To just HATE calling to book taxis?

[ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks]

I always seem to get a confused operator!

Me: Can I book a taxi for 3.00 please, from 99 Claw Street...going to X Street and also, I'd like to book one to take me back home at 5.30?

Taxi: What?

Me. I'd like to book a taxi please. From Claw street at 3. It's going to X street. Then I want another to come and pick me up again at 5.30.

Taxi: A taxi at 3.00 then? How many for?

Me: Well it's just for me...but I also want one coming back at 5.30.

Taxi: What?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

It goes on and on.

[NetHuns]

Yabvu...I'm a taxi operator,and I'm lovely...maybe she was on mn and was a bit distracted

[ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks]

It's always the same though no matter WHO is on! The male op is the same! I feel like going round there, pulling off their headsets and taking over!

[fruitloop13]

I hate taxis full stop, I'm just round the corner but yet they take 20 more mins to arrive.

Public transport is less stressful as long as your in a major city.

[NorwaySpruce]

I hate it too, there must be some kind of code that everyone else knows.

I'll ring up and do my 'hello, would it be possible to book a taxi for 10pm?'

Then the operator asks where to... 50 % of the time they mean where are you travelling to, 50% of the time they mean where shall we send the taxi/where do you live.

I never know which they mean, and end up sounding like someone who doesn't know where they are, or where they live, or where they are going

I don't even try now, I just say 'hello, I'd like to book a cab' and wait for them to treat me like an idiot. I am becoming immune to embarrassment.

[velourvoyageur]

you need to do it online!

So much easier.

I rightfully should feel embarrassed ten times a day so I've developed a wonderfully effective immunity like Norway. So much more comfortable.
Rightfully I should probably be embarrassed by my use of the word 'rightfully', for example.

[ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks]

Norway I have that bit down, I say "Can I book a cab for 2.00 from Claw street please?"

But maybe it's just not working and I need to adopt your way too!

[Bunbaker]

We use one taxi firm regularly and don't get this problem. Can you try another company?

[Arlagirl]

I have to book a taxi for tomorrow, picking up from 3 different houses. I feel your pain.

[squoosh]

Just to balance things a bit I'd like to say I don't experience any pain or frustration when booking taxis.

[sparechange]

Do it online or with an app!

[Noteventhebestdrummer]

My life is infinitely better since I started using Uber for this!

[KettleBelles]

Make friends with the cab driver, ask if you can contact them directly then send texts. Much easier.

[LadyLuck10]

Use hailo or Addison lee?

[ShakeYourTailFeathers]

Try doing it in a foreign country (for both me and the operator, usually ), when living in a new house in a new community not yet on any maps or drivers' sat navs...

fun times...

[NorwaySpruce]

I don't think any of the cab firms out here have an online thing.

They really should though - I order takeaway far more often now that our local Chinese place is on Hungry House. I have telephone issues generally I think

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Think yourself lucky - near me there's a small town which allows drivers to register without the full checks, so the less able go over for their certification and then work here

[MoreBeta]

We use one taxi firm all the time. We cultivated a relationship which means they get all our business and they know us personally. They know here we live and they know where want to go.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Yanbu. They say "yes ok" then it never shows up.

Not one taxi I've ever pre ordered has turned up when ordered I've always had to call.up twice and inevitably they are "just down the road". no your frickin not cos I'm. outside I can see just down.the road and your not fuckin there.

And don't get me started on the fictional price that it turns out to be which is more than I was quoted at the time because of the time or its a mini bus or they were wrong apparently. ....

[goodasitgets]

I obviously go out too much
When i ring they know my address and always go oh are we picking X up before or after yours?

[hackmum]

Op, you need to make it less complicated for them and do it in stages. Say you'd like to book a taxi for 3pm, then wait for them to ask you where from and to. And then before they get the chance to put the phone down tell them you want a taxi on the way back.

[SixToesLeft]

Oh, don't get me started on this.

I have a slight accent, but speak really really clearly. It's like I'm speaking in Martian when talking to our local taxi firm!

[Blueteas]

The ultimate frustration was trying to call a taxi in Dubai, where a lot of streets either don't have names, or the names aren't marked, or change arbitrarily, or are known as something other than what they are officially called, and where road building lags quite some way behind the building of residential spaces. Added to that how roads altered much more quickly than maps, and the valuable language skills of the drivers...

[Tykeisagirl]

I hate phoning to book taxis too, but I hate phoning the taxi company ten minutes after the damn things meant to be there to chase them up even more. It happens every fucking time.

[partialderivative]

Nearly always had good experiences.

[HumblePieMonster]

"Hello, can I have a taxi to pick me up at X and take me to Y, please?"
"When are you going?"
"Right away, please"
"What name?"
"Mrs PieMonster."
"He's on his way, thank you."
"Thank you, bye."
Easy

Not sure how I'd go on in Dubai, though. That sounds terrible!

We use one taxi firm all the time. We cultivated a relationship which means they get all our business and they know us personally. They know here we live and they know where want to go
Yes, well. There are disadvantages to that system, too.