4 ms·

What's the scam there? Do they not turn on the meter and then beg for payment at the end of the ride?

by _qua 4y ago

AnotherGoodName 4y ago
Yep. They'll say "it's $80" and to which you need to ask "where does it say that on the meter?". At that point it's an intimidation game as the Taxi driver will blatantly demand money for the ride they didn't have the meter on for. It's not fun. It's also happened almost every time i've taken a Taxi in the past 5 years. I think the people who still take Taxis are the vulnerable who don't have phones so they get scammed badly :(
- harambae 4y ago
  Exactly, and when you're an American and you're in a cab in America that's the best case scenario -- you can probably avoid paying it with enough effort. When this happened to me in Vietnam is was a pretty ugly situation. I'm not new to world travel, but the driver had the whole con down to an art (dubious toll fees, relationships with local law enforcement, etc) This was just before Uber came to Vietnam and I would never use a local taxi driver again regardless of cost. Everyone in this thread who defends the airport cabbie cartels of the world must have not actually spent a lot of time around them.
xenophonf 4y ago
They'll say the meter isn't working and offer a fixed rate that's usually way higher than what you should be paying. It's illegal in many jurisdictions for precisely this reason.
- nullc 4y ago
  But then you have places where some rides e.g. rides to the airport, have automatic fixed rates and you don't know if the driver is scamming you or not. It's remarkable how bad many businesses and government regulators are at asking the question "Is this behavior indistinguishable from a scam?"
ilammy 4y ago
> beg for payment Not every rider is confident enough to flat out refuse to pay, walk away with 'lol your problem now', and to deal with the more aggressive kind of drivers.

4 ms·

What's the scam there? Do they not turn on the meter and then beg for payment at the end of the ride?

by _qua 4y ago

What's the scam there? Do they not turn on the meter and then beg for payment at the end of the ride?

AnotherGoodName 4y ago
Yep. They'll say "it's $80" and to which you need to ask "where does it say that on the meter?". At that point it's an intimidation game as the Taxi driver will blatantly demand money for the ride they didn't have the meter on for. It's not fun. It's also happened almost every time i've taken a Taxi in the past 5 years. I think the people who still take Taxis are the vulnerable who don't have phones so they get scammed badly :(
- harambae 4y ago
  Exactly, and when you're an American and you're in a cab in America that's the best case scenario -- you can probably avoid paying it with enough effort. When this happened to me in Vietnam is was a pretty ugly situation. I'm not new to world travel, but the driver had the whole con down to an art (dubious toll fees, relationships with local law enforcement, etc) This was just before Uber came to Vietnam and I would never use a local taxi driver again regardless of cost. Everyone in this thread who defends the airport cabbie cartels of the world must have not actually spent a lot of time around them.
xenophonf 4y ago
They'll say the meter isn't working and offer a fixed rate that's usually way higher than what you should be paying. It's illegal in many jurisdictions for precisely this reason.
- nullc 4y ago
  But then you have places where some rides e.g. rides to the airport, have automatic fixed rates and you don't know if the driver is scamming you or not. It's remarkable how bad many businesses and government regulators are at asking the question "Is this behavior indistinguishable from a scam?"
ilammy 4y ago
> beg for payment Not every rider is confident enough to flat out refuse to pay, walk away with 'lol your problem now', and to deal with the more aggressive kind of drivers.