[NAGDU] Had a scary experience with Lyft today

[Melissa Allman]

HI Leslie. Once when I still lived in Chicago my Lyft arrived and I got in the car with Luna and said hello. NO response. The driver drove along and I asked how they were doing. No response. I got nervous about the lack of communication so I called a family member so I could be on the phone with someone in case something scary happened. The driver arrived at what I thought was my destination and unlocked the doors and I asked if we were there. NO response. I got out of the car really concerned but was at my destination just as expected. I went inside and reached out to the safety team and gave the driver a very bad rating for refusing to communicate with me. I incorrectly believed that the driver transported my dog but had retaliated by refusing to communicate with me. As an offhand comment, I said to the safety team member chatting with me that the only way I would change my rating is if I learned the driver was deaf. Sure enough, I was told my driver was deaf, at which point I changed my rating to a 5, said the ride went as expected, and tipped the driver.

I think I might have taken that ride back in 2018 and I seem to remember the safety team saying the driver had a sign, but I received no alert back then. It was an alarming experience, but only because I didn't receive an alert. Your experience sounds very different and I'm sorry that happened to you.
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Leslie Hamric via NAGDU
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2024 11:24 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Leslie Hamric <lhamric930 at comcast.net>
Subject: [NAGDU] Had a scary experience with Lyft today

Hi all. I wanted to let you know about a scary experience I had with Lyft today. Normally, when I get a notification saying that my driver is deaf or hard of hearing, I've never had a problem. But this driver obviously had no form of communicating with me. He did not appear to have Any form of functional speech. So, I get in the car, and I'm waiting for Omega to get in the car and he starts to drive off. I had this terrifying thought that omega and I would be separated in the worst way. All I could do is call Out, wait! And he stopped. Then, when he let me off, he dropped me right in the middle of the parking lot and I had no idea where I was.  All I could hear was traffic behind me and cars pulling in and pulling out of the parking lot all around me. Luckily, I was able to FaceTime my husband and get directions to where the building was. On the way home, I took Uber and that driver was so much better. I reported the driver to both Lyft and the Lyft safety team and I requested a refund. I got that refund too. I think next time I get an alert that a driver is deaf or hard of hearing, I'm just going to cancel it because I can't take the chance. I'm just glad that I OK, my dog is OK, and we got home safely. Have any of you experienced the situation like this? If so, how did you handle it?Thanks.
Leslie Hamric
Cello and Braille Music Teacher


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