The taxi company Uber has introduced a new driver quality system blacklisting Kenyan customers, who are consistently badly rated by their drivers.
Uber’s new policy follows a multitude of complaints from drivers about unruly customers, making their job more difficult to accomplish.
On Monday, the taxi firm sent a message to customers informing them of this latest change. The firm says that in case an account is flagged several times for complaints about “unacceptable behavior” and noncompliance with Uber’s community guidelines, the respective customer will have limited access to the app.
According to Uber, these behaviors include asking the driver to break the law by, for instance asking him or her to ignore speed limits. It also includes causing damage to the vehicle by for example vomiting due to excessive drinking or spillage of food and drinks in the car.
This includes the use of inappropriate, abusive, and disrespectful language as well as colliding with a driver due to poor behavior.
This latest policy, according to the US firm, provides that badly behaved customers receive a warning and instructions on how to improve their rating.
However, if they continue to receive poor feedback from drivers after alerts, the next step is to temporarily suspend the account for a week. If the situation still does not improve, there is the possibility of a complete deactivation.
“We recently updated our Community Guidelines, which set drivers the same behavioral standards for drivers as we do for drivers, and will notify a small number of drivers that their behavior needs to be improved or their access to the app removed, “said Uber Country Manager Brian Njao.
“Promoting a community of mutual respect is important to us. This change is about shared accountability on our platform and that everyone who uses Uber respectfully interacts with each other. ”
The firm seeks to improve transparency, accountability and security his driver and rider in this latest move.