Taxicab Confessions

the Ridng Public contributes their take on the Las Vegas Taxicab Experience

Posts Tagged Las Vegas NV

He actually pulled out a map and stopped in the middle of the road and pretended to read it.

Aug 27

Posted by in I was Longhauled! | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    Dec 1, 2007

Time of Occurrence:    1000-1015

Location of Occurrence:     Las Vegas Airport

Comments:
Star Cab- Driver Getnet Getham (Spelling may be off?) Black Male Adult, black hair, brown eyes, skinny. He picked 4 of us up at the Las Vegas airport at approximately 1000-1015 hours on December 1, 2007. He was instructed to take us to the Sports Complex located at 121 E. Sunset Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89119. This location is 3 miles from the airport. The Taxi Driver pretended he did not know where Sunset Rd. was and took the scenic route all the way to Pecos Rd and then back up to Sunset which ended up costing us $29.00 in cab fare. He actually pulled out a map and stopped in the middle of the road and pretended to read it. I am filing this complaint because it was obvious he was lying to us and made us late for a very important Grappling match that was prepaid for. If an honest taxi driver had driven us, we would have made the match with plenty of time to spare as the drive was only 3 MILES FROM THE AIRPORT.


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I opened the door of the moving cab and began to yell "HELP" three times

Jun 17

Posted by in Crazy Taxi Driver | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    Feb. 4, 2008

Time of Occurrence:    11:15pm

Location of Occurrence:     City of Las Vegas, NV

Comments:
            Taxi Driver: Hailut  Permit # Cab Type: SUV #4335 (?) Occupants: Mark and Kim Complaint: 1. Driver refused to take us to our hotel. 2. Driver refused three times to stop and let us out when we requested. 3. Driver called another cab driver to assist him in possible retaliation toward us. We were picked up at The Palms and told the taxi driver our destination was the Hilton Garden Inn to the south, he acknowledged this by repeating it in English. As we crossed over Highway 15 the driver turned north. My husband told him the hotel was south. The driver said “Las Vegas Hilton, north”, again we repeated our destination is The Hilton Garden Inn to the south. My husband and I requested he pull over and let us out, the driver began speaking in another language and kept driving, two more times my husband told the driver to stop, but the driver just spoke in another language we did not understand and continued to drive in the wrong direction. At this point I became concerned for our safety, I reached forward and took his license which my husband wrote down his name and # and I opened the door of the moving cab and began to yell “HELP” three times; the driver pulled over on a darkened side street and my husband told me as we got out that the driver had “called for a friend to come”, and another cab drove up and its driver began to yell at us. There was a third cab who was not involved close by and he picked us up and took us to our hotel and also gave us the phone # to call and make a complaint.


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Cab driver took us along back roads that were deserted and dimly lit

Apr 26

Posted by in Bad Customer Service | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    Feb 26, 2008

Time of Occurrence:    around 12:15 am

Location of Occurrence:     between Wynn and MGM Grand

Comments: 
            3 of my girl friends and I boarded Cab no. 4590 from Wynn to return to our hotel (MGM Grand). We boarded the cab a little after 12 am on Feb 26, 2008. Instead of taking the straight road down the strip, the cab driver took us along back roads that were deserted and dimly lit. It also felt to us that it was a much longer drive. When we asked the cab driver why he was taking us along the longer route, he stopped the cab in the middle of nowhere and loudly yelled that it was his decision. If we had any problems with it, we should talk with his cab company. We were scared with the way he was talking, and we told him to drive us to the MGM Grand. Upon reaching MGM Grand, we noted that the fare was $11.70. This was much more than the $8.20 we had paid when we took a cab from MGM Grand to Wynn. We feel cheated as he purposely took us along a long way. Then he also talked with us in a threatening manner. When we got out of the cab, we told him we wanted to talk with his manager. He refused to give us the name/number of his cab company. When I told him we would call the cops, he pointed to the cab company number of the door of the car. I tried calling his company but the phone kept ringing. In the mean time, he kept talking with my friends in a threatening manner and pointing his finger at them in an accusatory tone. He wanted to be paid and he did not want us to complain to anyone. He also refused to give us his permit number. We finally called the security supervisor at the MGM Grand who reasoned with him. We paid the cab driver $11.70 and told him we were going to file a complaint against him. The MGM security helped us get the permit number from his cab. Our complaint is: 1. Charging us extra fare by taking a longer route than if he had taken us from Wynn to MGM via the Las Vegas strip. He should have asked us what road we wanted him to take. 2. Stopping the car in the middle of a deserted road and starting to yell at us and threatening us. 3. Refusing to cooperate and give us his permit number, cab company phone number and manager’s name/phone number. DETAILS: 1. Cab company name: VEGAS-WESTER CAB, 5010 S Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas NV 89118 2. Phone no: 702-643-1041 3. Driver’s name: Tesefaye Hailu 4. Medallion no.: 4590 5. T.A. Permit no.: 027605 6. Incident occured: Feb 26, 2008 around 12:15 am 7.


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Driver started cursing instead of explaining

Apr 26

Posted by in I was Longhauled! | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    March 3, 2008

Time of Occurrence:    About 11:00 am

Location of Occurrence:     Sands Expo Center

Comments: 
            From: Knights Inn Las Vegas, 5100 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89119 To: Sands Expo Convention Center, 201 Sands Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89169 Time: Around 11:00 am, March 3, 2008 Cab number: # 674 Cab company: Nellis Cab Cab Authority Number: Not sure if this is the number for it: 080303012 (We found it by the fare meter) Around 10:15 am On March 3, the lady at the reception desk of Knights Inn Las Vegas called a taxi for us. After 30 minutes, a taxi arrived. We got on the taxi, told the driver we wanted to go to the Sands Expo Convention Center and started discussing our plans. The driver went around the high way I – 215 and I -15 instead of going to Swenson St and Tropicana Ave, which is a much shorter way. When we realized that and questioned about it, at first, he found excuse saying the short way was one way. After we told him where he could go, this driver started cursing instead of explaining. He was extremely rude, he even yelled: “…I GO WHERE I WANT TO GO. IF YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN, GO AHEAD! I DON’T CARE! … JUST PAY ME THE MONEY AND GET OUT OF MY CAB!…” We were so shocked! Not only to the cheating and overcharged price, (we paid $23.70 that was supposed to be less than 5 miles), especially the horrible attitude he showed to the customers and the way he talked to the customers! We have been in the Vegas a couple of times, never had this terrible experience before. We travel frequently; we never even had the same situation from any other city or state. After we got off the cab, we checked out the taxi number, it was #674, and we called the Knights Inn, we were told that was from Nellis Cab. We also noticed that there was a number by the fare meter inside of the cab and in front of the passenger seat: 080303012. When we paid the taxi driver and asked for the receipt, he threw a western cab’s card to us, and refused to give us any receipt with the specific amount. This driver is a white male with strong foreign accent English. He is about 5-09 high with curly hair tied in a ponytail. We think that Las Vegas is an international city, people come from all over the world, taxi driver’s abominable behavior and cheating not only damaged the reputation of Nellis Cab, it also humiliated the beautiful city. We think that is absolutely unacceptable. We request the investigation and want formal apology and refund from the company. Thank you very much.


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Taxi driver picked us up at spearmint rhino

Apr 24

Posted by in I was Longhauled! | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    3-29-08

Time of Occurrence:    11:30

Location of Occurrence:     3344 S Highland Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Comments: 
            Taxi driver picked us up at spearmint rhino and the destination was the hooters hotel. The distance between both places are 2.75 miles. It only took 4 minutes to arrive at the club from our personal tranpertation and took 30 minutes to get back via the taxi driver in question. The total fare was $17.10 for a distance of 2.75 miles. I know that the driver took the longest routes he could so that he could not only rack up the charges but also convince us to go to a strip club of his choice so that he can get a commision from them. For what should have been maybe a $7.00 trip we paid him a total of $20.00. His number is #6048 and I believe he was with western cab. I mentioned to the cab driver that he was taking the long route and he said there was no other way back.

Timestamp: 4/2/2008 6:23:19 PM


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He looked confident about driving us to our hotel.

Apr 19

Posted by in I was Longhauled! | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    April 7th 2008

Time of Occurrence:    7:30PM

Location of Occurrence:     Las Vegas McCarran International Airport

Comments: 
            On April 7th 2008 around 7:30pm, my husband, sister, my 6 month old son and I got a mini van cab large enough to accommodate the three of us, our luggage and a large stroller. I specifically told the driver the name of the hotel we are staying in is called Grand Chateau Marriott located on the strip, between Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe. He looked confident about driving us to our hotel. He drove us on the highway, and somewhere on the Sahara Avenue, and drove us straight to the Hilton. We did not know that we have been driven to the Hilton Hotel until I got in and saw a huge sign that it was in fact the Hilton. We were charged $28 for this trip. I got into the hotel and the man at the front desk seemed utterly confused as to why we have been driven to Hilton because Marriott is 3 miles away from Hilton. Incidentally enough, the driver left us 2 of his business cards so I called him to pick us up. He came back within 10 minutes, and apologized. He kept insisting on that I told him we were going to the Hilton. (Hilton and Grand Chateau Marriott sound nothing alike, therefore I don’t see how confusion occured). Also, he talked about dignity and decency, and how decent he is as a man to have come back to pick us up. Of course, he just wanted to cover up the fact that he just charged us almost 3 times the right fare, because if he is nice enough to have picked us up from Hilton, then there is no way would a person like that scam us. When we got into his cab, he set his meter again and said something like “I’ll set the meter again to charge mileage”. I have no idea what that means. When we got to the Marriott, our trip from Hilton cost about 9 dollars. My husband asked him “what are we going to do about the fare?” And the driver said “I guess you could pay in full or half, its your call”. My husband having to spend nearly $30 from airport to the wrong hotel, plus $10 tip, gave him half of the fare. The only reason we believe we have been ripped off and scammed is because other cab drivers have told us that a fare to Marriott from airport is about 12 dollars. When we were leaving Marriott to the airport, the driver charged us $11 and a couple of cents. We were told that the right route from Marriott to the airport is by Harmon and Paradise Avenue. Unfortunately I did not get his cab number, or the name of the company because I initially wouldn’t have filed a complaint until we realized that on our way back home the ride back to the airport was 11 dollars!!! Since he gave us his “business card”, the information on his card is: Bill Talbert (His I.D said William Talbert) Address on the card is: 210 N. 10TH Suite 13, Las Vegas, NV 89106 The phone number on the card is: (702) 406-6733 I would really appreciate it if something could be done about this because he makes other cab drivers look bad and it makes me feel uneasy about using taxi services in Las Vegas. Other drivers we have had were very professional and actually apologized on behalf of Mr. Talbert. Therefore, it would benefit everyone if something could be done to warn this man against future scams on tourists. Thank you!

Timestamp: 4/11/2008 10:35:24 PM


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He called me an asshole and got back into his van.

Apr 19

Posted by in Crazy Taxi Driver | No Comments

Date of Occurrence:    4/12/08

Time of Occurrence:    4:15 AM

Location of Occurrence:     Margaritaville / O’Sheas

Comments: 
            This morning, I just had my 3rd altercation with a cab driver at the same intersection. I usually get off work at 4AM and come out of the North Flamingo parking lot which puts you into the alley between Margaritaville and O’Sheas. I don’t think this alley has a name. This alley takes you to Las Vegas Blvd where there is a right hand turn lane and a left hand turn lane. I use the right hand turn lane to go home. As usual a cab driver was parked in the right hand turn lane waiting for a fare. The cab driver got out of his car and walked over to me and said that he was waiting for a fare and that I had to go around him. I told him that there were cars behind me and in the left hand turn lane and asked him how I was supposed to go around him. He called me an asshole and got back into his van. When the light turned green, he of course didn’t move. When traffic finally cleared, the car behind me went around both our cars to make the right hand turn. When the cab driver saw that this, for some reason the cab driver tried to cut him off then took off. Unfortunately this all happened so fast so I didn’t get a chance to get the driver’s information but my complaint is not about this one driver but all the drivers who park in this right had turn lane on a daily basis around 4AM. Sometimes there are 3 or 4 cabs parked there. My other 2 altercations at this same intersection is where the drivers waived me to go around him but when I did so they tried to cut me off also. I don’t know why they are doing this but other employees have said they have had this same problem. This is happening everyday and I don’t know why nothing ever gets done about it. Besides having to sit at a green light for 3 cycles, my biggest fear is that these cab drivers are going to cause an accident if they already haven’t. Isn’t there some sort of taxi police and can’t they monitor this intersection to alleviate the problem?


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I had a Elvis-a-Rama Taxi Fare Receipt

Apr 19

Posted by in Lost and Found Follies | 2 Comments

Date of Occurrence:    April 10

Time of Occurrence:    7:30PM

Location of Occurrence:     Hilton Grand Vacation Club on Strip

Comments: 
I rode a cab from the Venetian to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club at approximately 7:30PM on April 10th. The driver dropped me off and picked up another fair before I had a chance to get my bag out of the back. So he ended up driving off with my luggage (a black roller bag with my business card attracted in yellow card pouch). I had a receipt from the driver which indentified the company as Elvis-a-Rama Taxi Fare Receipt 3401 Industrial Rd. Las Vegas, NV 702-308-7200 and www.elvisaroma.com. Well it turns out that the phone number is disconnected. So I ended trying to call every cab company in Vegas searching for my bag using your website. Most were polite and tried to help or if not there they had a number where you could leave a measage. It turns someone from Nellis Cab Co. (3564 West Naples, Las Vegas, Nevada 89103 Phone: 702-248-1111) had the bag the called my home phone number Friday – since I did not leave my home number I assume they read a bag tag and just called that number. Not knowing they had my bag I called them a second time at 702-248-1111 which is number on your website to once again ask if they found my bag. I got a message from home at that they had my bag and I should call a second number 702-367-4004. So I called them back AGAIN and they told me lost and found was locked up and I could not get my bag until Monday. I explained I called several times earlier in the day to the 702-248-1111 number but was only was able to leave a voicemail message. It was only after I went to your website and found the other number 702-873-8012 number that I got through. I explained I would be gone on Monday she said call back Saturday AM there would be a supervisor. I called them yet again April 12, 2008 Saturday morning and the supervisor at Nellis Cab Co. laughed at me and no way would they call someone in ‘just to get a bag.” He said don’t try to tell him how to do his job and I could do what ever I wanted he did not care. Great commercial for LAS VEGAS tourism – his cab driver takes off with my bag – his cab driver gives me bogus receipt – his cab company doesn’t answer the phone at the number listed on DMV website, his cab company doesn’t responded to my messages when lost and found is open on Friday, and now no one even bothers unlock their lost on found until Monday morning –I am now guessing that I will have to pay for them to ship it back to me. WOW what a great commercial for Las Vegas Tourism! Just thought you might want to know Thanks.


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