I flew back to Singapore at 1.40 in the morning today. Our Jet Star flight was delayed, David and I took separate cabs so he could get straight home to sleep instead of detouring and dropping me off first (he had to wake up for work at 6).
I know that taxi drivers have to queue up at the taxi ranks and they want to have a long ride instead of taking passengers close by to places like Pasir ris, Tampines, Changi. That's why I always tip them generously, over and above the surcharge that all passengers (regardless of how close of far a destination) will have to pay.
As I wheeled my luggage to a red transcab, the driver, all smiling, takes my bag from me. As he was putting it into the boot, I told him I was going to Pasir ris.
He tells me angrily, "Alamak you, Taiko lah. Kapala Bhutoh you!"
And slams my bag into the boot. I don't know what Taiko is. I think Bhutoh means cock/penis.
I am an idiot. I should have got out of the cab immediately. But I didn't. Then I suddenly thought, OMG, I better have small change for this guy because he's going to shout at me again if he has to break a $50.
I looked into my wallet, and saw plenty of tens, so no problem, then I look at the meter, and noticed, the surcharge was $9 plus. This was just barely 30 seconds of being in the taxi.
I thought it was strange, but I didn't pursue the matter. He was driving very rough and fast. Obviously pissed off with me living in Pasir ris. Then a call comes in, he speaks on the phone (handsfree), and he speaks loudly, but in Chinese (maybe a dialect), and all I could recognise was - Hijack, Pasir ris, nabei, Cha bo, Bhutoh.
When coming off the expressway, he shouts impatiently, "Exit where!?"
By this time, I had already taken down his license plate number .
When I got back (whole drive was barely 5 minutes). The fare came up to $6.70, plus the surcharge and midnight charge it was a total of $17.20 . I suspect I have been cheated at the initial starting point when the starting surcharge was already $9plus.
Anyway, I gave him $20, and said he could keep the change. I did not get a thank you, he was still just pissed off, didn't bother to get out of the cab to get my luggage out (but I was expecting that he wouldn't help anyway)
As I exited the cab, I left my passenger door open, because quite frankly, I felt like he would just drive off before I can fully get my heavy luggage out of the boot. So I thought if the passenger door is opened, he can't drive off.
Then When I got my luggage out of the boot, instead of shutting the boot and the passenger side door, I just felt like.. WTF, he's so rude to me, cheated me, I let him keep the change, and yet he is still so hostile towards me. He can shut his own damn doors.
So I just left.
As I got into the lift, I could hear him slamming the doors shut.
I got home, and lodged a complaint with Transcab. The staff said that I would get a response in 7 - 1o days. That's a long while. But I don't mind, as long as they really look into it and not sweep it under the rug.
I've never been in such a hostile situation before... but I wish I had stood my ground sooner. I wish I had got out of the cab that very moment when he scolded me with vulgarities instead of putting up with that shit. Also, why am I such an idiot? I should have asked him to verify the surcharge.... and made a fuss about it.. instead of letting him keep the change some more. I was just too shocked and scared
Whatever, I hope I never see this asshole driver again.
Also... now I am scared to take taxi from airport!!
UPDATE: 02 Jan 2012
Shin Min newspapers picked up this story today, was on front and second page.
Wish they chose a nicer pic of me (lol).
And my friend Kuen told me that UFM100.3 was just talking about my taxi ride.
I still have not heard from Transcab, it's been 7 days since my complaint.
Update 22nd Feb
Finally got a response. Someone rang to say the driver has been "counselled" and that they are returning me the excess that he charged me (I don't know how much this is).
Update 22nd Feb
Finally got a response. Someone rang to say the driver has been "counselled" and that they are returning me the excess that he charged me (I don't know how much this is).
Comments
But I did tell the staff tht when I called in to complain abt this driver. and no, the surcharge is never as high as $9plus when u step into a cab.
But actually i thought they prefer shorter distance because the initial charge is already $4.80. If for example, he is just driving to the destination for 5mins, he earn that and the distance travalled. So every 5 mins he pick up someone, i'm sure he'll be earning 12 x ($4.80+distance) in an hour and that's more than just having 1 passanger for that 1hr isn't it???
I live in Pasir Ris as well and I fly quite often in a year. I, too, give taxi drivers at least $20 or sometimes $25 to make the trip from the airport to my home.
I have to say I have never gotten a taxi driver as rude as the one you encountered! It is truly shocking and horrific. Rest assured, this is a one off case but thanks for sharing your story cause if it ever happens to me, I would do as your instinct probed you to.
PASIR RISIANS UNITE!
You are not the only one who encountered this experience.
I knew a fren who stay in Tamp shared with me after his terrible encounter with the taxi driver, he rather dun take cab if given the opportunity.
At the time when he told me i find it difficult to believe. After reading yr experience, i finally understood
Thanks for sharing. I take cabs frequently and I certainly wouldn't want to be in a confined space with a maniac like that.
I'm posting this to my Facebook, and I hope that pond-scum driver gets eaten by a guppy.
I hope loses his license before an innocent passenger loses his life. Perhaps put more emphasis on his dangerous driving when reporting to LTA? ;D
Hope you had a wonderful holiday though!
Cheerio!
sigh...i feel for you.
and i truly HATE taking cabs in general now. and i do have a phobia of hailing a cab from the airport! which is a NEED sadly.
i had my fair share (gd amount) of experiences as i use to be a cabin crew PLUS i reside in that area.
complains are fallen on deaf ears and robotic "standard" replies from cab companies if im lucky.
honestly, courtesy and customer service is ZERO and non existent in our country sadly.
hope you're feeling better! xo
I can understand that it is inevitable to bad mouth your customer, but it is definitely a wrong move to bad mouth it when the customer is still there! In addition, he is the one who took the wrong route, he is the one who did all the complaining, and he is the one who earn the money out from my pocket. Why am I the one who took all this insult?
In the end, I was 10mins late for my work and I paid at least $5 more than my usually cab fare. I march up to my workplace and start dialing their hotline. Hotline busy, so I left a voicemail, informing that I will raise this issue to the media if I dint hear from them within 5 mins.
I waited for their call the whole day on Monday, and they did not call me back. So I called to their hotline and demanded to speak to their manager. Their manager gave me the reason that the investigation is still ongoing, hence they did not call me. What a weak excuse, so I fumed and reasoned that I can understand that they need more time for investigation, however when they did promised a callback, they should at least give me a ring or drop me message that they need more time. So, the manager promised that they will revert back to me on Thursday. Fine!
I waited till 5pm on Thursday, they did not call at all. I called back, demanding for a reason, guess what did they feed me with that time. "Our satellite is down, hence we are unable to call you." SATELLITE? Who cares about whether your satellite is down, transcab for all I know, operates in Singapore, what the heck is satellite doing in this aspect? In addition, they should work with internal server and I believe that they should be able to retrieve the call information as when I provided them with my contact number, they still can tell me that the investigation is still ongoing.
Now, there is a problem with their cab driver AND their customer service!
So, the customer service officer was trying to explain to me weakly that I should understand that most of their cab drivers did not receive proper education, hence they are not that well verse in providing good service. WHAT THE HECK IS WITH THAT EXCUSE?!
So I wasted 2 hours of my time trying to talk sense to their team leader on that day. That team leader, whatever her name is, was snorting and giving a lot of rude noises while I was complaining. I seriously have a big problem with the way they dealt with customer.
So, a few days later, they called me, asked me to provide them with my bank a/c number and inform me that they will refund me with the overcharges amount and also inform me that they have placed that cab driver under probation. So explanation was given and they just closed that case hastily.
After that experience, I rather wait for other cab or pay more for premium cab than to board transcab.
Anyway, i think the driver did not overcharge you when you reach your place at Pasir Ris with the total fare of $17.60
Assuming you stay in the middle of pasir ris, which is roughly 8km from the airport:
-Flat fare -$3.00
-Airport Surcharge - $5.00
-8km fare+some waiting time- ard $4.40
total=$12.40+50% midnight charge = $18.60
But what im disgusted is the way he treat his passengers. It is true that waiting at the airport during midnight is tiring but i still feel he is too much.
Its good that you complained about his service to his company as he's a black sheep in the industry. Luckily he did not intentionally overcharge you if not he would had been terminated instead.
msh.
To clearify your surcharge doubt, it's as following:
Airport surcharge: all time at$3/- except on weekend 5pm-Midnight, Friday to Sunday, $5/-
Peak hour additional fare indicated on top left corner of the meter is 25% of the actual fare. Implement from 6pm-midnight 12/sharp.
Midnight additional fare is 50% on top of actual fare.