Car didn't turn up at airport as agreed

[Justtheonethanks9099]

Landed in Milan this morning.
Hotel arranged for a private car to meet me. €65 to city centre hotel.
Waited at arrivals for 10/15 mins and saw no board with my name or hotel name. Picked up a taxi outside. €27!
Arrive at hotel and two guys on reception immediately said "you had a car booked" to which I replied "he wasn't there".
Guy #1: but you had his number
Me: he also had my number but he wasn't there.
Guy #2: they confirmed the car this morning.
Me: well, not with me, and I waited 10 or 15 minutes.

Half an hour later 3 or 4 calls from 2 local numbers which I didn't answer as it was probably demanding payment and blaming me for the confusion.

I don't feel I should pay but would relent and pay 50% if they persist.

WWYD?

It's a different service though, so of course the pricing won't be the same.

You should have called the hotel/company and asked. 10/15 minutes is not that late, sometimes traffic etc happens.

As you didn't make any attempt to find out what was happening and didn't wait a particularly long time before jumping in a cab absolutely I would expect you to pay for the car.

So why exactly didn't you call the company if you had their number? I just don't understand that. You are coming across as if you are so important that you couldn't possibly understand that someone might be delayed or standing in the wrong spot, etc. I have travelled and booked cars abroad, mostly they are there on time and if not my first thought is certainly not to assume that they just aren't coming and flounce off to the taxi rank!

I don't see why you didn't at least text to see where they were. I think you were being massively unreasonable.

YABU

I regularly used to book private transfers between Madrid airport and home when I lived there, and I can recall three times over 50+ occasions where I got out of the arrivals door and my driver wasn't waiting.

I gave them a few minutes then rang them on the number I had been given each time. One time the driver was late as there had been an RTA right at the airport turn off and they had closed the roads - he had tried to message me but my phone had been on airplane mode and a minute or two after I hung up my messages started coming through; another time the driver was actually there they had just spelt my name wrong so I hadn't seen it and the third had misread my arrival time and so was in the cafe with a coffee as he thought I wasn't due for another 20 mins.

They could have been waiting in the wrong place, you could have come out at a different place to where they were expecting, you could have just missed them due to a typo on the name board, they could have nipped to the loo, they could have been running late ... Regardless of why they weren't there, if you book something then why would you not just call them and find out what's going on?

If they said "Sorry running late, we will be there in 20 minutes" then I would have said "Forget it, I'll get a taxi from the rank as I don't want to wait" but if they were just round the corner/at the wrong gate/in the loo and would be there in a minute or two then no harm done and all sorted immediately.

You are being totally childish . It is blatently obvious that the hotel will charge you more for a pre booked limo transfer instead of a meter white cab in Milan. YOu could have hit traffic in the white cab and ended up speding much more its swings and roundabouts. I am 100% with the hotel. You could have easily contacted the driver / the hotel / - Walked up to one of the other drivers and asked them to call if your phone plan didn[t cover it. You will be amazed that they actually do help each other out . You gave the driver 10 minutes waiting time . So what happened if your luggage had been lost or if there had been a massive queue in passport control ( which happens in Milan when the machines break) the driver would be waiting for you and wouldn[t abandon without first calling. He could have checked the ETA and then the plane made up time . If he hadn[t turned up after 30 minutes then you might have a leg to stand on . But 10 minutes I think you should pay the hotel .

I agree with this entirely.

As with a few posters, I don't understand why you didn't contact the company. Whilst they should be there ready for your arrival, sometimes unavoidable things happen. 10-15 mins late is hardly anytime at all. YABU

Same. I'm literally on holiday right now: when we landed we couldn't find the driver for about 15 minutes and the airport was chaotically busy, I whatsapped (and then whatsapp called, using the free airport wifi) the transfer company to ask where he was, they responded that he was in traffic and would be 5 more minutes and told me where to meet him.

Baffling that OP didn't do the same, tbh. It seems extremely rigid that if your transfer isn't there RIGHT THAT SECOND that you'd abandon it without considering traffic/mix up with location or name etc etc and wait a little longer or try and find out where they were.

But why make it more complicated just to prove a point?
Yes, they should have been there, you have paid for a service, but there are so many reasons why they might not be there : stuck somewhere, no signal, they don't have the right number for you, the hotel gave them some information wrong, they're in the wrong place, their car got dinged and someone is hurt.

A simple call would have saved all this.

Yes we often use them in Orlando which is a pain of an airport to know where to meet (there isnt an allowed place) and I ring them via whats app to find them.

When we missed our connection I rang them a lot and they came!

I suspect the timing was skewed by hand luggage only