David Norftzedt
Owner at Affordable Taxi - Salem, Oregon,
I'm writing this email to make a complaint about one of your drivers & one of your dispatchers. I called & set up an appointment to have a taxi arrive at my home at 3135 Ellis Way NE last Saturday evening (April 29, 2017). I had called beforehand to set up. I asked for the taxi to arrive at 7:15 pm. The driver got here at 7:05. He had long blondish hair that was in a ponytail (just so you know who it was). I went out & told him that we would be coming out as soon as possible. I asked him if there was any possibility that he could assist my friend getting into the taxi when she came out. He said, "I'm not a caregiver" & said it very rudely. He said, "What....is she in a wheelchair or something?" I said, "No, but she may need you to take her elbow & just help a little bit". He got mad then. My friend has neuropathy & her knee & ankle was hurting some. My friend also has Chrone's disease so she was in my bathroom emptying her colostomy bag. I told her that she needed to hurry because the taxi was there. (Bear in mind that the taxi driver got there 10 mins. early). The dispatcher called the driver at that point & I heard their very rude conversation. She said that we had 2 mins. to get into the taxi & some other unprofessional things. I tried to repeat myself & said it would just be a few more minutes (knowing that if my friend was going to not be ready by 7:15 pm the driver would charge me for waiting). The dispatcher then called me & said, "I only have one driver on tonight & we need for you to hurry!!" I explained what was holding my friend up & that she would be out as soon as she could". So the driver went out & smoked a cigarette. And, of course your driver wouldn't assist her at all & became very rude again. I asked the driver, "You mean that you only have one driver on a Saturday night?" Ihen we got in the van & started out, he started honking the horn very rudely because a child was trying to get out of the way. He was mad the whole time. It was very upsetting to both me & my friend. Again, this is very unprofessional. After we got on the rode my friend & I were just having a conversation & he kept interrupting us. When we got to our destination & I paid he handed me the device to sign it. I thought he was just handing it to me & he said, "Well, I was trying to hold it for you & you grabbed it out of my hand!!" Once again, he said it very rudely.
Now, when I take a taxi I believe I should have a more congenial driver. As you know, taxis cost a lot of money & his & your dispatchers unprofessionalism was very upsetting to us. Needless to say, it was a very uncomfortable experience. Rudeness is uncalled for. When we got to our destination (a conference with about 200 people attending) we told some of our friends what happened. Several of them asked, "Was it Affordable Taxi Co." We said, "Yes" & they all said that they had ridden with your company & would NEVER use your company again. We told other people there about the unprofessionalism & they said it was uncalled for & were appalled. I TOTALLY agree with them. All of them said, "Thank you...& we will NEVER call them for taxi service". One of our friends offered to give us a ride home after the conference was over so that we wouldn't have to 'put up with' unprofessional & rude people.
When I called your company on Monday morning I spoke to Jenny. I told her everything that happened. When she asked me which driver it was, I said that I didn't know. Then she asked, "Did have blondish long hair & is rude?". I said, "Yes, that was him". I told her about the conversation that he & your dispatcher had & she told me that she would speak to the dispatcher. Jenny agreed that we shouldn't have been treated that way & that she would talk to her. Jenny said that she would call me back that afternoon or Tuesday. Well, I didn't hear back from her so I called her on Thursday. She said that she had talked to the dispatcher & your dispatcher lied & said that she didn't talk to me (or about me) that way. Well, your dispatcher lied! Why do you have such unprofessional people work at your company? I am in the service industry & I would NEVER treat people like that. Some people are meant to be in the service industry & some people just aren't! What I can't understand is why you would want to have such ungrateful & unprofessional people working at your company. There a lot of people who would do a much better job.
I will NEVER call your company again. My friends agreed & said that they wouldn't either. I wish that I would have looked at your reviews on Yelp before calling your company. They are terrible & it seems that a lot of other people had terrible experiences too. I have many choices here in Salem & your company is NOT one anymore!! I am also going to put a negative review on Yelp & tell everyone I know not to ever ride with your company. read more