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PoppedCorn said:
Do you prepay with a credit card on the phone?
I'm in Melbs next week and will need to catch a cab.
Dunno whether to use normal cab or this uber thing.
Will be a week night and about a 20 min drive.
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Yeah you put the credit card in when you sign up.

Likely you'll get a free ride if it's your first trip so definitely Uber it.
 

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The astroturfing campaign for Uber has been very successful. I still hear mainstream media (ABC mostly) refer to it as a 'ride-sharing service' when it clearly isn't.
 
The most interesting thing I find are the drivers. It's a real lottery. You never get really seedy arseholes (white taxi drivers) but you can get some people who use it as some sort of soapbox.

Sometimes you can cop a really decent driver. Tend to really like the Indian drivers, they're always interesting and pretty normal to talk to. A guy on Friday night was telling me all about how many times he's been put in overnight for 'drunk in a public place.' The guy we got to a club earlier though... *in hell, would not stop going on about how he knew everything about Europe and everyone else's experiences were wrong and they didn't do it thoroughly enough. Seems a mildly common thread.

They also love flinging you $15 to go grab something for them at a kebab shop or Maccas.
 

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Abba Lonie said:
The one time I paid for a taxi on card it got skimmed.
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Taxi drivers can do some real dodgy s**t. I've paid by card a few times when I've stupidly walked into a cab with no cash, and they always have two or three EFTPOS machines and the main one seems to get ignored. Haven't had a card skimmed, but have heard that saying the machine is broken and giving you a dodgy one to use is commonplace.


Silent Alarm said:
The most interesting thing I find are the drivers. It's a real lottery. You never get really seedy arseholes (white taxi drivers) but you can get some people who use it as some sort of soapbox.

Sometimes you can cop a really decent driver. Tend to really like the Indian drivers, they're always interesting and pretty normal to talk to. A guy on Friday night was telling me all about how many times he's been put in overnight for 'drunk in a public place.' The guy we got to a club earlier though... ****in hell, would not stop going on about how he knew everything about Europe and everyone else's experiences were wrong and they didn't do it thoroughly enough. Seems a mildly common thread.

They also love flinging you $15 to go grab something for them at a kebab shop or Maccas.
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I've had taxi drivers (mainly of European ethnicities) who always claim it's the Indians who are real seedy, a few of my mates agree too.

The majority of my drivers are just like most of the cabbies I get. Pretty vanilla.
 
nbaman1 said:
Taxi drivers can do some real dodgy s**t. I've paid by card a few times when I've stupidly walked into a cab with no cash, and they always have two or three EFTPOS machines and the main one seems to get ignored. Haven't had a card skimmed, but have heard that saying the machine is broken and giving you a dodgy one to use is commonplace.

I've had taxi drivers (mainly of European ethnicities) who always claim it's the Indians who are real seedy, a few of my mates agree too.

The majority of my drivers are just like most of the cabbies I get. Pretty vanilla.
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Now I'm s**t paranoid of my cards getting skimmed... there are two things I don't pay for with cash on nights out: Maccas and taxis.

Without getting racist or into that agenda, I think Indians are a real asset to Australia. They integrate well. They take s**t jobs, they work hard, they're polite, and I always love their "gidday mates!" – that epitomises their attempts to blend in and add to this country.

However, there's definitely a really seed few and I can't help but wonder if it's down to a caste system. It's so prevalent for them in general. That country is so diverse and the people and groups completely unique. Maybe there's a group who are more entitled or arrogant or dismissive of Aussies and women (and let's not forget the stories about blokes waking up on random couches)... I'd like to know. But I agree – I like Indians, but the seedy ones are very, veeeeery seedy.

White, anglo, bogan-ish Aussie taxi drivers are the most seedy though. I know a girl who in first year uni was coming home from a night out in Northbridge. Her card kept declining and she was obviously drunk and flustered. The taxi driver, a white bloke, said "give me your high heels and we'll call it even." Obviously she did (it was a typically mammoth $60 Perth cab ride). But you know, weird, suss s**t...
 
Silent Alarm said:
Now I'm s**t paranoid of my cards getting skimmed... there are two things I don't pay for with cash on nights out: Maccas and taxis.

Without getting racist or into that agenda, I think Indians are a real asset to Australia. They integrate well. They take s**t jobs, they work hard, they're polite, and I always love their "gidday mates!" – that epitomises their attempts to blend in and add to this country.

However, there's definitely a really seed few and I can't help but wonder if it's down to a caste system. It's so prevalent for them in general. That country is so diverse and the people and groups completely unique. Maybe there's a group who are more entitled or arrogant or dismissive of Aussies and women (and let's not forget the stories about blokes waking up on random couches)... I'd like to know. But I agree – I like Indians, but the seedy ones are very, veeeeery seedy.

White, anglo, bogan-ish Aussie taxi drivers are the most seedy though. I know a girl who in first year uni was coming home from a night out in Northbridge. Her card kept declining and she was obviously drunk and flustered. The taxi driver, a white bloke, said "give me your high heels and we'll call it even." Obviously she did (it was a typically mammoth $60 Perth cab ride). But you know, weird, suss s**t...
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Maccas? Do they have card skimming incidents?

Have definitely stopped paying for cabs on card though, every transaction seems dodgy.

I've definitely had my fair share of good Indian drivers. I have an arts student type mate who loves a chat especially when pissed and he'll always sit in the front and have these in-depth chats with them, they say some really interesting stuff.

There does seem to be a select few though, I've seen them at night clubs too. They seem to have no respect for women, and it's s**t because they create stereotypes about men from their country.

I've never really had any anglo taxi drivers, but I could just imagine. Some of them are egged on by what previous girls do though. Had one cabbie telling me all about a few girls who had offered to give him blow jobs, wristies etc all to get home free. Real insane s**t.
 
nbaman1 said:
Maccas? Do they have card skimming incidents?

Have definitely stopped paying for cabs on card though, every transaction seems dodgy.
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Agreed. I think it's usually just being ripped off 10 bucks because you're drunk (honestly, say your usual fare is $15 cheaper and they'll give you the cash half the time) but I do feel a bit anxious about it. I've never rapidly seen my account go down or weird money drawn out, I've maybe copped a double fare once and that was years ago.

This is the thread for it, but had anyone else been ripped off paying off by card? Surely if it was massively common place there'd be dramas. I've never encountered the "oh, try this one." As I said though, usually only get them pissed.
 
1am in joondalup at a mates, book uber, comes in 10mins and i can see his car on a live tracking, ends up a cheaper trip home, 4th time now.

Uber for life


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MEB_ said:
I ended up driving myself to the airport and it cost a fortune in parking.

Taxis can get stuffed, they're all s**t.
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Next time you need to go to the airport, just drive to my house, park your car in my street and I'll drive you to the airport.
Only charge you $25 a day.

:D jks.

Nah seriously, have done this for mates in the past. Like **** you Melbourne Airport mofos.

You know what parking costs, short term, when you are picking up ppl in airports such as Denver and Miami? $1. A. ****ing. Dollar.
 
I had an incident getting home from Cheers in Hawthorn via a taxi. The trip was always $25, and upon arriving at my place the driver's meter displayed $40. I argued with him, he dropped it down to $25 and I paid that amount. Logged a complain with the taxi agency 15 minutes later at 3:30am complete with the receipt, drivers name and plate number. They got back to me two days later saying without a receipt for $40 they were unable to take the issue further. I have very little sympathy for such a scummy industry.

In contrast I had an incident two weeks ago with Uber where I ordered a lift and it said 7 minutes wait time. 15 minutes later the driver was still miles away so I cancelled it and ticked the box to say the wait time was not what I expected. A week later they sent me a voucher for 3x the amount by way of apology without any prompting on my behalf.

Competition is healthy and now that the taxi industry is finding out it no longer has a monopoly it will have to adapt accordingly to start delivering competitive and respectable services or it will die a slow and drawn out death.
 
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I've been meaning to post a story and a reply here prompted me. At very first, I thought your post above ash_1050 was it.

On Saturday night, me and my girlfriend were walking from Boney to a taxi. It was about 2:30 or something. This is right at the corner of Bourke and Russell, basically at the intersection where there's the HJs. So we're having a giggle about some story about a mate of mine being offered a blowjob and a threesome or something, we just hear this urgency – like it was cutting through the random chatter and screaming girls trailing out from Boards – this kid, about my age, screaming "HELP ME! PLEASE SAVE ME! HELP!"

We look over and the door of a bright yellow taxi is flung open and the car is swinging side to side, about three metres it's covering, and this kid is trying to gauge whether to jump out or not. Finally the cab comes towards us. It slows down and he can get out. He's struggling so I grab him by the arm and just as I do, the cabbie also does. This kid gets pulled out and the next thing there's a 21-year old, who was cogent and clear and very obviously sober, and a screaming cabbie.

Long story short, this kid had been picked up after a (uni) function in Docklands. He wants to go home to Hawthorn and the driver says sure, obviously as he's picked him up. As they get into the northern side of the CBD the driver locks the doors, and then tries saying how he has to pre-pay and then how the eftpos machine isn't working (the kid didn't have cash – how many of us really do at 2 in the morning?). The taxi driver tries to coerce him into sex for payment, obviously his ploy all along.

Anyway, this kid wanted to call the cops and struggled to even dial 000 he was shaking so much. They came and got this driver's details, and luckily the guy had recorded a lot of the conversation and incriminating evidence, all the while this cab driving a-hole is trying to say the bloke had a weapon and threw it out the window or something crazy and unlikely and unbelievable.

Anyway, it was just a scary sight to see someone genuinely screaming for their lives. I've been going out probably twice a week on average for about four years and have never, ever seen anything like that. It was crazy. Basically, a reminder that all sorts of s**t can go in a random person's car, and another example that the Uber 'they aren't verified' thing is barely more heartening than the police clearances taxi drivers get.
 
Someone I know lost their phone in a cab on the weekend. Scummy cab driver was making phone calls on it the next day and they have no idea where it is, cab company can't contact the driver either.

If it was uber you'd know exactly who has it and it would be returned 5 minutes later
 
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