We had booked a wheelchair accessible taxi from Calgary City Cabs so that the four of us could go out to celebrate a 65th birthday. The pick-up time had been set as 4:45 PM and all of us were out front of the building ready to be picked up. After an approximate wait of 10 minutes, we contacted the dispatch who assured us that, although running late, the driver was en-route and should be there in 10 minutes.
We waited that 10 minutes and then some and then attempted to reach their dispatch...no answer. Multiple phone calls were made to the dispatch number without anyone answering. In total we waited for 45 minutes for this irresponsible taxi company until calling Checker Cabs.
The Checker Cab arrived in about 10 minutes as their dispatch had promised. Although not a wheelchair accessible vehicle, it was a van and the driver kindly assisted in transferring the birthday celebrant from the wheelchair to a seat. Checker Cabs then did arrange for a wheelchair accessible vehicle to collect us after what needed to be an abbreviated dinner due to the incompetence of Calgary City Cabs. We had planned for a dinner of close to 2 hours and that time period was cut in half!
Interestingly enough, while we were waiting for the Checker Cab vehicle to take us to the restaurant, we received a phone call from the Calgary City Cab driver asking us if we still wanted him to come. He indicated that he had only just received the reservation. Someone...either him or the company, was clearly lying. The driver indicated that he was in a taxi line-up and he did not appear to be motivated to attend to our call.
The long and short....do not use Calgary City Cab! They are unreliable, unprofessional and obviously do not have a concern or compassion for mobility challenged individuals. We will rely on Checker Cabs in the future. They have considerably more wheelchair accessible vehicles on the road, professional drivers and reliable dispatchers who actually answer the phones.
Yelp should allow negative star ratings as this firm doesn't even deserve one star. read more