SF2016

I understand your points here but I am also interested in how Uber responds in general, one email and no follow up is extremely poor taste for a contractor working on their behalf though, yet completely in line with their reputation. And yes, it's a heads up to every driver, we're not employees and Uber cares about us to carry out their goals, not ours, and that's they extent to how much they care about us. 

The extent to their protective measures is only to the extent that they can say they have drivers and passengers in mind, while they further attempt to isolate their liability should something occur. 

Uber hires contract workers like the military does (sample analogy): the military knows their contractors on the ground understand the risks they accept, however, Uber drivers are ordinary people looking for opportunities to make extra money, they're not signing up for high risk activities. 

I get the hot dog analogy is just an example and not meant to be a perfect one, but clearly a hot dog company is not sending someone to specific places to sell hot dogs of "their" choosing and for their profit. 

Knowing this, it would be responsible for Uber to:

A) Driver standpoint: make drivers aware of known dangerous areas and best practices to be safe, including what to do if you find yourself in certain situations. Better awareness of dangerous locations and training isn't too much to ask for. Uber has the crime data that they track, but they don't disclose it, not a surprise. 

B) Passengers: Better awareness, I don't think passengers understand the risks they take on pool rides. Uber is setting up the transaction, but they also should understand that Uber will state they're not at fault, they're just a tech company, the "contractor" is in charge when they on a ride. We all need to wake up to our own responsibilities in these transactions. 

The phone... Sure they can say it's not their problem, they can look at their "legal" obligation and say f*ck off, we're in the clear.  But as much as they claim to be there for the  drivers and passengers a humane thing might be to reach out and say hey, let us cover that loss. 

I understand better, we don't work for Uber, we work for ourselves, sounds simple enough, and we should know better. Your response is well noted. 

Thanks for the support everyone, I thought i had properly responded but I was off. So here's a cut and paste of my attempts to follow up to everyone yesterday:

*** Yes a police report was filed that night, there was no time for the panic button with guns coming at us. But yes fortunately it was over with no one getting shot. But seriously, why drive into Oakland and subject one's self and passengers to the risks???

***In response to the previous Post on cameras, no I had not yet installed one although a previous SUV I was using did have a front camera. No help there.

I didn't get the contact info of the other passengers as we all gave statements to the police there at the site. I'm assuming one of them did contact Uber. I see that Uber zero'd out their fee but not the passenger who was dropped off before the incident. 

One thing that was a valuable lesson, be prepared to track your phone and know how you'd get it done if it was out of your possession (log in from someone else's phone for example). It's helpful for the police to track it immediately. I was able to (hours later) lock my phone remotely from my laptop and send the police it's last know location. It got the job done but a couple hours late. 

Uber's insurance company contacted me to find out if my vehicle was damaged but since it wasn't nothing more was done from them. And based on the news that came out today on Uber's crime investigation department, they appear to be on one track only, covering their own liability exposure. As a contractor, I don't think they intend to follow up with me anymore now that they know there was no physical injuries or vehicle damage. I doubt they care about replacing my $800 phone. 

Rule of thumb is: They use the drivers and we're just a means to an end and they try to minimize their liabilities with us.

***Their response seemed reasonable at first until you look closer and see their complete lack of attention to the facts. She says she called me... Which part of "they took my phone" was overlooked. I've sent 4 emails after this asking what's next and no one has responded with anything. "... launched an internal investigation"... Did you see today's article about Uber’s investigation team? They don't report crimes to the police if we tell them, that lies in our hands, their priority is to limit Uber’s legal liability first, previous team members complained of burn out, etc. They don't seem to be an any condition, or have an interest in anyone's well being, just covering their exposure. 

"Thank you for reporting this situation, Louie. We tried reaching you at the number associated with your Uber account. Our team has launched an internal investigation and someone will be in contact with you as soon as possible regarding this matter.

If you choose to reach out to law enforcement you may have the official you are working with submit their request for information at lert.uber.com at their earliest convenience. We have a dedicated Law Enforcement Response Team that handles all information requests.

If you have further details about this incident that you would like to share with us in the meantime, please feel free to respond to this message. We look forward to speaking with you soon"

Looks all good until you don't hear from them again... 

***Thanks for the support below. No, I didn't have a dash cam in this vehicle. Police report was filed right after, I provided them with my phone's last location but hadn't followed up with them. I have sent messages to several press outlets and waiting to see if there are responses. 

So a variety of things have been done and I'm waiting on replies. I'm also sharing the experience with pool riders, they need to ge aware of where their other riders are taking them, which neighborhoods they end up passing through etc. They can't take it for granted that they're safe, that's one giant false sense of security they seem to have. 

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Just saw a couple more posts come through, I'll reply normally there... 

Thanks for the support everyone, I thought i had properly responded but I was off. So here's a cut and paste of my attempts to follow up to everyone yesterday:

*** Yes a police report was filed that night, there was no time for the panic button with guns coming at us. But yes fortunately it was over with no one getting shot. But seriously, why drive into Oakland and subject one's self and passengers to the risks???

***In response to the previous Post on cameras, no I had not yet installed one although a previous SUV I was using did have a front camera. No help there.

I didn't get the contact info of the other passengers as we all gave statements to the police there at the site. I'm assuming one of them did contact Uber. I see that Uber zero'd out their fee but not the passenger who was dropped off before the incident. 

One thing that was a valuable lesson, be prepared to track your phone and know how you'd get it done if it was out of your possession (log in from someone else's phone for example). It's helpful for the police to track it immediately. I was able to (hours later) lock my phone remotely from my laptop and send the police it's last know location. It got the job done but a couple hours late. 

Uber's insurance company contacted me to find out if my vehicle was damaged but since it wasn't nothing more was done from them. And based on the news that came out today on Uber's crime investigation department, they appear to be on one track only, covering their own liability exposure. As a contractor, I don't think they intend to follow up with me anymore now that they know there was no physical injuries or vehicle damage. I doubt they care about replacing my $800 phone. 

Rule of thumb is: They use the drivers and we're just a means to an end and they try to minimize their liabilities with us.

***Their response seemed reasonable at first until you look closer and see their complete lack of attention to the facts. She says she called me... Which part of "they took my phone" was overlooked. I've sent 4 emails after this asking what's next and no one has responded with anything. "... launched an internal investigation"... Did you see today's article about Uber’s investigation team? They don't report crimes to the police if we tell them, that lies in our hands, their priority is to limit Uber’s legal liability first, previous team members complained of burn out, etc. They don't seem to be an any condition, or have an interest in anyone's well being, just covering their exposure. 

"Thank you for reporting this situation, Louie. We tried reaching you at the number associated with your Uber account. Our team has launched an internal investigation and someone will be in contact with you as soon as possible regarding this matter.

If you choose to reach out to law enforcement you may have the official you are working with submit their request for information at lert.uber.com at their earliest convenience. We have a dedicated Law Enforcement Response Team that handles all information requests.

If you have further details about this incident that you would like to share with us in the meantime, please feel free to respond to this message. We look forward to speaking with you soon"

Looks all good until you don't hear from them again... 

***Thanks for the support below. No, I didn't have a dash cam in this vehicle. Police report was filed right after, I provided them with my phone's last location but hadn't followed up with them. I have sent messages to several press outlets and waiting to see if there are responses. 

So a variety of things have been done and I'm waiting on replies. I'm also sharing the experience with pool riders, they need to ge aware of where their other riders are taking them, which neighborhoods they end up passing through etc. They can't take it for granted that they're safe, that's one giant false sense of security they seem to have. 

-

Just saw a couple more posts come through, I'll reply normally there...