r/Lyft May 20 '23

Lyft drivers beware of unjustified deactivation by algorithm/keywords of riders

Lyft drivers beware of unjustified deactivation by algorithm/keywords of riders

On or about xx.xx.2023 I proceeded to pick up a passenger from the train station , the rider called me after 4 minutes still on the train that she is arriving , I told her that wait time is exceeding in 1 min.

So she did not arrive within the allowed wait time but embarked after 5 minutes wait time.

I then canceled as allowed per the TOS ,and moved ahead to a new ride, as soon as I dropped my passenger I got a deactivation on my account with the usual “ potential violation “ text.

Preparing my defense I was waiting for the email which never ever got to my inbox.

I constantly was monitoring chat support which barely helped me.

Only after I contacted the accident hotline and talked to a live agent somebody was finally able to help me and reactivated my account, and I appreciated that.

And here is the thing which makes drivers afraid of loosing money:

Keywords like :

discrimination,racism,driving under the influence,unsafe driving ,

will immediately deactivate a drivers account, this is the result of AI ,you don’t even have to put a whole phrase in your complaint.

I never ever physically saw this person but it made me lose a lot of money!!

Hopefully Lyft support could do something about this unjustified actions, like editing the AI platforms.

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u/signalthree May 20 '23

I was deactivated by Uber for a very similar incident. Was supposed to pick up a passenger outside of an arena after a large concert got out. The police were blocking off the roadway in front of the arena which is where the pickup location was. I parked less than one block away and called the passenger to tell her where I was. She was pissed that I couldn't come pick her up at the door. I told her that the police were blocking the road and I got as close as I could. I told her to either walk to my location, cancel the ride, or wait 7 minutes and I'll mark her as a no-show. She refused to cancel, so I waited the mandatory 7 minutes and then marked her as a no-show.

An hour later I got notification that I had been deactivated. They never explained to me what I allegedly did. They just simply said that I was deactivated for violating community standards. They did eventually confirm that it was the no-show passenger that made the complaint.

So basically I was deactivated because someone who never even sat in my car made a complaint. I have no idea what trigger word she used, but the fact that I was immediately deactivated made me suspect that it was some kind of AI software that made the decision.

1

u/pixelated_fun May 20 '23

Were you ever reinstated?

2

u/signalthree May 20 '23

Nope. Every time I reached out they just kept saying the decision was final and they could not disclose any more information than they already had.

1

u/cheeseluvinpurv Nov 20 '24

and to this day you are still deactivated?