Harry here. One of RSG’s most popular articles is the ‘Top 9 Ways to Contact Uber Support When You Need Help‘ but one thing people regularly ask me is “why doesn’t Uber have phone support?” Now, we may get our wish. Senior RSG contributor Christian Perea discusses Uber’s new 24-hour live phone support line test in select markets.
Uber is testing a 24 hour live phone support function within the Uber Driver App. That’s right. You might just be able to call someone from Uber in the near future!
Uber is kinda infamous for providing less than stellar support for drivers, and drivers are usually stuck shooting emails back and forth into an abyss of canned responses. Seeing that drivers tend to seek faster support for their questions, Uber has started testing a 24-hour live support for drivers in several cities throughout the US.
Right now, Uber seems to be testing the feasibility and fine-tuning this support function with the distant goal of rolling it out to the rest of the US. However, there is no firm timeline as of yet when Uber plans to expand it.
How To Call Uber 24 Hour Support
You will first need to be in a city where Uber currently offers 24 hour phone support. You can check by going into your Uber app, navigating to your profile page, clicking on “help” and looking into the top right-hand corner of the app. If there is a “phone icon” there you will be able to talk to a customer service agent from Uber.
Where Is Uber 24 Hour Phone Support Currently Available?
We’ve confirmed that Uber is offering 24-hour phone support in the following cities:
- San Francisco
- Washington DC
- Seattle
- Las Vegas
- Boston
- New York
Uber may also be slowly rolling this out to other markets before announcing it nationwide (if they do so). Typically, Uber will send an email to drivers letting them know that 24 Hour Uber support is available in their city.
Is Uber Phone Support Any Good?
It’s not like it could be any worse right? But it is pretty good. I called in at 1 AM to ask a few questions about current sign-up bonuses and how I could refer a friend to drive for Uber and the representative was able to give some good info.
Accuracy
I also asked some questions around the difference between cancellation rates, acceptance rates and how they are calculated. The rep seemed to know how it all worked and confirmed that questions around how bonuses work are probably their most common questions.
How Long Was I On Hold?
According to Uber, they aim to answer 80 percent of all incoming calls within 90 seconds. When I called in at 1 AM from San Francisco, I actually didn’t experience a wait time at all. Although I am sure there are times when there is a few minutes of a wait time, I suspect that since it is only being piloted in a few cities, the call volume isn’t too high yet.
What’s It Best Used For?
I would advise using it for things you truly don’t understand or as a second line of defense against a fare review, bonus problem, etc. Uber actually encourages drivers to call in for any problem they may be having, but I personally would rather use it when I have a question about a bonus, peak hour, quest, etc. Then I would ask the representative to send me the advice in writing so I had documentation.
For other things, it’s probably faster to use the Greenlight Hub or Email/In-App support. For example, if you have insurance questions or need to share vehicle photos, in-person is probably better than on the phone.
Is Uber’s Competitive Advantage Support?
When rideshare was young, there was a race to signup as many drivers as possible. That race still continues today, but Uber far and away perfected it into the most efficient signup and support process by painting the nation with their Greenlight Hubs, which allows anybody to show up and walk away a a driver in under an hour.
Meanwhile, Lyft was making you meet with some shady mentor in a McDonald’s parking lot.
This meant that Uber got the most drivers and the lowest ETA’s, and that allowed them to expand quickly. The Greenlight Center by Uber has always been a place where you can go and get an answer from a human being at Uber, even if it’s not the answer you want.
Lyft is just now getting their in-person hubs online after several years. They still pale in comparison to Uber’s hubs, which are almost everywhere. Uber clearly has the proven track-record when it comes to having scaleable and efficient support networks by a long shot.
Uber also has the capital available to run a large call-center and in-person support operation. Combine that with a proven track record in support at their Greenlight Hubs, and you can see how Uber ends up beating every other rideshare company in their support model.
Readers, are you excited to hear about phone support and do you think it will alleviate some of the issues people have with Uber?
-Christian @ RSG
