Safety in the rideshare industry has been a pressing issue as of late, especially for its leader Uber. After a driver for the car service in Kalamazoo went on a shooting spree, the media has been all over the safety of its users. Well, the media has got what they asked for. A new top secret hotline has been released by the rideshare giant. Here are a few things you should know about it.
1. UBER DENIES THE HOTLINE EXISTS
A hotline that is supposed to help people should probably be advertised, but not to Uber. They deny it’s existence completely and won’t even call it a hotline. All they can say is that it is tested in 22 cities around the country. So is it real or isn’t it?
2. THE HOTLINE HAS A NUMBER
Ok, so even though Uber denies the existence of such an emergency hotline, sure enough, it has a number. For those wondering, it’s 800-353-8237. (U-B-E-R, conveniently). People who call this number are even rewarded with real, human customer service. Somewhat of a dying art these days.
3. ANY REAL EMERGENCIES ARE DIRECTED TO 911
Now that we have established Uber does have a hotline for customer service, apparently it doesn’t serve many purposes. It’s very effective as a middle man to the fuzz, however. Why one wouldn’t just call 911 to begin with is beyond me, but Uber can now do that for you.
4. KALAMAZOO SHOOTER WASN’T A PRIORITY
The aforementioned case regarding the Kalamazoo shooter was apparent, not a priority for the ride-share service. During the chaos, a complaint was filed, but customer service deemed the issue irrelevant to their current troubles. Had it been bumped to a higher level of concern, perhaps the travesty could have been stopped.
5. BOSTON POLICE THINK A PANIC BUTTON IS CONFUSING
According to Ed Davis, a former Boston Police Commissioner, calling for help during an emergency is confusing. He believes that putting a panic button on the app would only lead users astray. To Davis, this would confuse people about who they should be contacting in case of an emergency. Essentially, what he is saying is that customer service should be left out of cases regarding rape and murder. 911 should handle that. Thanks for the breaking news Ed.
