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Comment by SyneRyder | Hacker News Reader

I wish the 5 stars system worked like that. I love UberX, but I don't like the negotiation at the end of the ride over ratings. It hasn't been as bad for me as in the Forbes article, but there's a definite read-between-the-lines of always giving 5 stars.

I'd much rather give my feedback/rating in private once I'm out of the cab, and for the driver to do the same with me. I really don't need/want to know how they rated me. The "I gave you 5 stars, now you rate me" conversation is always awkward.

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Whoa, that's insane. I've never had a driver ask me to rate them, and I've taken a lot of ubers (though more recently, lyfts). (This is in SF.)

Perth, Australia here. UberX has only been here a short time though.

I have - dude asked for a five-star rating.

There is no criteria for a five-star rating. Did he get me where I needed to go at the expected price? Pretty much - that seems at best to rate average.

I don't even know what a five-star rating would be.

I gave him one because I really didn't feel the need to spend the time figuring out exactly what I should give him.

However, the problem I have, in retrospect, is this:

DON'T FRICKIN' ASK FOR A FIVE-STAR RATING WITHOUT A GOOD REASON.

They shouldn't ask, which I would explain; if they persisted, I would give a low rating for that.

In terms of stars, drivers get dropped if they are below around 4.5 on average, so 5 stars basically means "keep this driver" and anything less means "fire this driver".

I've had a driver tell me he would give me a $20 coupon for future rides, pull my phone, input the coupon code (which didn't work, since it was first riders only) and rate himself five stars.

What conversation? You don't have to rate the driver in their presence, and I've never once done so.

Occasionally I'll have a driver demand a 5-star rating, which of course earns them an automatic 1.

Are you saying drivers are making you rate them while you're there? I've literally never seen anyone rate a driver in the car.

Yep. This is in Perth, Australia. At least one of the UberX drivers specifically said "See, I've just given you 5 stars, now you rate me" before I left the car. UberX has only been here a month though, so maybe drivers (and riders?) aren't sure how the system is meant to work. I've had 4 rides on UberX now.

No one's stopped me from leaving the car, and the rides were all okay so I'm not complaining about any drivers. But the implication I got was of reciprocal 5 stars.

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