I don't usually review even when I have bad experiences but this review has to go out there not only to help others who book Alfa cabs but to prevent other drivers taking advantage of passengers and putting their safety at risk.
Let me start by saying this is 3 of 3 poor incidents I've had with Alfa cabs but by far the worst.
The first incident was similar to this and the second I had the cab cancel with no alternative arrangement offered within 3 hours leaving us stranded and out of pocket.
Let me say that when travelling to the airport we haven't had issues but it's the journey home where issues arise and ruin the experience.
The experience started by an ever so slight delay (half an hour) which Alfa cabs are supposed to monitor and tell the driver. When we touched down in Gatwick we hadn't received any correspondence so I called to inform the company we had landed and they put me in contact with the driver. Due to unforeseen circumstances we were prevented from leaving the plane for another half an hour incurring us a £7.50 late fee which wasn't an issue as it states this is the case on the website. However it all started to go wrong when I began to contact the driver who called me and was very unhappy at being made to wait hours which shouldn't be the case as the company are 'supposed' to inform their drivers of any updates to flights etc so they're not made to waiting.
When I met the driver, before getting in the cab, he starting trying to renegotiate the price to which I stated we were going to stick with the price agreed at the point of booking, after some back and fourth he eventually let us in. To pay the late fee we paid the parking as well as bank transferring the remaining price however this wasn't good enough and for the hour + journey the driver shouted at us demanding a tip and to pay 10-15 pounds more for other parking fees which if you read the T&C's from the company aren't incorporated in the price, something I repeatedly told the driver. We even had to call the company who hadn't stuck to their policy and took off the first half an hour and charged us a double late fee, something they amended by taking the price down to what it should've been.
During the hour journey the driver shouted at us insulting our age, ability to pay money and threatened multiple times to pull over on a smart motorway (no hard shoulder) to clarify the price with the company despite this being illegal, dangerous and only for use in emergencies. This wasn't the only issue, the driver wasn't fit to drive and was swerving on the motorway whilst holding his phone in one hand and driving with the other. It got so bad I had to inform the driver that this was dangerous and against the law which he initially listened to but then continued to go on the phone throughout the journey.
As previously mentioned the driver demanded a tip before the journey had even finished. At one point I even began recording on my phone as I genuinely believed the driver would leave us stranded on a smart motorway, during this footage I got the driver demanding a tip, insulting our age and asking for more money. It was only 2 minutes out of an hour journey where the driver non-stop demanded money.
Towards the end of the journey I made it clear I wasn't going to be bullied by the driver to pay more money, the driver then went back on his promise to call the company to clarify the price, something I'd already done during the journey, making us think he was threatened to do so to try and intimidate us to pay more money.
On another note, following the booking of the cab I phoned Alfa cabs to confirm the price writing it down as I was told. Upon meeting the driver the price had changed from £55 to £62 not including any late fees, I decided not to fight this as after calling the head office they stated this was the price from the get go, meaning an admin error must've been made to cause this.
To conclude, it is clear the drivers of this company are extorting multiple good willed customers under the guise that they must pay for parking and pay way over the odds for being late. My advice for anyone looking to book with these guys is to avoid the return leg as the cab drivers aren't following the rules, breaking agreements and attempting to intimidate passengers. It's clear that the admin side of the business needs to improve the quality of the drivers to avoid the one thing you wish to avoid and that is putting passengers at risk through poor, careless driving whilst keeping passengers stressed throughout the entirety of a journey.
The driver of this journey was a Mr Mirzada with the a Volkswagen Sharen with it's reg ending GZH. read more
