[NAGDU] Uber dog pickup denial

[Peter Wolf]

Hi everyone,

Wayne had it right, over cannot deny service dogs.

I have blind friends who have been denied before, and then it finally happened to me recently. In this case I was using uber's competitor, Lyft.  I like lyft much more, by the way, because they treat their employees, many of whom left uber, well.  On average, it takes about one more minute to get a car with left, but that is worth it.  

In this case I was in San Francisco getting a ride to a doctors appointment. The driver pulled up, and asked me to cancel and call another because he is allergic to dogs. He said I would not be charged for the cancel and there would be no problem getting another.  Being taken by surprise I just said okay.  By the time the next car arrived along with the rush hour wait for the first one, I missed half of my appointment.  

So I did with we all should do.  I called customer service the next day, and told them what happened. The person who answered jumped all over it.  She identified the date, pickup location and driver, said that should not have happened, apologized.  She said that the driver depending on whether he had ever done it before, would be either disciplined or fired.  Then she noted that yes, I had been charged for his cancel and refuned it, then added a credit into my account for three additional rides.  I had follow-up phone calls and follow-up letters from them, thanking me for contacting them and saying that they take it very seriously.  

Their policy is that drivers have to know what they are getting into; they sign up to take everyone unless they have a medical condition that would prevent it.  She said he had the option to contact them right then, and arrange an alternative ride on the spot.  

So.  In future, if it happens again, I’d politely have a driver contact base or I’ll offer to do it on the spot, and get another ride set up immediately without penalties.  Hey, this disability thing - I know how tempting it is for me to sometimes catch myself feeling too vulnerable in a situation.  I am actually “go to to the hospital” allergic to cats.  I can’t even hug good friends who are cat owners hello on the street or I’ll stop breathing, can’t go to their house unless we can sit out on the deck, and have to ask them to wear clothes that weren’t exposed to their kitty when they come over.  We only get to have an “air hug” hello!   So my heart goes out to these guys.  But this is the way around it.  

Cheers,
Peter