From rude riders to spilled drinks, this former Uber driver is helping others navigate the job
CBC
As more people take up side hustles working as rideshare and food delivery drivers, the owner of a new downtown London office is attempting to support them face-to-face.
Momen Aghber is the general manager of Uber Business Hub, an office located at 344 Richmond St., where local Uber drivers can receive free advice on how to use the platform and deal with common customer issues.
“[Drivers] see Uber as a faceless company, where if we need some kind of support then we need to call the support line. Sometimes it’s AI that replies to you and you don’t get real answers,” he said.
Aghber, a former rideshare driver who now manages a 20-vehicle Uber fleet, said he will sit down with drivers to fill out registration paperwork, answer any questions about using the app and provide one-on-one training about customer service skills.
“Uber gives good service [but] how will it be the best in the world if the driver doesn’t have any training?” said Uber driver Basen Al Sabe. “It’s not training for driving the car, but how to make relations, how to fix the problem, how to figure things out.”
There are more than 7,500 registered Uber and Lyft drivers in London, according to data from the city in April. That’s one rideshare driver for every 60 people in a city of 450,000.
Al Sabe said in his five months as a driver, he has encountered several customer issues that he wishes he had more support navigating. Some of these included passengers leaving food crumbs and spilled drinks in the car, asking to make unscheduled stops or putting in the wrong address.
One common problem in London, Al Sabe said, is people forgetting their phones at home or in bars. Turning around for the passenger is an inconvenience, he said, but it often feels like there’s no other choice.
“We have two options. The first option is that I help the rider. The other option is the rider will complain about me to Uber,” said Al Sabe.
An Uber spokesperson told CBC News the company is not affiliated with the London Uber Business Hub, and that sharing account information with third-party services can increase risk of fraud and account takeovers.
Uber provides 24/7 in-app support to help drivers with questions or issues they encounter such as account issues, trip-related questions or fare reviews, the company said in a statement to CBC News.
Uber also said it has an agreement with UFCW Canada, the country's largest private sector union, allowing the union to represent drivers at their request if issues arise such as account deactivation or account dispute issues, for no cost to the drivers and delivery people.
However, Aghber said there’s not enough specific or personal training for Uber drivers to navigate the realities of the job.
“[Drivers] think of it as an easy side-hustle. We just download the app and go with it. They don’t know the things behind it and what you need to operate this business,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s a business.”
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.
Former students of the Île-à-la-Crosse Boarding School have reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the federal government.
Missing baby presumed dead after father charged with killing mother in St. Albert, Alta., police say
A man is facing charges in the death of a young mother in the Edmonton area and the presumed death of their missing nine-month-old daughter.
A school trustee in Prince George, B.C., says she's shaken and scared after being surrounded by police with their guns drawn and then put in handcuffs, in what RCMP say was a case of mistaken identity.
Despite an eleventh hour attempt to secure at least a few more weeks of freedom, a Calgary dentist was handed a three-year prison sentence for a decade-long insurance billing fraud.
Canada Computers & Electronics says a data breach has leaked information about some of its customers, though several say they are unhappy with the scant details the retailer has provided — including how many of them were affected, and when the breach occurred.
The city of Toronto is shutting down a yacht club on the Humber River in Etobicoke that is accused of having negative impacts on the local ecosystem.
Some public safety experts say the N.W.T. government’s failure to regulate the security profession and mandate training for guards is putting people at risk.
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to slap a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian aircraft and says his administration will "decertify" planes made by Canadian aerospace company Bombardier.
A new non-stop route between Calgary and Abu Dhabi is set to launch later this year, becoming the only direct flight from Western Canada to the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. authorities alerted the RCMP about Ryan Wedding's imminent arrest days before he was taken into U.S. custody in Mexico last week, Commissioner Mike Duheme has told CBC News.
Ontario’s police watchdog says it is not investigating the case of a lawyer who is alleging that multiple Durham Regional Police Service officers slammed her head on a desk without provocation and dragged her to the basement cells of the Oshawa courthouse last week.
Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.