Taxi Question!

spiderman1885

So Saturday nite, it was a cold one. 4 of us were in a mates house and decided to hit the local club and being cold we ordered a taxi. This was at about 2340.

So we settled down to have a whiskey, when next thing there's a knock on the door. Its the taxi, my friend whose house we were in answered and asked would he wait, as he had had asked for the taxi for 0005 and it was only 2350. He said yeah no problem.

The three of us questioned our friend to see if the taxi said he would be starting the meter, he didnt mention anything.

So we went out for the taxi at midnight, jumped in and the meter was at €4.95 and €5 extras, the journey for to get to this club usually costs about €6 overall, so we questioned the taxi driver, he said we ordered over the automated service, which means the taxi comes asap, he kind of had a bit of a laugh at my mate "You were talkn to the answering machine." with that one of the lads in the back said no thanks and got out of the taxi. I then followed and so did one more of my friends. But one stayed and the taxi immediately slashed €5 off the price of the taxi, to which 3/4 of us didn't care and already began to walk. The guy who stayed in the taxi paid the taxi €5.

Sorry for the long winded Post, but I wanted to get the whole story across.

Who was in the wrong, us or the taxi? Should my friend have paid the taxi the €5???

Thanks

Random

Sounds to me like one word against the other?

MadsL

When does the hire start for a pre-booking?
When the driver presents himself to the customer at the agreed time.

http://www.taxiregulator.ie/consumer/consumer-FAQs/consumer-FAQs.html

No argument. Report the company/taxi driver concerned

Colonel Sanders

MadsL wrote: »

When does the hire start for a pre-booking?
When the driver presents himself to the customer at the agreed time.

http://www.taxiregulator.ie/consumer/consumer-FAQs/consumer-FAQs.html

No argument. Report the company/taxi driver concerned

thanks for that, was wondering this myself having had a similar experience to the OP a while back

the boss of me

spiderman1885 wrote: »

Who was in the wrong, us or the taxi? Should my friend have paid the taxi the €5???

Thanks

You were in the wrong , plain and simple. Even if the taxi hadn't been waiting the meter would have read €4.45 + €5.00 in extras. That breaks down as follows

Iniitial charge 4.45
Call out 2.00
Extra passengers 3.00


Total € 9.45

Even if you had not called the taxi out, flagging one down the meter would have started at €7.45 , so I don't know where the €6 figure is coming from.

In relation to the ordering time, the automated system asks you to press number one for a four seater taxi to be despatched immediately. The driver would know from his data-head if you had used this system and if so he was perfectely entitled to start his meter when he presented himself at your door.

Spook_ie

But if you did order it via one of the automated systems that some companies use now, then the taxi was presented at the right time. Answer to the question of who's right depends on was it an automated system, if so then the taxi driver is right..

he said we ordered over the automated service, which means the taxi comes asap, he kind of had a bit of a laugh at my mate "You were talkn to the answering machine."

You need to be aware of this because the company I rent my radio from uses such a system and often we turn up on the door within 5 minutes, if you want a taxi in 10-15 mins make sure you speak to an operator...

mikemac

Gotta say I've never heard of ordering a taxi by an automated service. Impressive!

Spook_ie

micmclo wrote: »

Gotta say I've never heard of ordering a taxi by an automated service. Impressive!

Don't know which other taxi companies use an automated system, but regular customers of Dial A Cab aka Malahide Cabs would know the system..

Ste.phen

AYe, I use Dial-A-Cab (01 - 8080800) and it knows the caller ID on my phone and says 'to order a taxi immediately to <MY ADDRESS HERE> press 1'.
If i press one if gives me a booking number and a taxi shows up a few minutes later, it's great!

helimachoptor

the boss of me wrote: »

Iniitial charge 4.45
Call out 2.00
Extra passengers 3.00


Total € 9.45

Even if you had not called the taxi out, flagging one down the meter would have started at €7.45 , so I don't know where the €6 figure is coming from.

Which is why I dont get taxis anymore!! 10 euro before you even started moving!

spiderman1885

Yeah, is Dial a Cab actually. My friend spoke to an operator who agreed on 1205.

Spook_ie

spiderman1885 wrote: »

Yeah, is Dial a Cab actually. My friend spoke to an operator who agreed on 1205.

Wasn't an automated call then, but as the boss of me said...

You were in the wrong , plain and simple. Even if the taxi hadn't been waiting the meter would have read €4.45 + €5.00 in extras. That breaks down as follows

Iniitial charge 4.45
Call out 2.00
Extra passengers 3.00


Total € 9.45

Even if you had not called the taxi out, flagging one down the meter would have started at €7.45 , so I don't know where the €6 figure is coming from.

In relation to the ordering time, the automated system asks you to press number one for a four seater taxi to be despatched immediately. The driver would know from his data-head if you had used this system and if so he was perfectely entitled to start his meter when he presented himself at your door.

But knowing the system, did you by any chance dial it, hang up then redial it and speak to the operator, if so then you would have had two taxis despatched one by auto system and one on a prebooking half an hour later..

spiderman1885

Spook_ie wrote: »

But knowing the system, did you by any chance dial it, hang up then redial it and speak to the operator, if so then you would have had two taxis despatched one by auto system and one on a prebooking half an hour later..

Now that could well have been done!!! My friend had probably had a few too many, never even thought about that! Solves it all, booze was in the wrong.

the boss of me

I have to say that it is a bit much charging rates like that on short fares in the suburbs. I used to work that area as a hackney and we charged set fares at the time. £3 was the local charge AFAIR.

It might be a good idea for local cab firms to reintroduce a standard local fare of say €7 or €8 and just use the meter on longer trips.

Spook_ie

the boss of me wrote: »

I have to say that it is a bit much charging rates like that on short fares in the suburbs. I used to work that area as a hackney and we charged set fares at the time. £3 was the local charge AFAIR.

It might be a good idea for local cab firms to reintroduce a standard local fare of say €7 or €8 and just use the meter on longer trips.

TBH you're probably right, but the TR ( wise old owl that she is ) has made that impossible/improbable to do, as you would need to fill out your waiver forms for a prebooked journey to stay legit..

Thats not to say that I don't run people up from Velvet to Wrights for a €5 without bothering my arse to switch on the meter

bk

Actually I use to always use the automated booking system with National Radio Cabs and it was great, but it doesn't seem to work for me any more. Anyone know why? And who would be a good alternative with a similar system in D9?

Ham'nd'egger

Spook_ie wrote: »

TBH you're probably right, but the TR ( wise old owl that she is ) has made that impossible/improbable to do, as you would need to fill out your waiver forms for a prebooked journey to stay legit..

The other issue with "local" fares is that people will always disagree on what a local is. Pre Reg days, well two years back but it seems ages ago, most of the provincial taxis charged one set fare and everybody knew where they stood as all fares inside the towns would cost, say €10 no matter who or where you went, with the meter only being turned on when a job was outside of the town or that. Since 2006, this handy arrangement is now illegal in the "interest of the consumer". Now you know before you go

One of the north Dublin companies (It may be NEAR Cabs) used to do them to and from a shopping centre and some people assumed that the drivers would drop off and wait and return for sums as low as €10 for the hour+!!!:eek:

Spook_ie

Hamndegger wrote: »

The other issue with "local" fares is that people will always disagree on what a local is. Pre Reg days, well two years back but it seems ages ago, most of the provincial taxis charged one set fare and everybody knew where they stood as all fares inside the towns would cost, say €10 no matter who or where you went, with the meter only being turned on when a job was outside of the town or that. Since 2006, this handy arrangement is now illegal in the "interest of the consumer". Now you know before you go

One of the north Dublin companies (It may be NEAR Cabs) used to do them to and from a shopping centre and some people assumed that the drivers would drop off and wait and return for sums as low as €10 for the hour+!!!:eek:

Would be nice that I was earning €10 an hour on some nights....

Ham'nd'egger

Spook_ie wrote: »

Would be nice that I was earning €10 an hour on some nights....

Tell me about it!

tinofapples

helimachoptor wrote: »

Which is why I dont get taxis anymore!! 10 euro before you even started moving!

Divided by 4 = €2.50 each. Scandalous.