Driver was great but Flash Cab sucks. Like a few other reviewers of Flash Cab, I had similar experience with their lost & found. I stupidly left my house keys in a cab after red eye flight at 5 am. Fortunately, I had a receipt and I called Dispatch 10 minutes after I got out of the cab at 5:30 when I could not open my apartment. I received a lost & found number, and was told that someone would call me.
About 6-7 hours later, I started to worry. The longer something is missing, the more chance it won't be found. So I called dispatch back, and they gave me good news - the cab driver had found my keys! They said the driver would call me and some arrangements would be made. With a sense of relief I hung up the phone. About 10 minutes later, a cab driver from 303 taxi called me to say he had found no keys. We together established that he was not my driver and that he did not drive the cab number I reported (based on receipt), and was not even the right cab company. So I am still thinking the driver has my keys and trust he will call when he has a chance or is in my neighborhood (Streeterville).
About 9-10 hours after my 5 am pickup at O'Hare, I thought the driver is surely off his shift. So I called dispatch back and let them know that a 303 driver called me. They say they don't have the right phone number for the driver and can do nothing, though they seem to know the driver's location - they say he is in Itasca and other outer burbs.
Dispatch then forwarded me to lost and found. There was no answer so left a message (they say they'll call back). I called dispatch back, and let them know that lost and found does not answer. They gave me a phone number for lost and found. I call and get same recording and leave another message. I now understand that lost and found is a 9-5 M-F operation. At 4:50 pm, I frantically leave one more message, begging them to call me back. Nada.
Next day is Thurs., and I call lost and found at 9:30, thinking maybe they just get stacked up at end of the day, giving benefit of the doubt. But no luck - same recording and I leave same message. I call Dispatch again, and they give me same story - my house keys have been found by the driver and the driver will call me. I beg them to please get the keys from the driver and I will come and pick them up. They say they have no way to communicate with the driver. They tell me to call lost and found, and I tell them I've already left 3-4 messages at lost and found with zero response. They forward me to complaints, where I get a message that someone will call me back (similar to lost and found).
I called lost and found again late on Thurs. with no answer and left a message. I called Dispatch again. The dispatcher gave me new information. She said that they only know who is driving the cab associated with given cab number now, and cannot look up who was driving that cab number in the past. She said the drivers switch cars. She said the person who wrote the note (that the driver found my keys and would call) works midnight shift. So i will call before he goes offshift at 7 am tomorrow. That dispatcher is now my only link between the driver and my house keys.
Today, I filed a cab complaint on city of Chicago website. There is something fundamentally wrong when a place of business feels they can keep critical personal property for undisclosed period of time. I don't have much hope that I will ever see my house keys, and feel like I need to change the locks. It is also my mail box key, my building and gym access fob, and my divvy bike key - all gone. The driver had my key and the company's inability to handle it efficiently has created sense of hopelessness.
Update - dispatch called and said the driver will call me. A driver with a thick Russian accent called and said that another driver (my original driver?) gave him my house keys. He said if he got a fare to the United Center, he would come by my building. However, if he did not get a fare, he would hand off my keys to some other driver because he does not work on Passover.
Stay tuned ... In the end, it seems useless to deal with the business and their lousy procedures. But the individual dispatchers and drivers are trying to help. read more
