A low rating on Uber may soon get users kicked off the service entirely.
The rideshare juggernaut refreshed its user guidelines for the United States and Canada, saying in a blog post that accounts can be suspended if a user gets a "significantly below average rating." Things such as leaving trash in the vehicle or encouraging drivers to ignore traffic laws can negatively affect one's rating.
"Respect is a two-way street, and so is accountability," the post says. "Drivers have long been expected to meet a minimum rating threshold which can vary city to city. While we expect only a small number of riders to ultimately be impacted by ratings-based deactivations, it’s the right thing to do."
It is not clear at what score would get users banned, though the post continued by saying riders will have "several opportunities to improve their rating prior to losing access to the Uber apps." A Business Insider report from 2015 revealed that drivers with a score below 4.6 are in danger of getting banned from the service.
Best practice for ordering a ride through the app would be to meet the driver on time, hold on to personal belongings, and enjoy the ride. A new quiet mode was recently announced, so leveraging that option may make one's experience more pleasurable.
On May 10, Uber officially completed its IPO, with the trade price at around $40 at the time of writing. On May 8, drivers for the company, as well as Lyft, launched a global strike due to their worker classification of "contractor" instead of "employee."
