Driver tries piteousness, lying, guilt, class struggle to make me cancel the ride. Ha!
I had a 10am meeting. Expecting the usual horrific traffic I requested a car at 9:15. To my surprise, I got a car on the first try. I went out to wait for the car and noted that traffic was abnormally light–I guess everyone was expecting the super-storm.
The driver took a wrong turn, which added five minutes to the trip, but I was early so I was willing to wait.
At which point the driver said he could not go back because of the single passenger rule on EDSA. Which has not been enforced, so he was hoping the passenger was an idiot.
When that didn’t work, he brought up the cultural baggage that is responsible for so much that is screwed up in our society: pakikisama.
Then he tried begging.
And laying a guilt trip.
Finally he brought up the class struggle, which was dutifully translated by the app. (I wish I had been born rich.) I was going to reply, “Naka-screenshot po lahat ng text ninyo,” but he had already cancelled.
And I thought I needed anger management therapy.
Here’s where you send in your horror stories.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 15th, 2018 at 08:43
I work in East Avenue Medical Center but use Philippine Institute for Traditional amd Alternative Health Care. Most of my Grab driver problems involve them ignoring messages and verbal instructions to pick me up at Matapang instead of going up the driveway as per Waze. One of them, who was already mere seconds from where I was cancelled because he could not find the building.
Second kind of Grab horror stories: Marcos loyalists who would sing praises upon seeing East Avenue Medical Center and Philippine Heart Center.
September 17th, 2018 at 04:43
You already know my story, but it bears telling again.
Booked a Grab, and it showed that he was 1-2 minutes away. I waited dutifully but then noticed on the app that he was driving away. I gave the benefit of the doubt, maybe the app was going wonky, but he really was driving away and he then stopped somewhere. Unfortunately for him, he stopped somewhere not far enough. I tried calling him, got ignored. No response to my texts, either.
It was getting pretty obvious he was hoping I would cancel.
As I was feeling particularly determined that night – having just started going to the gym again – I decided to get more exercise and walk to where the app showed he’d stopped. It was maybe a 6-8 minute walk. And of course, I started recording a video of me walking to where he was.
As I suspected, he’d simply parked and leisurely waiting for me to cancel. As I approached, I made sure I got a clear recording of the plate number, etc. Then I peeked into the window and saw him playing games (or chatting) on his phone. So clearly, he could not have missed my call attempts, ie he’d been ignoring me.
I knocked on the window and he was taken aback. I guess he didn’t expect the rider he was trying to ditch to actually walk and find him. At first he was pretending to have had phone issues, etc. but then I made it clear I was recording our encounter. At this point, I knew there was NO way I would ride because there was the risk of him hurting or ditching me somewhere; it was all for me to ensure I had evidence for Grab when I reported him.
He of course got mad, ranted that he would file a case against me for recording him, that I was evil because I dared to book a Grab and he didn’t like the destination, that people who made nasty behavior like his go viral were anti-poor or whatever, etc.
I stood my ground and thenfinally left (jumping into a nearby tricycle and asked the trike driver to take me as far away as possible because the guy might follow me and hurt me).
I reported to Grab, told them I had a video and that I would blog about it and post on social media (which I was prepped to do… I think I even included the link of my blog on the report) if they didn’t address, etc. They did have enough proof anyway if they look at the movements on the app.
They emailed back that they terminated the guy from Grab.
September 17th, 2018 at 16:36
I once had a police who sidelines as an Uber driver. He mentioned it twice or three times while I was inside his car. When we got to the village guardhouse, he told the security guard that he was a policeman and he doesn’t have to leave his driver’s license at the gate. Siyempre yung security guard natakot din so hinayaan na lang nya. (This happened when EJKs just started.) Gusto ko sana ireport kaya lang natakot din ako.
September 18th, 2018 at 00:07
How big is the difference if the Driver cancels the trip vs the passenger cancelling?
September 20th, 2018 at 05:49
theOrbiter: It affects their incentives. Drivers are only allowed to cancel a certain number per week. They either will not get their incentive or none at all i think.
First horror story: Driver actually fell asleep while we were at a stop sign. It was around 2-3 pm and I was going to Makati at that time (maybe because it was hot? Or he was tired?). I had to wake him up when the traffic light went green.
Second: First noticed that the driver was looking down on his phone. Thought at first he was just texting someone. But it kept happening. He’d switch back and forth between the road and his phone. Turned out he was playing a game whenever we were at a stop. Hindi na ko nagsalita but I got really anxious na baka maaksidente or makabangga kami.
September 20th, 2018 at 15:32
Yes, I’m also wondering why these Grab drivers prefer to have a booking canceled over fulfilling the booking. Aren’t their incremental earnings from actually serving a passenger much greater than having the prospective passenger cancel?
September 23rd, 2018 at 06:02
1: Grab driver had the sort of walkie talkie device where he can talk to other Grab drivers. It’s like the one used by MGE drivers where they get to update each other. Drivers were saying misogynistic remarks about passengers. They talk about going offline at certain hours to drive up the surge prices.
2: Rainy Friday night, they charged me 520 pesos from Ortigas to San Juan (Xavier area). That’s not even Premium.