69]

what? can anyone else confirm this? sounds like your typical Ducman69 hyperbole

I can't tell if you are serious... there are stories all the time, here are a few articles from this year and its not even the holiday season yet (Christmas parties often create victims):
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-ca...-arrested-on-kidnapping-rape-charges/25289854

Ahmed Ali Abdi, 53, was working as a cab driver for Santa Cruz Transportation Yellow Cab when he picked up a 30-year-old woman as a cab fare on the 900 block of Pacific Avenue, police said.

It was 1 a.m. on March 28 and the woman was extremely intoxicated to the point of passing out.

Instead of contacting authorities for help, Abdi drove the victim to a motel on the 100 block of Ocean Street, took money from the victim’s purse, and rented a room at the motel, Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said.

A surveillance video recorded Abdi assisting the victim to the motel room, Clark said.

"The victim reported waking up later to find she was naked in bed with Mr. Abdi also naked in bed fondling her. The victim blacked out at this point," Clark said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ed-rape-tense-deliberations-article-1.1777650

Gurmeet Singh, 42, was found guilty of raping and kidnapping a 29-year-old female passenger but was cleared of robbery and assault as well as the top count of predatory sexual assault.

“I was terrified. I thought it was really scary,” a 61-year-old female juror said of the victim’s testimony, which was punctuated by hysterical sobs as she recounted waking up in the back of a car and being violated at knifepoint.

http://www.wboc.com/story/26346001/...ith-raping-victim-inside-cab-in-sussex-county

According to police, 30-year-old Khalid Chablaoui of New Castle picked up the 22-year-old female victim as a cab fare outside the Lighthouse bar and restaurant in Dewey Beach at approximately 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. Police said Chablaoui is the owner/operator of the I-Taxi cab service.

Troopers said the victim entered the front passenger seat of the taxi and fell asleep during the ride to her home. At some point in the journey, police said the victim woke up to Chablaoui sexually assaulting her.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...1bb5c6-a5dc-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html

Mohammed Suleiman Roble, 35, has been charged with first-degree sexual assault, according to court documents. Apparently a friend of the driver, Roble was in the taxi when the victim climbed in near Ninth and U Street NW and asked to be taken home, according to police. When she got out on the 2600 block of Georgia Avenue NW, Roble allegedly got out too, pulled her into a nearby alley and sexually assaulted her, police said.

Sounds worse than a mean text for cancelling a fare, doesn't it? BTW, I love this cabbies defense:

He went on to deny any wrongdoing and was quoted as saying to police, "I never had sex in the back of the cab...I don't know how my DNA got in her vagina." I did not rape anybody. Sometimes I pick up women, call girls, off the street and have sex with them.

Sounds legit.

 

[Gweenz]

what? can anyone else confirm this? sounds like your typical Ducman69 hyperbole

People get raped when they are at their most vulnerable. Alone, intoxicated, late at night. They often ride home in taxis. I'm not sure why you're having such a hard time fathoming the possiblity, rather inevitability, of it.

 

[Grahamkracka]

Confirming what? that they rape drunk women? or that it happens commonly?

I think I read about one instance years back, but its too far back and my memory is not great, so I could be merging things together.

This has happened to two close friends of mine in two different cities/states in the last year. It's apparently very common according to the investigating officers in both cases.