Customer Service
Customer Service is not only a saying it’s more of an action and this definition is where a business can stand out from the crowd. The Uber business model is successful as it’s built around the user experience and simplicity in operation.
Uber doesn’t do a lot of advertising because it doesn’t need to, the way their system works is their greatest advertisement. That and the fact word of mouth from the riders ensures their ongoing growth. You see they have managed to combine all the ingredients for a successful business; give the customer what they want, when they want it all at a price they are prepared to pay or they perceive as value for money.
See it’s really not rocket science!!
Why did I lead into this post with a summery of the Uber Service? Well it’s just not about the business model or the way the application works – it’s about the driver partners, their cars and the overall ride experience that will see the riders come back again and again and continue to use the service. This part is all up to us the driver partners to complete the experience as we are the only ones who generally come face to face with the Uber riders and potentially future customers and this is a very important part of the equation that cannot be underestimated.
I look at each trip as the start, or eventual end, to what is or was a great night/day out and what better way to begin an outing than to be in a great frame of mind that begins with the trip to your destination?
Ok I admit I have heard of stories where the ride to a destination was less than pleasant because of a dirty car or a cab driver that simply didn’t want to engage in any form of conversation with those aspects ultimately having a negative impact on the passengers night out.
I always try and engage with my riders and the vast majority appreciate the personal touch and enjoy the conversation we have had and cite that as a point of difference between ride sharing and taxi’s. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice!
Here are some examples where I have helped out some riders and they were very appreciative of my help, however I see it as just doing my job and adding to their overall Uber experience:
Case 1: Got a ping request to pick up a couple of guys from a unit complex in Paddington one Friday night. I got there and I could easily see by the way these guys were approaching the car that they had been drinking. They were kind of happy drunks but clearly had trouble putting sentences together – it’s was only 7pm!
We headed off towards the city as they had tickets to a concert of sorts to go to. The only problem was they couldn’t remember where it was or when it started. That made it difficult to navigate a destination however after selective questioning by yours truly I got some information that I managed to align with the knowledge that there was a concert that night at the River Stage via Gardens Point campus. I then asked if they had tickets.
The guy in the back seat handed over some very crumpled ticket printouts and I pulled over on North Quay and read the details just to confirm my suspicions about the location. Whilst I was correct I also noticed that the concert started at 7.15pm so I ensured I took the most direct and easy route and got them there at 7.10pm.
This approach made sure that I was taking them to the right concert in the correct location and by a stroke of luck ensure they got there in time. I’m not sure they remembered how they got there but it gave me great satisfaction that their Uber experience was a positive one. It cost nothing to go that extra length to help them out.
Case 2: This was a weird one but it was one trip that ended well with everyone happy. I was over Bowen Hills way and got a ping request for a pickup at the Victoria Park complex. I arrived at about 10.30pm and it turned out to be a wedding reception. The young lady walked down and got in, she was very well dressed as it turned out she was part of the bridal party. That’s when the normal part of this ride request ended.
As she was in the bridal party her partner was left with the other guests and he had hit the booze pretty hard. You see he had completely lost it and she was concerned for him in that condition so she ordered a Uber to take him home – only that wasn’t me – he had already left in another Uber with the driver getting instructions to take him home.
Well that worked to a point however she noticed that the trip had been completed in the Valley area and not at their home. These are just some of the benefits of the Uber app at work! She was concerned why that happened and txt her partner who gave her a rather incoherent response.
This set off alarms bells in her head as he was really wasted she said, so after trying to talk to him she called a Uber – that turned out to be me – to come and get instructions from her to go and ‘find’ her partner in the Valley and take him home or at least try for a second time. I got her mobile number and all other relevant details and off I went. Surprise surprise he was not at the location he told her in the Valley so I tried to call him and then I understood just how wasted this guy was! I could not get any sense out of him at all so I called her back and she tried.
Still no luck so I returned to the Victoria Park complex, at her request, picked her up and we headed back into the Valley area. On the way she managed to get him on the phone and we found out he was trying to walk home over the Story Bridge! The fact he was totally wasted and ‘trying’ to walk home over this bridge gave us both reasons to be concerned!
I turned off Brunswick St and onto the Story Bridge via Martin St and kept to the far left lane and drove as slow as possible whilst we both kept a look out. Thankfully she noticed him ‘walking’ on the pathway next to the road, and not on the road like I’ve seen before, however no one can stop on the bridge at all so I kept going and and turned off towards Goodwin St and parked close to the stairway that leads up onto this footpath.
We waited for about 5 minutes and we then decided to walk in that direction. Just as we got to the base of the stairs there he was ‘trying’ very hard to navigate the stairs – it was stressful to watch him as these stairs were steep and numerous. Once he got down to the road level I took him by the arm and directed him into the car, all the while his girlfriend was giving him a piece of her mind and her opinion on his efforts to get home!
I offered him water as we headed off to their home in the eastern suburbs relaxed in the knowledge we finally found him and safely had him onboard, this time he will get home! Once we arrived she advised me she had to go back to the reception as she was part of the wedding party and wanted to be there until the end. She was very appreciative of the extra length I went too to help out and this experience she had with Uber that night just confirmed to her that Uber is the way to go for any future transport needs.
BTW I got a text the next day from her thanking me again and informing me that he had a massive hangover and that he could not remember a thing. She did remember however and she made sure he got up early and was given a few chores to complete around the house. I’m sure he learnt his lesson from this experience 🙂