Honest question: is the Better Business Bureau still relevant?
The BBB is basically the pre-internet Yelp.
Minus the word “Algorithm”.
Controversies and all.
So…neither of them payed off the BBB?
(Not defending either of them, but the BBB is a racket and meaningless…)
exactly. it’s a shakedown system.
The one time I tried to use Uber, their system refused to take my SMS message to register and left me standing in the rain for 30 minutes futzing with it (Uber has support only asynchronously via email - you can’t call as they have no phones). Finally I took a regular cab and it cost exactly what the estimated Uber price was.
So what’s the point? Plus, with a regular cab, you don’t have to get hit in the head with a hammer.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/alleged-uber-hammer-attack-victim-recovering-injur/nhfcS/
This. I am a cab driver in a medium sized college town and have regulars who have used Uber. They said the fares were exactly the same, if not higher than what my cab rates were. They said the drivers were inexperienced, unprofessional, and usually had to ask for directions. The thing that irritates me the most is the marketing speak that Uber shits out and then promptly gets spread on multi-grain crackers and enjoyed and passed around by the press. Like the whole “innovation” and “ride-sharing” thing. I’m still scratching my head about what exactly Uber innovated, aside from finding a loophole in regulatory codes that require city oversight of vehicles and drivers. Logistically, they operate exactly like most cab companies. “Rideshare” is on craigslist, most Uber drivers drive between 40-60 hours a week in vehicles they purchased to drive specifically as cabs for Uber, for profit. Our dispatch system is 4-5 years old and nearly identical.
As someone who lives in a part of Brooklyn where cabs are scarce, I gotta say I’ve always had a great experience with Uber.
Unlike a regular NYC cab, I’ve never gotten in an Uber car, said my destination, and been told, “No, too late, I don’t go there.”
In NYC, I can’t call a cab when I need a ride. I can, however, call an Uber car.
Regulations that require that cabs be safe and drivers be licensed and bonded and that both be adequately insured - VERY GOOD THING, let’s not let Uber off the hook.
Regulations that arbitrarily limit the number of cabs so that safe, licensed drivers and vehicles are not allowed into the market - CORRUPT REGULATORY-CAPTURE BULLSHIT which can’t disappear fast enough to suit me.
“Relevant?” They’re not a boy band. Uber’s bullshit is bullshit regardless who calls them on it.
I had no idea that you couldn’t call an NYC cab. Granted the few times in NYC i’ve needed a cab i’ve just hailed it, but in most places cab companies all have phone numbers and dispatchers and you can easily call a cab.
Is the no call thing only in certain areas or for all of NYC? on the outskirts and certain areas there aren’t just cabs regularly driving by, is it impossible to catch cabs from those areas? are you just SOL?
update: Just looked up more info and answered my own question. apparently the yellow cabs are all hail only but there are a large number of “black car” companies operating in NYC and calling #TAXI conencts you with one of those, so you can call a cab, just not a yellow cab. that makes a lot more sense.
Really? Am I really so old and out of touch with the kids that I think it’s odd that a business doesn’t have a phone?
If people are made to use an FAQ or KBA, it saves the company a lot of money in staff costs, it also avoids a Lot of repetitive answers, which actually damage staff morale. The challenge is making the KBA system user-friendly and not a total PITA like a lot of them are.
It is odd, especially when your business is moving people between time critical events.
At a guess, that is probably part of maintaining the fiction that Uber is not operating such a service but simply connects interested private individuals with one another.
Why do you need to? NYC is crawling with cabs like rats dumped out of a bag. Every other car on the road is yellow.
I don’t live there, but I get the impression that many of the boroughs are underserved.
No, it is odd, but it is a deliberately chosen oddness. Of course, lots of companies that do have phones make it hard to find their number or get in touch that way, too.
In certain parts of Manhattan, yes. Otherwise, no. And keep in mind that were were more medallions in 1937 than there are today, despite 15% more people and much more need for transportation.
This is correct. Manhattan is crawling with cabs, in other boroughs it depends where you are and he time of day - some areas have some, most areas do not. It’s a bit better since they issued more medallions for the Green Cabs that are intended to serve the other boroughs, but it can be very, very difficult to flag a cab at 8:00pm on a residential block in Bed-Stuy, for example. You can call a car service, the primary difference being that the driver will quote a price to you destination when he arrives that may be more than the official cab price should be (sometimes it’s less though - I have only felt ripped off once). You can also frequently (technically illegally) flag down a black car if you keep a good lookout. I have yet to use Uber.
