Did I screw the taxi driver over?!

[DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou]

A taxi driver flipped out at me yesterday. Over £1.
And I'm feeling guilty and cross about it.

I took a taxi to the train station yesterday, called a particular company who are reliable and asked if they had a card machine or do I need to organise cash?

They said they have card machines so that's fine.

The guy who took me was lovely, but said he's lucky if he makes £20 a day now. He used to make £200-£300 a day.

2 hours later I call a taxi to take us home.
We get home, I ask how much and it's £12something.
I get my card out but he says the card machine isn't working. So I say I'll run upstairs and get some cash. I have £3 in my wallet and a £10 upstairs.
I went to say "don't worry about the change" and
he then says it was £14something.

I was like, whaaaaat? He charged me for the time him and I took the bags out the boot, and for the matter or minutes it took me to run upstairs and grab the £10.

I said no sorry, I was ready to pay with my card. I'm not being charged extra while I ran upstairs and got cash, it was his card machine that was broken after all.

He starts shouting fuck you! Fuck you! You screwed me over, over £1.

I was thinking is this really happening?! He's shouting at me as he's driving away.

Now I'm thinking about what that guy said about only making £20 a day.

I feel like one of us was an arsehole and I'm not sure how it is.

Are taxi drivers furloughed??? Are things so desperate he's shouting at customers over a quid? I'm worried he flipped out because life is shit and he has no bloody food for his kids or something?!

Am I over thinking this?!

As a now retired taxi driver I would say his behaviour was outrageous and would consider reporting him. I would never have dreamed of inflating the price once quoted in fact my dh and myself would often even carry the bags of elderly customers upstairs for them. Some people tipped and some didn`t all got treated with courtesy always.

If the taxi driver's time is important and chargeable (not saying it isn't) - even when extra time is taken because of his own fault/issue, why isn't OP's time important too? How long would it take her for the round trip to the taxi company and back home? They would owe her far more than that £1 for her time in taking it.

In fact, say it took OP an extra 5 minutes to go inside and search for the cash because of the driver's own problem, why are his extra 5 minutes chargeable but hers aren't? If we wanted to get cranky about it, she should be charging him.

No sorry, you were right, you had already asked about the ability to pay card from the company, it's not your problem if he has failed to report an issue with his equipment. To then keep the meter running down to his negligence is disgusting.
As for screaming abuse at you in the street as an unaccompanied female whilst in his cab with the company crest on, that's gross misconduct and I would sack him if he was my employee. He is bringing the company into disrepute.
I would also be wary that he knows where you live if he has that little regard for manners

You don't need to actually put in a formal complaint but you should definitely call the company and express your concern about his threats of the company not coming to your address again and tell them exactly why if they ask

You shouldn't have assumed that all cars had working card machines. If you need a particular type of service you need to ask for it every time you book.
He shouldn't have shouted but yy he was correct to charge you for waiting time and you were wrong to assume the information from the first call carried over to a different booking two hours later.
As for assuming people are easily furloughed, our accountant says lots of small companies and self-employed people have had problems with the system and had to wait months.

I would speak to the company about the blacklisting comment if nothing else.

Not saying you should, but you could always play dim and say he expressed concerns about blacklisting, but you realise that he was probably stressed when he abused you, so you wouldn't want them to blacklist him just based on that one unprofessional display....

He was out of line but I’d suspect he’s got it tough right now so phoning to complain is just shitty and making his life worse. So I’m glad you’re not taking that suggestion.

So the woman is causing the problem by not just accepting the angry man's abusive behaviour without question? Lots of people have it tough right now. He wasn't just on edge and tetchy - he swore at her, accused her of trying to defraud him and then threatened to slur her good name and cut off her ability to access travel services on the basis of her alleged unacceptable behaviour, i.e. not rolling over like a good little girl and apologetically doing exactly what the big man told her.

There are plenty of reports of DV increasing during lockdown: should the victims just accept that those beating them must have it tough right now (they aren't allowed that concession themselves, of course) and not say anything about it, as that 'would be a shitty thing' for them to do to an abusive person and make his life worse?

It’s not your fault if he can’t afford to feed his kids or whatever. People are loosing their livelihoods left right and centre. Just forget about it.

@AnneOfQueenSables

You shouldn't have assumed that all cars had working card machines. If you need a particular type of service you need to ask for it every time you book. He shouldn't have shouted but yy he was correct to charge you for waiting time and you were wrong to assume the information from the first call carried over to a different booking two hours later. As for assuming people are easily furloughed, our accountant says lots of small companies and self-employed people have had problems with the system and had to wait months.

What a load of crap.

It is HIS responsibility to ensure his equipment works. Does he have the same attitudes towards his vehicle and whether the engine works as it should? They are all tools of his trade and shold be working if he is ready to accept fares.

It was not ops fault at all. I would be ringing his company and telling them what an abusive, scamming shitbag he is and reminding them I am a regular customer who will be taking my, and others business elsewhere.

What is wrong that as women we should suck it up when someone is highly abusive towards us? No way would I put up with that.

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

He also said that the company wouldn't come to my address again which is bloody annoying because that was a reliable company that I've used for years but for the first time since living here.

Can they really 'black list' an address?!

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

My Bestie is a taxi driver. A lot of what has been written here makes me very angry because people speak about taxi drivers as though they're tax dodging, untrustworthy scum.

My mate isn't.

He gets SO much crap off people on the phone it's horiffic.

He got SEISS, which he's grateful for, but he's had no income & 70% doesn't cover his families living expenses (and because of seiss he's had his housing benefit reduced significantly - yep, makes NO sense to me either). He's stressed to hell & back worried about losing his rented house etc He's a grumpy, short tempered twat with me at times at the minute, but I'm fine with it, I love him & I know how stressed he is. However, his (now returning & new) customers love him. He's made his vehicle as COVID secure as possible & he's wearing a mask etc. Not a single one of them would know he's on his last nerve.

The card machines can be a total nightmare, the apps too. But if his machine wasn't working he'd let a customer know as they got in the car & if they still wanted him to take them he'd stop at a machine or wait while they got cash or has on occasion, gone back for payment at another time. He wouldn't charge you a penny more than the trip would cost you and he'd be thoroughly lovely throughout (genuinely).

They do blacklist phone numbers & addresses, so the best thing to do would be to ring the company tomorrow & explain what happened and say you are concerned he might try to block your address & that you've used them in the past & would prefer to continue to do so. But NOT this driver.

For the sake of DECENT taxi drivers you need to be part of getting rid of the unsuitable drivers!

I would call the company to explain what happened as well and make it clear you were ready to pay the way you always had, the way the company said you could, but he wouldn't let you. And he then tried to charge you more for the privilege. And threatened to blacklist your address going forward. That's just not on.

You must complain to the company because he’s likely to have told them you short changed him and that will get you blacklisted.

He’s got your cash as evidence of underpayment and a metre that recorded a higher fare.

You need to point out that he told you the machine was faulty only when you arrived at your destination and that you then had to go and find cash to pay.

You shouldn't have assumed that all cars had working card machines. If you need a particular type of service you need to ask for it every time you book.
He shouldn't have shouted but yy he was correct to charge you for waiting time

Why is it wrong to assume that the standard services offered by the company will be working? Is it wrong to assume that the seat belts will also be in good working order? That the driver will not be frightened of busy roads and so might insist on meandering slowly through all of the little roads?

What if the fare had been foreigners who just arrived in the country and had no access to British cash whatsoever? If his card machine was genuinely broken, he should have reported this to the call-handling centre before accepting another fare, who should then, on taking the booking, have asked the customer if 'cash only' was OK for them or given them the option of waiting a little longer for another driver who could take payments by card. If a standard service is not available, the onus really is on the company to state this right at the beginning.

I'd still love to know why he was correct for charging OP for the waiting time that was down to him i.e. for wasting her time as well. What if his cash tin/wallet had slipped down under the seat and taken him a couple of minutes to retrieve before he was in a position to take the payment, or if he'd had a sneezing fit which delayed him being able to instantly take the money - would that be the customer's chargeable fault as well?

@hunz The taxi driver only sat there waiting because his card machine wasn't working, OP was ready to make the payment with her card, therefore the taxi driver is responsible f o r the time it took her to run inside for the money and not OP.

Definitely agree with talking to the taxi Co. If its a one off thy can make sure you're not blacklisted.

If he's always like this it could save them lots of customers who could vote with their feet before anyone mentions anything saving all the drivers livelihoods.

Partly x-posted with LadyofTheManners there.

I bet he wouldn't have shouted at a man...

He was out of line but I’d suspect he’s got it tough right now so phoning to complain is just shitty and making his life worse. So I’m glad you’re not taking that suggestion.

Quite frankly I think that given this driver's aggressive behaviour and apparent lack of self-control, he poses a threat to other customers, possibly elderly and vulnerable customers, and I would be more worried about the safety of other people in his taxi in the future.

I used to have to travel home from work by taxi in the wee, small hours when most others are in bed. Imagine this aggressive driver picking up a solo female passenger in similar circumstances. I rarely use cash and would have been able to muster about £3 at best in coins.

OP, I think you owe it to yourself and others to contact the taxi company and inform them about this situation. Many, many people are having a hard time during this pandemic - I know people who have had next to no income these past months - but it is no excuse for this driver to treat others (who are weaker than him) in an aggressive and intimidating fashion.

@MarioPuzo

Thanks for the advice, I wish I had known that at the time.

My mind read this thread title to to “I screwed my taxi driver - AIBU?”

Maybe his machine wasn’t broken at all and he just prefers as many ‘cash jobs’ as possible at the minute. A stressful time for all but no excuse to be so aggressive towards you.

YANBU.

You checked payment methods. He didn't have said method available. You went and grabbed more money. It's his fault- he needs to repair the machine, and if it isn't working, let customers know as soon as they step foot in the taxi so they can go lift money/decline the taxi.

They shouldn't black list an address, but they can blacklist a number (happened to a few of my uni friends when they rang taxis and they never showed up/they missed them. So someone else would have to book the taxi instead).

I also know from personal experience when I use a taxi, I usually let the taxi driver keep the change if it's only a few quid. He won't be hard done by out of one pound as I'd find it highly unlikely no one the entire day paid him extra. Most people don't sit around and wait for 48p or something to be given back.

I wouldn't give a shit if he's having a tough time now. You don't take it out on customers. I would absolutely phone the company, make sure you're not blacklisted, and ask that you are not sent that driver again due to his aggressive behaviour.

I certainly wouldn't want to be sent a driver like that. Slightly grumpy, not up for a chat or whatever, fair enough. Times are hard, the driver is getting me from A-B and that's what I'm paying them for. Screaming, aggressive abuse is not acceptable at all

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

That's correct, when I called the same company two hours before, I asked if they took card payments and they did.

When I called them a second time I wasn't going to ask the question which I knew the answer to.

Had you called and explained that you needed a card machine on your second trip you would have probably had a taxi with a working card machine directed to you.

Yes a taxi company can blacklist an address

Have you ever been driven by that driver before? If he knew you than I'm sure he would have switched the clock off while he waited but if you were a stranger you could have been just as likely to go in and not come back out again so the meter is kept running for that circumstance because if the person does not come out the full wait time while waiting for the police to arrive is considered in the price, if that makes any sense

You're not being unreasonable but I am now paying taxi drivers cash and tipping well because they are really struggling.

WeBuiltThisBuffet - excellent points.