Rideshare apps like Uber offer riders a clear idea of how much they should be paying before their ride—or so they think.
While most rides go off without a hitch, many Uber and Lyft passengers have reported issues with their rides. In one case, a user claimed that an Uber driver attempted to charge her $150 to return her phone after she accidentally left it in his car. In another, a user alleged that her Uber driver never ended her ride, causing her to rack up over $200 in additional fees.
Now, a user on Reddit has allegedly caught an Uber driver attempting another scheme: lying about tipping.
In a post on r/uber, Reddit user u/empty40oz includes an image of a message he claims to have received from a driver.
“This is your friendly reminder that all untipped rides will receive a 30% automatic tip. To avoid these fees please tip your driver,” the message from the driver reads in part.
As indicated by the body of the post, u/empty40oz was immediately suspicious of the message.
“I’m assuming this isn’t real but thought I’d ask here,” he wrote in the post.
As commenters later stated, u/empty40oz was right to have his doubts about the idea.
“Scam- cancel the ride,” said a user.
“It’s just a lie,” echoed another.
While some said they would have simply canceled the ride and reported the driver, others suggested different methods for dealing with this issue.
“I would have taken the ride and not tipped,” wrote a commenter. “If she said anything about tipping I would have told her ‘I’m fine with the 30% auto tip, you earned it!’”
“Take the ride, don’t tip, report the driver & give them 1 star,” offered a second. “If she’s doing this with lots of people & a few people report, she’ll get banned. If your rating drops below a certain point, I think you get banned also.”
Received this before pickup?
byu/empty40oz inuber
Uber’s site page on tipping contradicts the idea put forth by u/empty40oz’s driver. According to the site, “If you enjoyed your ride, you can tip the driver.” There is no mention of an automatic tip unless a user has chosen to give their drivers a default tip.
For their part, u/empty40oz claims they “Said ‘hello, how are you’ at the beginning and ‘thank you very much’ at the end and then I reported her 4 different times till I got to an agent who I could actually send the image to. Rated one star and didn’t tip.”
They were not charged a 30% tip.
In an email to the Daily Dot, an Uber spokesperson confirmed that the app does not charge an automatic tip.
“Tips are not automatically added to any trip,” they wrote. “At Uber, we believe that tipping is an easy way to say thanks to your driver or courier, and that’s why we’ve made it easy and optional for riders and Uber Eats customers to tip right from the app.”
The Daily Dot reached out to u/empty40oz via Reddit chat and Uber via email.
