The: When Travelling By Taxi - Discussion

Gravitas

Gravitas

Gravitas

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Is it unreasonable to ask the driver who has he come to pick up?

Have you ever had a particularly surly and unhelpful driver? And would the company screen him out from coming again - if you complained?

Similarly, are the RAC (and similar) mechanics who come out when you breakdown (the car that is - not you when you say, see the smarmy grin of Emily Thornberry on the telly yet again) surly and uncommunicative like so many used to be? Or have they now eradicated that problem?

And to make this thread even more interesting: do you sit in the front or back?

Also, how much do you tip? Do you tip whatever the "service"? Or just give small sums if it's close to the next pound up i.e. if it comes to £4.90 hand over a fiver and say something like, call it a fiver for cash?

Now I know there's a lot of questions there for some, but have a crack if you fancy it.

Ta lars!
 
Normally the drivers tell you who they have come to pick up.

I tend not to tip anyone in this country, unless you call letting people keep the 10-20p change from a £4.80 taxi ride, £9.90 takeaway etc etc a tip. (Unless I go for a meal at a restaurant and the service is excellent)

I try to use Uber as much as possible, just makes everything easier :)

I tend to sit in the front, unless I am with the gf where I sit with her in the back.
 
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Trident drivers (Virgin’s limo service) vary hugely. Some very amenable and chatty and some act like they’ve been informed they have a terminal illness.
 
>Is it unreasonable to ask the driver who has he come to pick up?
Nope.
It *is* unreasonable to assume the driver's gender though... especially these days!!

>Have you ever had a particularly surly and unhelpful driver?
Yep. I just return the favour.

>And would the company screen him out from coming again - if you complained?
Possibly. Depends how serious the offence.

>Or have they now eradicated that problem?
Only had to use RAC and AA for crappy work vehicles, but it seems so long as you don't talk down to them, abuse them for being stuck in traffic or taking longer than 3 minutes to reach you, pretend you know more about cars than they do, or tell them how to do their job.... You're fine and they're lovely.

>And to make this thread even more interesting: do you sit in the front or back?
Back if in company, front otherwise.
Generally just use my own car, though. I don't drink, so am Taxi-Man by default.

>Also, how much do you tip? Do you tip whatever the "service"?
Depends entirely on whether the driver is the girl from Fake Taxi or not... I always get good "service" from her!!! :p
 
I guess this depends if taxi company is using a dispatching system with certain features enabled.

Such as sending out a text msg with taxi and driver details to passengers mobile if booking made with a mobile call.
If booking made with a mobile app or web booking customer still can see driver and taxi details as well as track them on map to their location. In both of these cases usually driver will ask passengers name to confirm he / she is picking up the right customer as imagine outside clubs for an example people will lie just to get into a taxi. Passenger already have vehicle reg and so on so they dont need further checking.

If customer booked their taxi from a land line or pay phone then both passenger and driver needs to check each others id or destination to confirm they are picking up the right customer but not both details. Example its wrong for the driver to say are you Mr.Smith going to London Bridge Station which anyone else other then the right passenger who wants to jump into a taxi will simply say yes and then try to change the destination while they are in the car or wrong for customer to say " are you from "insert minicab firm name here" to pickup Mr Smith going to London Bridge" and then jumps into illegal taxi.

Dispatching softwares have a feature to not to send x driver to x customer so if driver is a good driver but had a problem with a customer they will use this feature unless if its a serious issue they might remove that driver from their fleet...

As for tips usually drivers are not bothered at all so save your money or only tip if you are really happy with the service, tipping any driver who doesnt provide good service is simply wrong and prevents that driver to improve its service ...
 
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Gravitas said:
No. No. he isn't. Have another crack at reading it. This time for comprehension.
Click to expand...

Well for someone who definitely isn't a cab driver you do seem to be spending a lot of time obsessing about them. Anyway, you seem to have a bit of an attitude problem so I'll just leave you to carry on getting annoyed at the most mundane stuff and get on with my life :)
 
FortuitousFluke said:
He started another thread about a taxi driver taking umbrage with him trying to pay in old £1 coins, I can only assume he's been obsessing over it and is looking for a reason why the cabbie assumed he was trying to fob him off on purpose.
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No. This was today's exciting incident.

I was running late but I had to get out and call another one. I complained, she said she'd have a word with him. I said better not as I don't want a brick through my window but could she put on her records that I never want him again. And left it there - in the air.

I've had the surly fat **** before (quite some time ago).
 
suggestions welcome! said:
Well for someone who definitely isn't a cab driver you do seem to be spending a lot of time obsessing about them. Anyway, you seem to have a bit of an attitude problem so I'll just leave you to carry on getting annoyed at the most mundane stuff and get on with my life :)
Click to expand...

Good idea. You find yourself a nice safe space now.

Take care.
 
suggestions welcome! said:
So the OP is a cab driver then.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but somehow I doubt it.

Gravitas said:
Is it unreasonable to ask the driver who has he come to pick up?

Have you ever had a particularly surly and unhelpful driver? And would the company screen him out from coming again - if you complained?

Similarly, are the RAC (and similar) mechanics who come out when you breakdown (the car that is - not you when you say, see the smarmy grin of Emily Thornberry on the telly yet again) surly and uncommunicative like so many used to be? Or have they now eradicated that problem?

And to make this thread even more interesting: do you sit in the front or back?

Also, how much do you tip? Do you tip whatever the "service"? Or just give small sums if it's close to the next pound up i.e. if it comes to £4.90 hand over a fiver and say something like, call it a fiver for cash?

Now I know there's a lot of questions there for some, but have a crack if you fancy it.

Ta lars!
Click to expand...

As a retired Black Cab driver, I realise that I’m probably skating on very thin ice here, but I’ll take a swing.
As to asking the driver who has he come to pick up, I subscribed to a computerised radio circuit, that had a slew of corporate accounts in The City, investment banks, law firms, insurance companies etc.
A trip offer would appear on my monitor screen, e.g. Company UBS, customer Mr. Bloggs, ext 7308, pick up at Finsbury Ave. destination Canary Wharf.
On arrival at Finsbury Ave. I’d go to reception and say, “Taxi for Mr. Bloggs, ext 7308 please”, then return to my taxi and wait for the client to come out and say, “Are you for Bloggs?”
Very often, in inclement weather, or if someone had been waiting for what they deemed too long, they’d approach the taxi and say, “Who are you waiting for?”, I’d say “Bloggs”, they’d say “that’s me”, and get in.
I’d say, “Where do you want in Canary Wharf?”, they’d say, “Not going there now, take me to Putney.”
Then, Bloggs would emerge to find his taxi had gone, he’d make a call, and a message would come up on my screen, Can you confirm you have correct passenger on board?
Passenger would lie through his teeth and say he was Bloggs, so another taxi would have to be dispatched for the real Bloggs.
Eventually, when asked who we were picking up, we had to politely say, “Tell me your name sir, and if that’s the one on my screen, then that’s okay, I’ll take you.”
So no, it’s not always acceptable to ask the driver who he is picking up.
As for unhelpful or surly drivers, I only use Black Cabs, so as every driver is self employed, if the guy I hailed was surly, who could I report him to, himself?
Only using Black Cabs, that means that I always travel in the back seat, there is nowhere else to sit, I know that out in the boonies they use saloon cars, but in London, the only real taxis are Black Cabs, anything else is a poor imitation, usually driven by an immigrant wannabe, whether its Acme minicabs, or Uber.
AA/RAC? Can’t remember the last time I called them, but don’t recall any intransigence.
I tip the same amount that I’d like, (NEVER EXPECTED) when I was the one hopefully getting the tip, £4.60-£4.80, give him a fiver, £10, give him £11 or £12, £27.40, give him £30.
 
Gravitas said:
You're not very good with people I take it.
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I'd say I'm very good with people, I just like to deal with people on my own terms. If I'm getting a cab usually I'm happy to have a chat but a lot of the time I am getting a taxi because it's late and it's my only option. Chances are in that scenario I'm tired and not on form in which case things can get a bit awkward, mainly because I don't really want to talk but sitting next to someone for 20 minutes in dead silence is a bit weird.

Gravitas said:
No. This was today's exciting incident.

I was running late but I had to get out and call another one. I complained, she said she'd have a word with him. I said better not as I don't want a brick through my window but could she put on her records that I never want him again. And left it there - in the air.

I've had the surly fat **** before (quite some time ago).
Click to expand...

Why did you have to get out and call another one?
 
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