Ask a Driver: Why do Some Riders Refuse to Cancel?

A fan of ours saw this post and sent into to us, wondering why do some riders refuse to cancel?

So why does this happen? It turns out, there is a simple reason:

Riders do not want to pay a cancel fee.

If riders cancel within two minutes, they are not charged a fee. However, if that two minutes passes and the driver decides to cancel.. guess what? They are not charged a fee. If a driver shows up and does not wait the full five minutes, and cancels, they are not charged a fee. While this is not common knowledge, some riders habitually do not show up, and have figured the game out. This is likely why “Crosby” is refusing to cancel.

What riders like Crosby do not know about, or perhaps could care less is that we wasted our gas and time trying to get to them, which is why cancel fees are a thing. Furthermore, if a driver cancels too often, they can lose out on perks, but more improvidently, excessive cancellations are a cause for deactivation. When we show up on time to the riders house, wait the full five minutes, this does not affect our cancellation rate. If a rider cancels, this does not affect our cancellation rate. (You can not be deactivated because of a no show.)

This driver had every right to refuse to cancel.