What is it about?
Why do some negative experiences with ride-hailing services lead to particularly severe online reviews? This study examines 51,439 public reviews of Uber, Cabify, Bolt, and FREENOW in Spain between 2020 and 2025. It distinguishes between operational problems, driver-related issues, unfair pricing, and failures in complaint handling. The findings show that these problems are not equally associated with one-star ratings. Failed complaint resolution has the strongest average association with extreme negative evaluations, while pricing and fairness concerns represent a major managerial priority because they combine frequent complaints with high severity.
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Why is it important?
For digital mobility platforms, reputational damage is not necessarily driven by operational problems alone. How companies respond to complaints, explain charges, and resolve disputes is particularly important. The findings provide a framework for identifying which complaint categories deserve management attention and for improving transparency, customer recovery processes, and service accountability.
Perspectives
A failed journey does not necessarily have to become a failed customer relationship. My research highlights the importance of what happens after a service problem occurs. When customers describe unfair treatment or unsuccessful attempts to obtain a solution, their evaluations tend to be especially negative. Listening to complaint narratives can reveal priorities that average satisfaction scores may overlook.
Dr. Ricardo Teruel-Gutiérrez
Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: From service failure to relationship failure: Severity-ordered complaint narratives in public ride-hailing reviews, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, August 2026, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104956.
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