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What happen if the Uber driver's mobile get switched off before ending the trip?
What happen if the Uber driver's mobile get switched off before ending the trip?
Posted 5 years, 6 months ago
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Posted By
Himen Suthar (himenmsuthar)
15
Ride Apprentice
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The Guru Take
The Guru Take
Well first, shame on the driver for not having a charger!! If your phone dies during a trip, you may not get credit for the trip. However, you can always try opening a support ticket with Uber, and they should be able to correct the issue.
lilly
1026
RideGuru market data & operations expert
The ride will continue.
If the driver's mobile phone is switched off or battery dies during the trip, the driver loses the ability to complete the ride. This means that the ride will continue indefinitely and it will continue to incur the charge. Similar situation can arise (and rather frequently) where the driver does not have the ability to complete the trip.
On the rider's app, due to the driver's phone's GPS is turned off (duh), the driver will appear to stay in one place.
If you are rider and this happens after you have gotten off the car, you will need to "cancel" the ride directly in the Uber's app. Then you want to contact Uber to ake sure any extra time that was incurred can be refunded.
If you are still in the car, as long as the driver turns the phone back on, the ride will resume (in most cases). The app will do its best to "fill in the gap" and the ride will continue as it was never turned off.
ippei
1202
Uber Driver, CEO of TaxiFareFinder and Unleashed, LLC
Comments
When I first started driving I didnt realize my phone wasnt plugged into charger. As I went to end trip my phone died. I plugged it in turned it back on & the trip was still running. It was only 3/4 min. I contacted Uber they said they reviewed it and no adjustments needed on the fare. Two weeks ago I hit a 20 min dead zone on a trip with Uber. When I got to an area where my service came back trip was still running and when I ended it fare was correct. I have always used a Galaxy since I started driving. If my app is open either up on screen or running in the background and it dies or I restart it the app is still up and running when the phone comes back on. It never closes out the app. I have to close app out or it will continue to run. Dont know if thats on all phones.
I never thought of this before. What happens if the driver's cellphone doesn't have cellular signal. Say during a ride or upon drop off?
Actually, it works pretty well. The ride continues and the app will track where you are driving. Once the cell signal is back, it basically picks up where it left off.
If there is no signal upon drop off, the driver won't be able to end the trip. He or she would have to wait until there is signal for them to end it. In this scenario, it's likely the ending point of the trip would be wrong and Uber may need to issue a refund. (upon user request, I'd imagine)
https://ride.guru/content/newsroom/what-to-do-when-your-phone-dies-during-a-rideshare-trip
https://ride.guru/lounge/p/my-phone-battery-died-during-an-uber-trip-what-happens
I have had 2 trips on this one road where I lost service on everything for 8.5 miles. GPS although it will say lost signal will still show me my directions on WAZE. I know Lyft knows when our service is bad because they tell you right on app so I am sure Uber does. I was always able to end my trip even with no service. It pauses on that screen but as soon as service is restored trip ends. I assume once we are back online they can tell also. They are able to review our trips. They know our pick up and destination. If something was wrong with the fare either on driver end or passenger you would just message them. During that 8.5 miles heading back I cannot get requests though.
This happened to me once when my cigarette lighter fuse blew and there was no way for me to charge the phone. (Learned a lesson that day that the phone battery really does not last when you have your GPS going.)
I am that shameful driver who has let the phone die in the past. I also had a period where the Uber app would continuously crash on me. you are right that most of the time, it came back up, but sometimes, the app will just act like there was no ride at all.
I wonder if there is like an auto-cancel built in?
Great answer. Thank you.
Lilly, what about if the driver has a ride that goes out of cell coverage? Does the app just pick up where it left off when the driver goes back into coverage?
I drive in a big city so this hasn't happened to me, but in more rural areas it could...
I just left another guru answer above. FYI.
That's a great question. I don't know for sure. I would assume that Uber would honor the rider's app and charge based on that.
What happens if both the rider and the driver lose cell coverage... I don't know.
The rider's phone is completely irrelevant. The app doesn't even have to be on or even with the passenger.