They do not deserve any star. No credibility and decency. Let me describe my experience.
I had a flight at 6:30am at BWI and tried to book a 4am cab the day before. Waldorf Silver cab is the nearest cab company from my address so I decided to go with them assuming they should know the area well. I filled out a reservation form but did not get a confirmation email, so I called and the person answering the phone said yes we have your reservation and we will see you at 4.
This morning...
3:55--I waited in front of the house.
4:10--the cab didn't come so I called, and was told that the driver would be there shortly.
4:15--the cab was still not there and I called again but the driver answered this time. He said he would be there in 5 to 7 minutes.
4:20--I was getting impatient and called the third time to see if he's nearby, found out that he was 12 miles away, just left the cab company address. Also, this time he said my address does not come up on his GPS. First of all, the address is definitely on Google map if not in his GPS, and other people could find it just fine; second of all, if he was to pick me up at 4am like he should, this problem would have come up before 3:40. I stayed on the phone to give him directions. Keep in mind that this is an Indian guy with an accent hard to understand and a phone headset that has the sound quality of a walkie-talkie .
4:41--The cab showed up finally, 41 minutes late. My flight is at 6:30, and the airport is an hour away.
I got on the cab irritated. The driver was on the phone with the woman dispatcher trying to explain why he was so late. The last straw that broke the camel's back was that the driver started to blame me for not telling him that my address might not be in his GPS, I was pissed and said "a cab company should have an updated GPS or know how to use the internet! Why didn't you call me at 3:40 to let me know you couldn't get the address so that I could give you the directions then and you would be here on time (It takes 20 minutes to get from the company address to mine) !!!"
Then he accused me of having an attitude and asked me to pay right away otherwise he won't go to the airport. He was afraid that I wouldn't pay him. I tried to called the woman dispatcher but his phone rang each time. I asked to talk to the woman so that I could report this cab. I really couldn't effectively argue with this guy, he is not logical and I only understood 30% of his English. He got nervous and said "why you want to call her? she's my employee, I'm the boss", Which is a lie because he had to explain to her why he was late earlier.
4:55--he pulled the car onto the highway shoulder and stopped driving. At this time I was astonished, pulled out the credit card and got ready to pay so that I can still make the fight. Turned out he only takes cash (I saw the card reader, he was lying again). Their website indicated clearly that they accept credit card.
4:58--He got off of the highway, took me to an empty mall parking lot where a drive through bank ATM was located. He asked me to get cash from the ATM otherwise we are not going anywhere. I wanted to called the police. But still hoping that I can make the flight so I got back to the car and said I'll give you half now and the other half when you get me to the airport safely, since I don't trust him at all at this point and was worried for my safety. Of course he repeated again that he's not going anywhere till I give him the full fare. I did. He seemed relieved and cheerful.
5:12--we got back on the highway, 50 minutes away from the airport. He went on lecturing me on how I should have booked the cab 3 hours before the flight and let the driver know if the address is new blah blah blah ... same rhetorical stuff. I just kept quiet because I have nothing left to say.
On the way to the airport I heard him answering phone calls of perspective customers and playing both roles of dispatcher and driver, and apparently they all have trouble understanding him. By playing the role of a dispatcher I meant he pretended that he was in the office and going to call them back when he gets in touch with the driver, which is himself.
5:53--We arrived at the airport. He said "I drive you good, right?" I didn't reply, how shameless can one be?
If you are wondering, I got through the security checkpoint at 6:13 and made the flight. Luckily I don't have bags to check. But I could have been there at least half an hour early without worrying about my safety and running through airport terminal. read more