Another UPDATE:
I am…read moredropping the rating to one star for this business. Get THIS. I was going to a MEMORIAL SERVICE and I called them way in advance to reserve a taxi at a specific time that would enable me to get to the service five minutes early. They totally screwed this up and I ended up being more than a half hour LATE. When they were five minutes late, I called and was told that they didn't know exactly when the cab would arrive, because "the drivers are [jerks] and don't drive fast enough." Ten minutes later, while I was standing on the sidewalk in brutal heat waiting and waiting for the cab, I tried calling again, and they didn't even answer the phone. I tried calling twice more, and they sent the first call straight to voicemail and then didn't pick up the other call, either.
They KNEW I was going to a damn memorial service. I have been an excellent customer and big tipper for years. And after they ignore my calls AND make me walk in late for my dead friend's memorial service, as the driver is dropping us off, he actually made us pay for the trip. Wouldn't you think any company with even a vague sense of customer service would have eaten the cost on that one? It wasn't such an expensive trip, and that small cost would have saved them from losing a long-time customer. I have not called them since. Some of the drivers are very nice, so I feel bad to give them such a bad review, but the way they handled that trip and did NOTHING to make it right was just the last straw.
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UPDATE:
I was thinking about raising the rating on this review, because it had been going better for awhile. But tonight first of all i didn't even get through until my 3rd call - they didn't pick up the first two calls, and then they told me "10 minutes" and then forgot all about me and weren't answering the phone. I finally got through on my (yet again) third call, and was eventually picked up about an hour after I'd called. I like these guys, but on Yelp two stars means "Meh. I've experienced better." and that is certainly the case with Belmont Taxi.
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When I've been an excellent customer for almost 2 solid years, using this company sometimes multiple times weekly, I expect better than to be LIED TO and left standing in the rain for 20 minutes beyond the stated arrival time.
If I am late by 5 minutes, they start the meter. That's only fair. But if they are late, do they deduct anything? Of course not. So, is it too much to ask to be told the TRUTH about the arrival time? Apparently so.
Today I called at 7:20 and was told the taxi would arrive in 10 minutes--at 7:30, which was coincidentally the exact time I had to vacate my Zipcar to stand outside in the rain. "Well," I figured, "they might be a little later than they think, but hopefully I won't be standing in the rain for too long..."
At 7:37, I called again to ask what time the cab would REALLY be arriving. The dispatcher said, "I told you 10 minutes; it's only been 7 minutes." I said, "No, it's been SEVENTEEN minutes, almost twice as long as you told me it would be. I called at 7:20 and you told me 10 minutes. I'm standing here in the rain with a broken umbrella, no hat, and no gloves. When will the cab actually be here?" And he then told me it would be ANOTHER TEN MINUTES beyond that point.
In other words, instead of 7:30, the new estimate was 7:47. If they had just been honest in the first place, I would have found somewhere INSIDE to wait for the taxi. Instead, I was lied to TWICE (the original "ten minutes" lie and the "it's only been seven minutes" lie) and given an estimate that was essentially ONE THIRD of the actual time it was going to take.
After nearly 2 years of giving this company my business, I am truly insulted to be treated this way. I understand that it's an estimate. But if they are so bad at estimating that their estimates are off by this much (27 minutes instead of 10 minutes--and who knows whether they really even would have been "on time" for the revised "estimate"), they need to learn. In this case, maybe losing a very good customer will make an impression. Since they're the only cab in town, probably not. But I am far more insulted by being LIED TO on top of the crap estimate.
