Rude taxi driver, do we have to pay them?
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Most taxi drivers i been on have been good to excellent in their service attitudes but i meet a few wankers. What are our options in regards to these situation that most of us encountered before or might encounter in the future.
I;m an easy going person, to me service as long as u do your job properly and speak in a netural tone, don't even have to be cheery, and understand that you are providing a service and i am paying for it, that is fine with me. But sometimes u meet those who act like u are the one working and they are the boss.
Yesterday i had a driver who i told him to bring me to point A first to pick up a friend which is also going to point B as well. As we were on the way to point A, i explained to him that we were in a rush to for time and if possible, to drive faster and reach the place before a specific time. Note, all i did was communicate that i was in a rush and i mentioned clearly if possible, drive faster and make it there before the time.
When reach point A, i called my friend as point A is big place and of course my friend had to find our cab as well. Note that my friend took only around a minute to come on the cab after we reach Point A. During this minute or so, the driver was very rude and commented in a hostile and sarcastic manner " why your friend? why is he not here yet" all this while i was on the phone talking to my friend to help locate as well, and " LIke that how to reach before 10pm Huh?" like as if it's matter to him. I could give a couple more example but i think u can get the point of the story already.
I was in a pretty good mood then so it didn't affect me like angry or upset even but it got me thinking, should we be paying rude taxi drivers like that? My friend was around so i didn't want to affect his mood as well as he was unaware of what was going on before he come on. Beside he is a visitor from another country so i didn't want him to see the ugly scene.
Next time if i encounter this situation, i might just do the following... for any rude taxi driver
Sorry, you can stop right now, we will both get out of the car, and i want to speak to your cab company and ask them for a representative to come down right cause your service is unacceptable and i refuse to pay. And if still cannot settle, we can call police in.
Think about it, do u think the guy will dare to continue his sh*tty attitudes when another customer comes on his cab again? For all of us who take public transport, i hope not.
I'm not sure if we have this right as consumers. so hopefully somebody reading this can share the info. Thanks for reading. -
complain to the taxi company.
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yes, otherwise they leeport you to police for taking ba wang trip.
you can complain to taxi company after that -
no money tk bus
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dis taxi driver stupid. you giving him business but he dunwan.
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your post is as good as abcdefgOriginally posted by DjMatrix:no money tk bus -
pay first, take down info, call taxi company...
u not happy with him at Point A, get off, get another taxi... dun want waste time wait another taxi den just lan lan loh...
anyway just dun care him for the trip, keep quiet dun scold back.. later he purposely take long long route den u die..
at the end of the trip den scold all the vulgarities at him after you pay the money.. -
Have to pay for the service they rendered, just dont need to give tips.
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limpshaggy i do not feel the taxi driver is in any way rude to you.
In fact you all are the one that is rude and wrong ... If you want to reach a place on time - go out eariler !!!
You ask taxi driver drive faster, you in a rush .... he drive faster get caught by police minus points and cash - are you willing to pay him for the lost ?
Next if you want to pick up someone, make sure it is pick and go, you choose a crowded place and poor arrangement is not the taxi driver fault !!! If such a crowded place, you ask taxi park one side and wait for your friend ! The poor taxi is blocking the road ... what about other cars and bus !!! He is parking in most likely in a not parking area. If caught - again minus points and cash !
I find it is your own selfishless that you all should reflect on.... !
Did you know you actually asking the poor taxi driver 2 time to break traffic laws !!! One to drive faster & to park illegally to wait for your friend !!! -
of coz, yes lah... u have to pay them...
Their primary job is to sent u from point A to point B
But not to be .... -
This intrepid reporter $100 to test their familiarity with should-know places
TODAYonline
Weekend • September 15, 2007
Christie Loh
[email protected]
I'VE fought many battles at the back of taxis. Bad smells, frostbite, rudeness and speed demons.
But nothing in my routine of taking at least one cab daily baffles me more than this: A cabbie's ignorance of where a basic destination is. Not some good-to-know place, but one that is a should-know.
Top-rate hotels such as The Ritz-Carlton and Conrad Hotel; the country's multi-million-dollar arts centre The Esplanade; and Dempsey Hill, one of the latest restaurant enclaves, are among high-profile destinations and tourist attractions taught in the vocational licence course administered by the Singapore Taxi Academy (STA).
Yet I've met cabbies who had never heard of these places, let alone were able to zip there in the shortest time possible — which was the reason I took a taxi in the first place rather than a bus or train.
How did this group manage to get their licences? And what kind of image will these clueless cabbies present of Singapore's tourism industry?
When a visitor arrives — whether by plane, coach, ferry or train — his first point of contact is often a taxi driver. Imagine his frustration and what he will return home to tell his mates about Singapore if the cabbie is unable to recognise a so-called tourist attraction written about extensively in guidebooks.
As an example, the Britain-raised sister of a Singaporean friend came home for a short stay some weeks back. Deciding one afternoon to visit my friend's workplace at The Esplanade, the sister flagged down a taxi. When the destination did not register with the cabbie, the sister — thinking her heavy Brit accent was in the way — whipped out what was said to be a well-known colloquial term for The Esplanade. "The Durians, uncle," she said. The driver never caught her drift.
In this case, language cannot be blamed since basic knowledge is sorely lacking.
How entrenched is this problem? I'd say nearly two in 10 cabbies have no clue where some should-know places are, according to a mini poll conducted last week.
Mystery-commuter me put $100 in my purse and took a total of 19 taxis from different companies. In my two-day cabbing spree to a list of should-know destinations in the morning, afternoon and night, I met individuals united in their profession by the unhappy circumstance of retrenchment or a lack of skills that makes it tough to find a job with better hours and pay.
I also overdosed on cabbie-talk.
"Huh?" is their favourite retort when they don't know the place I want to go to. Some will keep one eye and finger on the GPRS device while driving — as one cabbie did to locate the Red Dot Design Museum — and that's when I feared most for our lives.
If they're not comfortable in English, they may initially mishear the name of a place — Dempsey became "dentist" for a Comfort hirer I met — or you may not realise that Conrad is commonly pronounced "Cornet".
Of the 19 cabbies, three did not recognise where I wanted to go. That's a failure rate of 15.7 per cent — or nearly two in 10 cabbies, if you like.
Some reasoned that it is increasingly difficult to keep up with ever-changing Singapore buildings and road names.
Others pointed out that many new vocational licences are easily attained because the supply of taxis outstrips that of drivers. Some disagreed that the test is easy, saying their peers probably failed several times before passing.
According to STA spokesman Tan How Ing, the average annual pass rate since the academy started operations in 2003 is 88.6 per cent.
When asked how STA ensures cabbies know the basic routes, Mr Tan said all licensed taxi drivers, which numbered 85,000 as of May, could look to the Street Directory as a reference.
But surely cabbies shouldn't need to flip through the Street Directory for should-know routes.
So when we meet such drivers, how should we deal with them?
For one, snide remarks — "You're a taxi driver, you don't know, meh?" — may not get us far or even solve the problem. As it is, cabbies, especially the newbies, may already be highly strung from having to stay on the roads for 10 hours or more at a stretch. It's a lot of stress.
Silence, however, does not help either. If the cabbie can't even get his basics down pat, then the passenger should not think twice about lodging a formal complaint with the taxi company.
After all, cab passengers here are already a long-suffering lot. We endure long waits for a cab during the morning and evening rush-hours, before midnight, and when cabbies are changing shifts.
The last thing we need is more aggro when we finally do get a taxi. -
dont even know whr our durain is.
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You seem to speak like you were there too...let me clear up some detailsOriginally posted by storywolf:limpshaggy i do not feel the taxi driver is in any way rude to you.
In fact you all are the one that is rude and wrong ... If you want to reach a place on time - go out eariler !!!
You ask taxi driver drive faster, you in a rush .... he drive faster get caught by police minus points and cash - are you willing to pay him for the lost ?
Next if you want to pick up someone, make sure it is pick and go, you choose a crowded place and poor arrangement is not the taxi driver fault !!! If such a crowded place, you ask taxi park one side and wait for your friend ! The poor taxi is blocking the road ... what about other cars and bus !!! He is parking in most likely in a not parking area. If caught - again minus points and cash !
I find it is your own selfishless that you all should reflect on.... !
Did you know you actually asking the poor taxi driver 2 time to break traffic laws !!! One to drive faster & to park illegally to wait for your friend !!!
First of all, i did not ask him to break speed limit, i told him specifically to drive faster and even mentioned don't need to overspeed. Drive faster and break speed limit is totally different things.
And most of us take cabs because clearly we are in a rush for time, and for my case, i was in a class before i board the taxi so there is no chance i can leave earlier even if i wanted to. Which is why i took a cab in the first place.
Next, how do u know it's a crowded place? It was not, i said big place, not crowded place. And if he has problem parking, then he should tell me right? And tell me in a decent manner, but he did neither. If he said this place not able to stop the cab, i definitely will response find a suitable place and i ask my friend to find us there.
This is public transport, it's something everybody use, even visitors coming to Singapore, don't tell me you can accept it if a bus driver speak to you rudely in front of other commuters? Should it be the case if for example, you pay the wrong fare on a bus, the bus driver of course should tell u so and u should pay the fare correctly but it's how the person communicate to you. That is the main problem i had with the taxi driver.
If he had problem parking, just tell me properly, but all he did was make rude and sarcastic remarks.
And they don't deserve to be paid for their service if they want to work like this. At least for me, i made up my mind if i encounter these types, i will refuse to pay and ask their company to come down and settle on the spot even if it means wasting time, so be it.
Btw, the cab company is call Cit*Cab, but i prefer to call them Shi*yCab from now on. -
Originally posted by ^tamago^:
I read the full article from the Weekend edition of the Today paper & I was like, wtf...just imagine, if the cab drivers don't noe even the simplest of routes & ask us the commuters then we should be the drivers instead & the cab drivers being commuters
[b]This intrepid reporter $100 to test their familiarity with should-know places
TODAYonline
Weekend • September 15, 2007[/b]
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As long as the cabbie has driven to your destination, you are under the contractual obligation to pay the cabby the fare. That his service attitude sucks is a different issue altogether......
Your not paying the cabbie puts you on the wrong side of the law.....
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yeah they perform the service which is to drive u to ur destination.
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Of course you have to pay for the cab fare.
Just remember to ask for a receipt, so you can provide helpful feedback via the taxi company's website. -
Thanks for the feedback.
From now on, take cab i know must note driver name and license number and maybe take receipt if i feel like doing so. -
get off the taxi...slam the door n kick the taxi so tat the driver would haf 2 pay for the damages done
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i took tis cab n the meter displayed $19.90 upon reaching my house.. the uncle jus said, "aiyah! $20 lah!"
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Originally posted by monoslayer:i took tis cab n the meter displayed $19.90 upon reaching my house.. the uncle jus said, "aiyah! $20 lah!"
wah lau..buey tahan -
First of all ..... i really don't think that can be consider "rude" .
The tone is a bit heavy that's all .
I have to admit , most cabbies when given a specific dateline , can be quite frustrating , most time the problem is their tone get heavy after that , and caused sensitive passenger to be really pissed off .
I am a cabby ....
That situation , if given a specific dateline like that , i expect your friend to be right there waiting ! Not the other way round after i rushed so much to help u .
I also will ask if u friend haven't turn up : " Hey , why your friend haven't reached ?" Is that rude to u ?
Or u are pissed off , then tell me , then i will asked in a more constructive way : " Sorry I assumed your friends are here ?"
But lan pah also pah lan one , right ?
U faced a not-so-good-english-speaking cabby , that's why !
So no fuss , right ? -
Rude is not criminal .
But no payment of taxi fare can be charge in court for ......Cheating .
Never see newspaper meh ?
Jail somemore .....
If cabby rude , pay the fare and later report it to the respective taxi company ...... that cabby will be disciplined .
Displinary and fare .....different issue . -
First of all, thanks for replying. It's useful to have a driver view on these issues, although u may at times be abit biased.Originally posted by Poolman:That situation , if given a specific dateline like that , i expect your friend to be right there waiting ! Not the other way round after i rushed so much to help u .
I also will ask if u friend haven't turn up : " Hey , why your friend haven't reached ?" Is that rude to u ?
U faced a not-so-good-english-speaking cabby , that's why !
So no fuss , right ?
Well the point is my friend is already at the place but as there is no specific exact point we can fix as he is not familiar here . So it;s not so much my friend is still somewhere else when the taxi arrive at that place and taking his own time walk over from a restaurant or something but rather my friend is also at that place road but he need to locate our taxi also right especially at night. I mentioned my friend come on in less than a minute earlier, in fact it is closer to 30 seconds, it's just how specific i wanted to be.
I remembered i told the driver when we reached my friend is here already, he is locating our taxi. But he still went on with his bullshit.
The thing is if you ask me why your friend never reached after i already told you he has reached and is locating our taxi, i will still tell u nicely he is locating our taxi , he is here already as it is night time. That is not rude to me, but it was the way it was said, it was a mix of hostile and sarcastic. In the end, if i reached the place late , it's my problem and not his loss so he had no right to be shifting blame about. Why would i sabo myself when i am rushing also? Think about it.
It's not always what you say but how you say it. If example, you go on a bus and you ask for the fare to this so and so place, the bus driver reply $1.50. is that rude? but it can be if he say it in a hostile and impatient manner, then how can that not be rude and poor service? I am sure nobody would want to encounter these types even rude taxi drivers themselves if they take buses.
You mentioned i meet a driver with lousy English, it is true cause he spoke very broken English when he talked about the places so i spoke mostly Chinese to him. And after my American came on we spoke english all the way and i could tell the taxi driver treated us with more respect, it's very shallow really. When we reached the place, he spoke to us in a far more decent and nice manner like trying to act high class or what, when i came on the cab, he was like eh, go where? It's just hypocritical and shallow to me and very low level thinking of this particular taxi driver. To me, all this speak english eat at western resturants don't make you high class or low class, it's about what you have inside you. Arbo i bring a dog to a western resturant in bow and tie he will also become high class dog?
Anyway, so i end this post by giving credit that most taxi drivers i have meet, are friendly and hardworking people who are making a decent living but it's really blows when you meet the dark sheep or bad apple and it's not only affect the commuters of public transport, it also spoil the reputation of other taxi drivers. -
This is like..
hawkers who can't cook, do we have to pay them?
you eat already say don't want pay?