Scammed By Taxi Driver Please Read!!!

[LilyLily1999]

Hi all, I had a rather stressful experience today with a taxi company and it’s left me quite shaken up…even thinking about it now I feel like I’m gonna cry. Please read as I’m in need of some support right now.

I booked a taxi today to a family members house, I normally get uber but thought a taxi would be cheaper, I phoned a taxi company and explained I don’t have cash and I’ve currently lost my card and the guy said that’s fine I can pay by bank transfer. I got into the taxi and straight away the guy called his manager up and they spoke in their language…he then turned the metre off and I stupidly thought nothing of it (I suffer from mental health and am considered vulnerable).

The journey was only a 4 minute drive, halfway through the guy said his manager has messaged me the bank account details so I can transfer the money…I looked at my messages and saw the manager had told me it would cost £15 and I need to send a screenshot to prove I’ve sent the money. I may be vulnerable but I instantly knew £15 for a 4minute journey wasn’t right as even on uber it’s cheaper then that…I realised that must’ve been why the guy turned the metre off as if they charged me by the metre it would’ve been too cheap for them and they wanted to try and get more money out of me. To make things worse the taxi driver drove past my family members house and pulled up further down the road to wait for me to send the money…I felt extremely uncomfortable and due to the bad signal my bank app was frozen so I was unable to send the money, I continued to message the manager and told him £15 is a lot and how the metre should’ve been on and he said he can lower it to £12 and I agreed feeling like I had no other choice. I called my family member and they said they have cash and if I get the driver to pull up outside their house then I can collect the cash from them and pay him…I told the driver and he took me to the house and then followed me to the front door to collect the money, which again was rather uncomfortable, I assume he thought I’d run off.

I bursted into tears when I got inside my family members house as I felt so uncomfortable in the car with the driver and feel like they were tryna scam me into paying more then I should’ve. I’m now back home and have messaged the company letting them know how I feel and that they should’ve had the metre on…the company is saying I chose to not have the metre on and I agreed to a set price of £12 which is bullshit (excuse my language) but who in their right mind would “agree” to pay more then they need to…I didn’t get a choice regarding the metre as the guy turned it off the minute I got in and I had to agree to £12 as I was in this random man’s car down the road from my family members house and he was sitting their huffing and puffing and constantly asking me if I’ve paid…they told me the “fixed price” once I got to my location yet they’re acting like I got in the car, told the man to turn the metre off and agreed to pay £12.

I feel like they’re taking the mick and it’s just their way of tryna scam people and make more money. Not sure what action I can take, it’s only £12 but I’m really really not happy with their service and want to do something. As mentioned I suffer from mental health and am vulnerable and this has messed with my anxiety quite a lot. I feel so stupid I barely get out the house due to anxiety etc this is the first time I’ve been out in weeks and it’s made me feel even more scared to go outside. Would really like to do something about this.

OP has poor mental health so this post is unnecessarily nasty. Reported.

They’re tryna be edgy and cool.

I’m not surprised about him following you to the door. You had an awful lot of excuses to not pay, I can see why the driver might think you were trying to scam him. (Though I understand you weren’t it was just a very unfortunate set of circumstances). But the rest sounds dodgy, though somewhat typical of the sorts of opportunistic practices I remember from the early 80s.

Taxis and minicabs are licensed by the council and you should be able to contact the licensing department to make a complaint. You may have to go through the minicab’s complaint procedure (if they have one) first, but it will depend on the local authority and, since you would be considered vulnerable, they may take your complaint without that even if their normal policy would require it. Give them a call and see what they say.

No need for this comment. You're rude!

An Uber is always significantly less than a standard taxi these days. You seem very upset that the driver came to the door to ensure he was paid? It's not surprising he did as a lot of people do skip fares. Realistically they allowed you to travel without providing payment upfront, nor before getting out the car. I don't think you can twist because that upset you?

You'd not be allowed to access most services without payment. If you'd travelled there by train you'd not exactly have been allowed to tootle off after to pay the ticket later 🙄

I think YABU. It was silly to forge ahead with booking a taxi when you know you didn’t have reliable means to pay, and £12 isn’t, imo, overly expensive when you take into account all their costs and the fact there was likely a minimum charge of a kind. Of course Uber is cheaper, that’s the whole point of their business model. As for following you to the door, you cannot be surprised by this? Of course there was a risk you’d just run off.

Frankly more rude than OP "sobbing" because they're too "vulnerable" to pay a 4min taxi ride they choose to actively take?... Could have walked it and not had the audacity to blame it on someone just out there earning a living perhaps?

You took longer than four minutes of two people’s time and caused them stress. £12 is a fair price for that. It’s not for you to decide you’re more vulnerable than other people and they need to accommodate you.
What on earth would you complain about if you reported them. That they didn’t just accept you paying an Uber price and didn’t just let you off paying and trust you to sort it out later? You need to consider other people and the stresses they face.

Saying this to someone with mental health is rude. There was no need for it and I'm not the only one saying it if you read the other comments. Nowhere does it say I agree with her blaming others 🙄

Mental health issues don't absolve anyone in life from paying the same fees required as anyone else accessing a service. OP shouldn't expect the to waive or reduce the standard taxi fare based on that. If it was going to be a deciding factor then she should have mentioned it whilst booking, and they'd probably not have opted to take the ride in the first place...

It's not like Tesco are going to give her 50% off her shop because she says she has anxiety

I'm not disputing that!? My point is and still stands that saying "You sound mental" to someone with mental health isn't acceptable! Where does it say in my comment that her fees should be reduced or waived. Nowhere!

Err? You're massively misquoting me? That was not my comment at all? I never called OP "mental", nor anything else. I just posted that ubers are generally cheaper anyways, and nobody can expect a free ride... Literally

You sound like you've gone off on one arguing your case against yourself to be honest 🙂

You've clearly not read my quote properly. If you think I originally quoted you and your comment then you're the one arguing with yourself 😂

I've not quoted you or responded to anything you said prior actually...

You literally just quoted my post at 05:33 and commented on it? 🤔

Why does have mental health issues or labelling yourself 'vulnerable' mean you get out of paying for service? This excuse is what us wrong in society these days

My partners a taxi driver, most jobs are paid for either on their app or over the phone before they even go to the pick up point. Any cash jobs are at the drivers risk, most turn them down because so many people run or get taken to a fake address.
The taxi driver will have followed you to the door to make sure he got paid after you’ve already had failed payment methods, it’s not personnel they’re just trying to earn a living & make sure they get paid

As you quoted my comment first when I was responding and have quoted to mucksavage not you 🤔

Well exactly? Surely it doesn't? A fixed fare or price in life is supposed to be that, no?

I'm sure we'd all love to say "I'm choosing not to pay my bills this month as I'm vulnerable, and upset". But the likelihood is that most agencies aren't going to be keen on that, no?

But apparently we can just assume we can scam actual working individuals in life when we don't want to pay, because we're "unwell".

What a bizarre story... With your set of circumstances why on earth would you not just get an Uber? And how on earth did you get a private hotline to the manager to be texting him?!

So it's my fault you can't navigate the internet? 🤔

Wow I have no words. You quoted my comment first when it wasn't even aimed at you or quoting you 🤔

I really didn't. I just pulled you up on quoting me for comments I'd not made, and then you admitted yourself you were quoting someone further down a thread you'd pulled from 😅

I'm sorry you were wrong, but hey ho just accept it & move along... Yet apparently here we are and you'll fight to the death on your own mistake 🙄

I worked with vulnerable people in the past and a lot of them told me taxis would take a longer route or overcharge them, it used to break my heart.
I think they were unfair to you but an Uber where you pay online would have been a better option in this case as you can't expect to pay via bank transfer.

You are in the wrong. Taxis are more expensive than uber. Next time, you have to ask for the price when booking and you can agree or not book. Its a lesson learnt, let it go. Next time stick to uber. Work on being more resilient in life's challenges.