“crooked cab drivers in Las Vegas do that all the time.”
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Date of Occurrence:Â Â Â 13 Feb 2008
Time of Occurrence:Â Â Â approx 2045
Location of Occurrence:Â Â Â Â Mardi Gras Best Western Hotel
Comments:Â
           2/12/08 about 8:45pm I got into a Desert Cab taxi from the line-up at Las Vegas airport. I told the driver I needed to go to the Best Western at 4970 Paradise Road. The driver asked me if that was the Mardi Gras Best Western; I replied that I didn’t know but that specifically the address of the hotel was 4970 Paradise Road. I asked the driver to take me to that address. Instead, he took me to the Mardi Gras Best Western at 3500 Paradise Road, not the 4970 Paradise Road that I told him twice. The fare on the meter was $12.70, but I was tired from travelling all day and just glad to be at my hotel so I gave him a $20 bill, and the driver left. When I went in to the hotel they had no reservation for me. Once the front desk clerk there realized I had been dropped at the wrong hotel, she commented that “crooked cab drivers in Las Vegas do that all the time.” She hailed me another taxi and personally shook her finger at the new driver, admonishing him to take me to the McCarran Best Western. While I was checking in at the Best Western McCarran at 4970 Paradise Road, I told the front desk clerk what happened with the Desert Cab taxi, and he said to me “those guys are all crooks and they do that to unsuspecting visitors all the time.” Today when I checked out of the McCarran Best Western I was able to take the shuttle instead of another taxi, and when I told the shuttle driver what happened with the Desert Cab, he too told me that Las Vegas taxi drivers frequently take advantage of visitors by taking them to wrong locations, and he suggested I file a complaint with your office. As much as I would like to give the Desert Cab driver the benefit of the doubt, I do not believe he made an honest mistake. First, I was very clear in telling him the address of the Best Western hotel I needed to go to, and second, 4970 Paradise Road is not at all close to 3500 Paradise Road. I believe I was cheated. The Desert Cab driver wrote the following numbers on my receipt: 446180, 1177, and $22.70 (even though the meter read only $12.70). His initials appear to be MAB. The taxi was a sedan, and I believe it was orange and white.
