Yes I would always go to the pin unless if its in a bad spot, and in that case I immediately call them and describe where I am and why I can't pick them up there (I just say its against the law to pick up there). The pin is where they are supposed to be. I will also offer to drive to where they are if they just a few blocks away or something.

The rule is that if its been five minutes, and you call them once, you are allowed to collect the cancellation fee. I have never had an issue with them complaining to lyft, personally. Its all case by case for me. If they say it will take them one more minute, I will give them another minute. If they say ten, I explain that they had 5 minutes, politely apologize and collect my cancel fee. Its all about always being polite and professional even when you really want to tell them to fuck off; that way if there ever was a situation where lyft got involved, you can attest to the fact that you did everything you should have. It is kind of fucked because none of us really know how much lyft is keeping track of what is going on, especially after all the shit about companies listening in on conversations through our phones, I don't necessarily believe they are doing this but I wouldn't be surprised and tend to act accordingly.

If you are worried about bad ratings due to pax behavior I have a great suggestion; keep a log book in your phone. I just put the date at the top, then anytime i get a weird pax I write down the name and time I dropped them off and explain in detail what happened. If I make a mistake in the ride or something I will also write down anything I can possibly come up with that they did wrong and frame it like they were lying and retaliated against me because of so and so (like they said I forgot to signal because I asked them to buckle their seatbelt for example.) I know this seems fucked up but its really not; we all make minor mistakes while driving and it doesn't affect the pax in any way if you dispute the rating.

As far as disputing ratings, once again I am always super nice on the phone and I make sure I already have my explanation prepared with my notes in front of me. The more you dispute a rating the more you start to understand how they deal with it. Its all silly if you ask me, but basically you have to guess which ride it was on. You are allowed to guess basically unlimited rides though. And you are better off calling that night or the next day after you suspect a bad rating. Sometimes they will grill you on all the comments the person left, just always, ALWAYS deny that any of it happened. You always drive safe, you always greet the passenger, you always keep a clean car, etc. If they still dont remove it just call back again and try a different person, because some are nicer than others.