Yandex Drivers Face Problems: Endless Complaints and Clarifications

The issue with the cashless payment system of the Yandex Taxi service has not been resolved for several months. Previously, we reported that drivers using the service have been complaining about difficulties encountered during cashless payments. “When a customer pays by cashless methods, the amount is naturally transferred to the Yandex Taxi system, from which we, the drivers, should be paid. However, it has been a long time since the money we earned has been transferred to us,” said a citizen who contacted Auroranews.

Auroranews reached out to Yandex Taxi service director Avetis Gasparyan to understand why the issue has not been resolved yet regarding the numerous complaints. “The issue has long been resolved; we had a sharp increase in demand, which is why the transfers are slow. The information that there are no transfers is false. I don’t know who the complainants are, but I can state that we do not have a widespread issue,” said the service director.

According to Gasparyan, the delay in the transfers depends on the number of orders from the previous day. He also noted that this is exclusively a technical issue and that delays in transfers can sometimes coincide with non-working days. “For example, sometimes it turns out that on Monday, money from both Monday and the weekend has to be transferred, and this process requires time. Adding to this is the sudden increase in demand for cashless orders, which clarifies why the process is slowing down,” added Gasparyan, stating that the problem is not related to the company since they have been operating with that transfer system for a year and a half.

When asked why this information is not conveyed to drivers and whether the organization is taking steps to resolve the issue more quickly, Gasparyan replied: “The drivers are not our employees, we do not pay their salaries. We collaborate with partners, and drivers are registered with them. We provide the relevant information and problems to the partners, who are responsible for informing the drivers registered with them. We, as a company, have working relationships with banks that handle that money as well as with e-wallets that transfer that money,” Gasparyan elaborated.

According to the service director, they are introducing innovations and new technologies to make transfers smoother. Despite Avetis Gasparyan’s claims, taxi drivers told us that the transfer issue is not a matter of one or two days; they have not received their transfers for six days now.

Update: After the publication of this material, we received numerous calls. Several drivers from the Yandex Taxi service contacted us and said that the service director is lying. According to the drivers, the company is keeping their money in banks, which is the only reason they are facing such issues. They stated that usually after protest actions, the phone numbers of protesting drivers are blocked, and they are removed from work. As a sign of protest, drivers will hold a demonstration in front of the Yandex office on Monday at 12:00 PM.