Or is this standard these days? Just asking before I phone the company to ask them.
I booked a taxi for the exact same journey several times with the same taxi company. The drivers always have their phone up on display showing the final taxi fare amount. Today, just as we arrived at the destination he told me he had a text and now the fare was more than the amount quoted. This text came through on a different phone, which I think was his phone.
I asked him where that text come from and he gave me the name of the taxi company I had booked. I asked this because he had previously told me he was also an Uber driver. I asked him why the price had suddenly gone up and he just said sometimes it changes on route. No explanation.
I asked him for a written receipt and he said no, just take a photo of the phone screen of the text with the new price.
It was the same route, no detours, no change from all the previous times.
And added irony is that when I first got in the cab he asked me if I was paying with cash. I told him yes because every single time I tried to pay with card it was a time-consuming hassle that never worked properly. He said well you are best paying with cash because with card, you get charged an extra amount, usually 35p, taken by Google pay.
And not only that, customers had complained that when they had paid by card, they got another charge at the end of the month, could be anything from £5 or more, on top of amount already paid.
I thanked him for telling me and said I would definitely pay cash, then - and then the sudden price hike happened.
As I got out of the taxi I said so it really makes no difference whether I pay cash or card, I could end up paying more either way!
Has anyone else had this?