Members Riobard Posted March 3, 2019 Members Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) Order a ride from hotel to airport, available youngish driver Tweedledum IDd within seconds, app quoted X amount, meanwhile a taxi promoter on sidewalk hassling me with flat rate offer of 1.33X. Über driver Tweedledum msgs me the fare is unfair for the distance and he wants 2.0X cash. I reply, not committing to not cancelling, that I only use the app and did not have sufficient cash. He replies song and dance his account on the app is currently problematic glitches etc blah dee blah. I cancel within the app and start fresh. Later report him. Tweedledee comes up on the second round. Same make model different lic. Car with driver looking like Tweedledee and looking like the lic in the app pulls up and I say "Tweedledee?" He is brusque, does not say the usual "Riobard?" Tosses my 2 bags in the truck, plunks a small yellow taxi sign on the hood. I ask him his name. No response. Hop out, leaving door open. I check and photo his lic plate and also check the app and see the # is not exactly the same, just similar. Get in his face raise my voice sternly demanding he pop the trunk. He does not protest, I retrieve my bags. Feel relieved hotel porters, nice guys, are nearby. Renewed cab flat offers come my way. This time they are two cab hawkers, and small crowd watching the sideshow. I look down the road a few metres, lic plate visible and realized the real Tweedledee moved on past this mayhem, evidently thinking I flaked. After all I was not standing with my bags and visible as an apparent customer while dealing with fraudulent cabbie. AYK, a cancellation charge scam is also possible in these circumstances. I msg Tweedledee and he agrees to circle the block. Hotel porters help interpret the cryptic text. Arrives with correct lic delineated on app. Older chap. Fare on arrival airport comes to proper X amount. Not absolutely certain he is not in on the scam, but that would be amazingly more organized and sophisticated a level of scam than I am willingly to give that society credit for. 12 hours later, the pending charges and rebate credits are showing in online banking. Looks in order. For some reason Paypal was not operational in the app and thru the whole ordeal I had had to register another payment method. Must still query that. Time wasted: 20 minutes. Riobard one, scammer(s) zero. Always give yourself some wiggle room getting to airport on time. Have your wits about you. Ask driver his name, let him/her tell you rather than verify what you say. Ask driver to identify your name, do not volunteer your name for him to affirm the giveaway. Vigilance regarding make model lic. If a cash HWY toll booth involved, bear that in mind when tipping. The rates can actually be set on the low end and we don't need to over-exploit discounted rates abroad, do we. Edited March 3, 2019 by Riobard Quote
Members DutchDork Posted March 3, 2019 Members Posted March 3, 2019 Brazil? Santo Domingo? Where was this? Quote
Members msclelovr Posted March 4, 2019 Members Posted March 4, 2019 Or was this in Merida @Riobard? Quote
Members Riobard Posted March 4, 2019 Author Members Posted March 4, 2019 I had an impromptu overnight at a colonial district lodgings in Santo Domingo, where the local mantra is SuckerComingAveMaria, it is an art form worthy of The Louvre or a National Convention, and the general and usually manageable Test of the Übervilles is elevated to an entirely new plane. I needed to come home briefly slightly altered timeframe between trips, that is, my upcoming longer stay back south. Had a fast direct flight out of SD. The event was the transit to Las Américas. It would be highly unlikely in Mérida where the locals are also poor but more adaptive to the paltry driver earnings, and will not make the deferential sign of the cross passing a church minutes after slitting your throat. I jest ... no throat slicers exist in Mérida. Well, just the Sat nite pitbull rings. I had shared a cab coming in. Perhaps I should have just crashed in Boca Chica. Due to the shenanigans I had to rush more quickly and almost incurred a far worse loss than the few bucks differential between the accurate fare and the flat rate cash offers. I set down a pair of 4-figure value specs at the gates cluster somewhere and only found them in desperation minutes before boarding. I suggest not taking Über in a zone where plentiful taxi drivers are begging for fares. Quote
