
Programmers say Uber Eats is systematically underpaying their workers - santaclaus
https://www.salon.com/2020/08/20/programmers-say-uber-eats-is-systematically-underpaying-their-workers/
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sharadov
All of them delivery apps are scumbags, do what I do, stop using them, go old
school, call the restaurant, pick up the food, the restaurant gets to keep
100%, not the 70%. And, really, no one is commuting, so there is no traffic,
get your asses of the couch..really..

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aeternum
A company is not properly paying their drivers so we should change our
behavior such that we eliminate their jobs entirely?

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vinay427
Wouldn't this at least allow for an opening in the market that can be filled
by an organization that doesn't exploit drivers? If we continue to support a
company that could do better without placing either legal or market pressure,
no one has any reason to change.

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SyneRyder
Ooh, this resonates. I noticed Uber Eats at one point hadn't billed my card
for several tips I'd given after an interface update, so I contacted support.
Once I got past the usual scripted "here is how to tip", when I finally got
through to someone who understood I was reporting a bug, they brushed me off
insisting Uber had systems to always check they were charging and paying out
the correct amount, so I must be mistaken. I gave up and switched to other
apps.

A few weeks later, I eventually got a bunch of small Uber Eats charges. They
ended up being all those tips I'd diligently reported to Uber, so I guess it
was a bug and they just didn't want to admit it.

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nefitty
Contact centers for software services like this are usually implored, or given
specific language on how to deal with user-reported bugs. They’re trained not
to admit a bug exists because that implies that the company is at fault. In
most cases, this makes sense, as a majority of “bugs” are user-caused
problems. In the edge cases where there really is a bug though, users can end
up in these kafkaesque dungeons of unresolved problems that they have no
control over. The company still benefits in the end as they never admitted
fault and the user affected will probably give up sooner than the company gets
the ticket resolved.

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artoonie
Exactly! That's why it took me (the guy in the article) so many phone calls
and emails with Uber before somebody admitted the bug - and I got it on tape
(with their consent). Must have spent five hours dealing with support before
they admitted it.

I would love if Uber trained and trusted their support staff to identify real
bugs, and to escalate appropriately...I was so tempted to just go on LinkedIn,
find some engineers, and message them directly.

