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Hi all,
Not used this site for a while or for anything other than parking related issues.
A week ago my wife, brother in law and I got a cab from a wedding reception in Welwyn back to our home in Ruislip. The hotel booked the cab under my name for a 4 seater and I gave my postcode so they'd know the distance to travel; the cab arrived 10 mins later and was a seven-seater but I didn't think anything of it other than the company may be short of normal cars. I also gave the driver our postcode again before we left and he put it in his sat-nav (Tom Tom, not one of those PDA types cab companies use). When we got to our house the driver asked for £138! As this was only a 36 mile journey we were in utter shock. Now whilst I didn't ask for a price when we got in the cab, I did check the company's site on my phone en-route and they quoted £45 to Heathrow which is 2 miles further than our house. The driver was saying we were on a meter (which we couldn't see) and that he was on "time and a half". I gave him £70 which I felt was more than fair and more than the standard £45 fare times 1.5 for his time and a half. I argued that we never asked to be put on a meter or that he hadn't told us we'd be on the meter when we left the hotel. I've never had this issue in 12 years of living here in the UK! We proceeded to get out of the cab despite the driver trying to lock us in with the electric door and he rang the Police. I'm not in the least bit worried about this part of the story as the Police quite rightly stated it was a Civil case and didn't come. After two hours waiting outside our house, he drove off at 4:30am.
The problem is, that next day I realised I left my jacket with two expensive pairs of sunglasses in the cab during the commotion!!! :tinysmile_cry_t:
I rang the hotel straight after realising he had my things (as they booked the cab for me) to firstly complain about the fare situation, and secondly to see if they could track down the driver to retrieve my jacket and sunglasses. They couldn't trace the company or the driver despite having only two commonly used companies and me giving the time we got the taxi, colour and make of the cab, etc. I remembered the cab number written on the side of the door (444-444) so proceeded to investigate myself - they knew about the situation immediately despite lying to the hotel that booked them! Straight away this led me to believe they were hiding something. A row ensued over the phone as the operator wasn't in the mood to discuss anything and he hung up on me. On the second call I advised him that he was withholding my property but he denied they had anything belonging to me. Another row ensued and eventually he said if I paid the fare I could have my things back. I didn't agree with this tactic so I hung up and spoke to the Police who said because I had the opportunity to retrieve my items by paying the fare, it now became a Civil case, not theft. I rang the cab company back and it became more of a farce as the guy wouldn't confirm if they really did still have my things. To test him I said I'd pay the fare difference only if he confirmed he had my property, but he wouldn't confirm so now I'm being held to ransom.
The property they are holding is worth a lot more than the fare difference but I'm not paying up to then find out they've either lost or disposed of my property. What options do I have? I'm thinking I need to contact the county council licensing department first to make a complaint and get my solicitor to write a letter to the cab company? I'm also going to write to the hotel (quite reputable) to advise of the tactics employed by the company they use; a second call to them was no help as they said once we get in the cab it's our problem!
Any help or advice greatly appreciated. :tinysmile_twink_t2:
Kind regards,
Gary
Not used this site for a while or for anything other than parking related issues.
A week ago my wife, brother in law and I got a cab from a wedding reception in Welwyn back to our home in Ruislip. The hotel booked the cab under my name for a 4 seater and I gave my postcode so they'd know the distance to travel; the cab arrived 10 mins later and was a seven-seater but I didn't think anything of it other than the company may be short of normal cars. I also gave the driver our postcode again before we left and he put it in his sat-nav (Tom Tom, not one of those PDA types cab companies use). When we got to our house the driver asked for £138! As this was only a 36 mile journey we were in utter shock. Now whilst I didn't ask for a price when we got in the cab, I did check the company's site on my phone en-route and they quoted £45 to Heathrow which is 2 miles further than our house. The driver was saying we were on a meter (which we couldn't see) and that he was on "time and a half". I gave him £70 which I felt was more than fair and more than the standard £45 fare times 1.5 for his time and a half. I argued that we never asked to be put on a meter or that he hadn't told us we'd be on the meter when we left the hotel. I've never had this issue in 12 years of living here in the UK! We proceeded to get out of the cab despite the driver trying to lock us in with the electric door and he rang the Police. I'm not in the least bit worried about this part of the story as the Police quite rightly stated it was a Civil case and didn't come. After two hours waiting outside our house, he drove off at 4:30am.
The problem is, that next day I realised I left my jacket with two expensive pairs of sunglasses in the cab during the commotion!!! :tinysmile_cry_t:
I rang the hotel straight after realising he had my things (as they booked the cab for me) to firstly complain about the fare situation, and secondly to see if they could track down the driver to retrieve my jacket and sunglasses. They couldn't trace the company or the driver despite having only two commonly used companies and me giving the time we got the taxi, colour and make of the cab, etc. I remembered the cab number written on the side of the door (444-444) so proceeded to investigate myself - they knew about the situation immediately despite lying to the hotel that booked them! Straight away this led me to believe they were hiding something. A row ensued over the phone as the operator wasn't in the mood to discuss anything and he hung up on me. On the second call I advised him that he was withholding my property but he denied they had anything belonging to me. Another row ensued and eventually he said if I paid the fare I could have my things back. I didn't agree with this tactic so I hung up and spoke to the Police who said because I had the opportunity to retrieve my items by paying the fare, it now became a Civil case, not theft. I rang the cab company back and it became more of a farce as the guy wouldn't confirm if they really did still have my things. To test him I said I'd pay the fare difference only if he confirmed he had my property, but he wouldn't confirm so now I'm being held to ransom.
The property they are holding is worth a lot more than the fare difference but I'm not paying up to then find out they've either lost or disposed of my property. What options do I have? I'm thinking I need to contact the county council licensing department first to make a complaint and get my solicitor to write a letter to the cab company? I'm also going to write to the hotel (quite reputable) to advise of the tactics employed by the company they use; a second call to them was no help as they said once we get in the cab it's our problem!
Any help or advice greatly appreciated. :tinysmile_twink_t2:
Kind regards,
Gary
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