‘Negative 3 Stars’: Woman Orders Uber And a Tesla Picks Her Up. She Can’t Believe What the Owner Told Her To Do While In the Car
'What?'
An Uber rider’s experience with a Tesla owner left them disappointed due to their bizarre requests and driving rules. A TikTok user named Kinza (@warmtitswarmheartt) posted a brief recording of her time in the EV’s backseat. Her text overlay in the video delineated why she’s developed a bias against those who purchase cars from the popular electric-only car brand.
“I ordered an Uber, a Tesla showed up,” she pens. “He made me put my purse on the ground because, ‘he’s trying to make the seats last longer.” Footage in Kinza’s clip indeed does a bag resting on the floor of the Tesla’s backseat area.
She goes on to state, “I asked him to turn up the AC, he turned it up by one degree. And how he’s asking me for directions cause his car’s navigation system doesn’t work,” Kinza said in the caption. “Is there a way you can make sure a Tesla owner never picks you up again?”
As her clips progresses, Kinza records her driver, whose infotainment screen is on, but doesn’t appear to be engaged in turn-by-turn navigation. Following this, she flips the camera orientation to reveal a close up of her face as her video comes to a close.
Commenters React
Several people who replied to Kinza’s video seemed to share in her outrage. One TikTok user recommended that she reach out to Uber corporate with regards to the driver’s behavior. “You can report him to Uber. All vehicles must meet a certain code, if his navigation system isn’t working then he clearly can’t perform the job,” they penned.
Another couldn’t wrap their heads around why a car owner concerned with the interior longevity of their vehicle would be using it for ride-sharing. “Trying to make the seats last longer but he’s an Uber? What?” they wrote.
Someone else highlighted the sanitary concerns that accompanied passengers placing their belongings on the floor of an Uber. “I am not putting my bag onto floors period. People have dog [expletive] under their shoes for heaven’s sake. This driver sounds like a nightmare,” they wrote.
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Whereas others said that they, too, have had poor experiences with Tesla owners who utilize their rides as 1099-Taxis. “I had a Tesla owner for an Uber once and he got mad at me for not knowing how the door handles worked,” one said.
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Another person seemed all too familiar with air-conditioning non-compliance. “Worst. They are trying save battery so they won’t use much or any AC,” they remarked.
At least one person, however, proposed a way to ensure that some specific vehicles are banned from showing up on Kinza’s account. “Contact support and tell them the regenerative braking system hurts your stomach. And you should be able to have a block from Teslas added to your account,” they said.
Can Uber Riders Block Drivers?
According to the blog Ride Guru, there are ways to ensure that specific drivers and passengers aren’t ever matched again. A user on the application who says that they’re the CEO of TaxiFareFinder and is an Uber driver themselves, broke down how this process purportedly works.
They stated that there’s a “logic” in ride-sharing solutions like Uber and Lyft embedded into their respective ratings systems. Typically, Lyft and Uber pair riders with drivers in their area and matches them based on proximity and availability.
However, if an Uber passenger rides with a driver and give them a 1-star rating, then the app’s algorithm will ensure that they’re never paired with that driver again. The same Ride Guru user also states that a similar functionality occurs in Lyft, but the rating threshold is lower. Any ratings that are 3 stars and below will prevent a driver for showing up as an option for the passenger who rated them. Furthermore, this same logic also applies for passengers who receive 1-star ratings from drivers as well.
Although one Quora user argues that simply giving a driver a bad rating could ultimately harm their employment prospects. In their above-linked post, they argue that 1-star ratings should be reserved for extreme scenarios. Such as reckless driving or threatening the safety of passengers.
Instead of giving an inordinately low rating, the Quora user recommends contacting Uber customer support and asking to not be paired with that driver. Moreover, they explained that they’ve been given low ratings just because they’ve asked passengers not to smoke or vape in their vehicles. Thus, they don’t believe that they should be given a low rating just because they’re attempting to be considerate towards other passengers.
Also, like the Ride Guru post, the Quora user, and other folks who responded to their post did indicate that 3-star ratings and lower will guarantee passengers aren’t paired with particular drivers. Redditors in this post also echoed the aforementioned relationship between low ratings and driver/passenger connections.
InsideEVs has reached out to Kinza via TikTok comment for further information.
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