Very Threatening Taxi Driver - What To Do?

[khun_j]

hiya folks,

hubby just came home and had a verrrryyy bad experience with a taxi driver.

he (unfortunately, i was not along) made out a fixed price from thaniya plaza (silom) to us (ramkamhaeng), fixed WITH tollway. ok, the taxi guy used the oldest trick in the book and did not use the tollway. hubby told him (whilst driving) that he´d deduct the tollway price, and when they arrived here and he did it the driver was talking murder AND following him out of the taxi carrying on. that was not nice...

can we report him? we got the licence plate and i am definitely not willing to put up with this kind of behaviour.

thanks a billion for your answers!

[mgjackson69]

Sure you can report him.

Will anything happen as a result? Probably not.

[dingdongrb]

hiya folks,

hubby just came home and had a verrrryyy bad experience with a taxi driver.

he (unfortunately, i was not along) made out a fixed price from thaniya plaza (silom) to us (ramkamhaeng), fixed WITH tollway. ok, the taxi guy used the oldest trick in the book and did not use the tollway. hubby told him (whilst driving) that he´d deduct the tollway price, and when they arrived here and he did it the driver was talking murder AND following him out of the taxi carrying on. that was not nice...

can we report him? we got the licence plate and i am definitely not willing to put up with this kind of behaviour.

thanks a billion for your answers!

PM me and I'll provide you with the number of my brother in law who is a taxi driver in BKK and he will not cheat you or make any threats.

As the other poster stated, reporting him will probably not accomplish anything.

[jonw8uk]

I know that there's a phone number you can call for reporting taxis.

Sorry I can't remember it, but I'm sure its on the web, or another user will know it.

I'd say report it, maybe (read: probably) nothing will be done, but you never know, and if this driver has enough complaints against him when he goes to renew his licence, he may have some problems.

More and more of the drivers seem to be taking the p*ss recently, refusing to go (illegal) and not wanting to use the meter (also illegal)

Your hubby's situation was more serious than that, so, if only to feel like you've done something, it's worth a call.

[mgjackson69]

Absolutely, make the call.

It might save someone else from the same experience...and if nothing else, you will have an opportunity to relieve some frustration.

[MSingh]

No offence & it doesn't make the actions of the Taxi Driver right of course but if they Guy wants to avoid using the Toll & keep the money for it, just let him, how much are we talking here ??

50 BHT ??

80 BHT tops ??

Big deal..

& tell your Husband to not negotiate with them as they don't always stick to the negotiation as he unfortunately found out, but use a Taxi Meter ONLY, that will help ALL of us if we ALL do that, possibly make more Taxi Drivers use their meter ( as much chance of that as you have of the Police doing something & something happening to this Driver if you reported it ) & it might stamp out more incidents like this one ..

I know it is frustrating but this is Thailand & Thai people will continue to do these little frustrating things every single day & iff you can't get used to it & let them get away with it once in while, you might want to re think being here..

I hate it when the Petrol Station Boy tries to rip me off by short changing me on purpose, or when the Taxi Guy fumbles around with the 10 Baht coin change from a Bangkok Toll but you either get used to it, or maybe Thailand isn't for you..

It doesn't just happen in Thailand either so i'm not just Thai Bashing..

Edited August 2, 2008 by MSingh

[kiakaha]

made out a fixed price from thaniya plaza (silom)

thats your problem from the get go.

if I am in that area, i NEVER get a cab that is waiting on silom or surawong.they all suck. I prefer to go over to convent, somewhere down by starbucks, and hail down one that is moving towards sathon. You'll always get the meter, plus at the end of convent you can turn left to get back up to sala daeng,rama 4, rajadamri, henri dunant,wittayu, sarasin, langsuan, sukhumvit, ratchada/asoke, soi 22 back end, tollways etc... very easily.

Edited August 3, 2008 by kiakaha

[mgjackson69]

made out a fixed price from thaniya plaza (silom)

Meter only...always

They are not offering a fixed rate to save you (the passenger) money...

[xerostar]

It's not worth a disagreement with these bad tempered taxi drivers.

They are capable of anything.

I've seen them wielding big knives and they won't hesitate to use them if you stir them up.

If your a black belt in Judo or higher you might like to take your chances with one, but what if

he comes back later with 3 or 4 of his friends? You put yourself and your family at risk!

Just pay up, give a tip and say thank you.

Just thank your good luck that you reached your destination in one piece and then forget about it.

Even though it's wrong and you had bad luck by getting the wrong taxi, you won't change anything by complaining.

You pay a small price for peace - it's not like you're losing much money anyway.

[kiakaha]

with these unmetered cabs, even if you are completely fluent in reading/speaking thai or even better, a thai national, know the roads/sois/expressways/shortcuts/oneways/traffic peak hr vs non peak hr etc... better than the collaborative knowledge of the entire taxi driver force....they'll still invariably try it on, thats their game.And when you out them, they have nothing but violence to fall back on.

the taxi game here is run by muscle(i'm led to believe), its unfortunate really, because as far as I am concerned, there really is niche market for a higher quality taxi experience(cabs like in japan with gps map tracking etc.., very professional/courteous drivers, guaranteed service levels(meter no questions asked, no dicking around on the route etc...), clean comfortable nice smelling cabs, electronic-payment options with receipts etc...)

[onzestan]

with these unmetered cabs, even if you are completely fluent in reading/speaking thai or even better, a thai national, know the roads/sois/expressways/shortcuts/oneways/traffic peak hr vs non peak hr etc... better than the collaborative knowledge of the entire taxi driver force....they'll still invariably try it on, thats their game.And when you out them, they have nothing but violence to fall back on.

the taxi game here is run by muscle(i'm led to believe), its unfortunate really, because as far as I am concerned, there really is niche market for a higher quality taxi experience(cabs like in japan with gps map tracking etc.., very professional/courteous drivers, guaranteed service levels(meter no questions asked, no dicking around on the route etc...), clean comfortable nice smelling cabs, electronic-payment options with receipts etc...)

If you notice that people are willing to take huge risks to save a few baht on taxi fares, imagine the reaction if confronted with the price of a Tokio taxi.

There is no viable market for this kind of service in Bangkok.

cheers

onzestan

[kiakaha]

with these unmetered cabs, even if you are completely fluent in reading/speaking thai or even better, a thai national, know the roads/sois/expressways/shortcuts/oneways/traffic peak hr vs non peak hr etc... better than the collaborative knowledge of the entire taxi driver force....they'll still invariably try it on, thats their game.And when you out them, they have nothing but violence to fall back on.

the taxi game here is run by muscle(i'm led to believe), its unfortunate really, because as far as I am concerned, there really is niche market for a higher quality taxi experience(cabs like in japan with gps map tracking etc.., very professional/courteous drivers, guaranteed service levels(meter no questions asked, no dicking around on the route etc...), clean comfortable nice smelling cabs, electronic-payment options with receipts etc...)

if confronted with the price of a Tokio taxi.

cheers

onzestan

i only mentioned service levels, not price points.

the price point might be higher than current cabs but still significantly lower then Tokyo.

preferred taxi ranks at all the main hotels, main office buildings would immediately represent a niche market.Similar to how many high end service apartments only allow affiliated cabs to wait in their "ranks".

but its all a moot point really due to the gang/corruption related nature of the current taxi industry.

[TopDogger]

made out a fixed price from thaniya plaza (silom)

Meter only...always

They are not offering a fixed rate to save you (the passenger) money...

Can't really blame the legit drivers for not down there, if they go down there trying to pick up a fare they'll get fined by the police... This is why all the drivers in the area are on the take... The trick is to flag a taxi down thats dropped someone off, there allowed onto silom/surawong without a fine as they already have a passenger.

Edited August 3, 2008 by TopDogger

[mgjackson69]

>...due to the gang/corruption related nature of the current taxi industry

I guess so, if by "gang" you mean "police"

[kiakaha]

>...due to the gang/corruption related nature of the current taxi industry

I guess so, if by "gang" you mean "police"

the police are the largest organized crime gang in thailand.

thai "mafia" come a close 2nd.

although i'd dare to say that they have inter-interoperability agreements in place for mutual benefit.

[Tyke]

hiya folks,

hubby just came home and had a verrrryyy bad experience with a taxi driver.

he (unfortunately, i was not along) made out a fixed price from thaniya plaza (silom) to us (ramkamhaeng), fixed WITH tollway. ok, the taxi guy used the oldest trick in the book and did not use the tollway. hubby told him (whilst driving) that he´d deduct the tollway price, and when they arrived here and he did it the driver was talking murder AND following him out of the taxi carrying on. that was not nice...

can we report him? we got the licence plate and i am definitely not willing to put up with this kind of behaviour.

thanks a billion for your answers!

Why did he negotiate a price to begin with? To get a cheaper fare? If so then accept your loss.

Was it because the driver refused otherwise? If so take another.

I never take a taxi unless it uses a meter - I insist on it.

If they refuse, I take another.

If they say 'meter broken' I take another.

If they say 'need pay 50 baht extra if go to airport', I take another - even if they then recind.

There are zillions to chose from. Never negotiate with metered taxis - also one reason I much prefer public transport and avoid tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis.

[DP25]

NEVER get inside a taxi that is just hanging around, especially near soi Thaniya in Silom. Only get in a taxi that is driving around looking for customers. Never negotiate the price. Open the back door, politely ask them in Thai "pai <location> mai?", if they nod get in, and they will automatically turn on the meter. Any scammers will be put off by you speaking 2 words in Thai and not take you. I've taken hundreds of taxis and never had a problem.

[Sabum]

Like so many people have said..... PLEASE teach your husband to NEVER get into a taxi for a fixed price, those people are gangsters and capable of anything. If you live in Thailand you should know this. Simply move on to the next taxi or the next group of taxis or the next street.

[PREXPRESSBKK]

Key thing is to try to deseminate as much as possible about what happened to your husband on the internet about Taxis in Thailand....this hopefully will get more people to not come here and hopefully the authorities will do something to regulate the services here then.

[Ulysses G.]

I've met a good number of farangs whose Thai is incomprehensible, but they think that they are fluent. My bet is that the driver did not understand him and was not trying to cheat him, but felt that he was being cheated instead. I've seen similar situations many times in Thailand.

[bkkjames]

I've met a good number of farangs whose Thai is incomprehensible, but they think that they are fluent. My bet is that the driver did not understand him and was not trying to cheat him, but felt that he was being cheated instead. I've seen similar situations many times in Thailand.

Are you serious?

[Ulysses G.]

Yes, certainly.

I've seen a lot more problems caused by foreigners completely misunderstanding the situation, than Thais blatantly cheating them.

[kiakaha]

Open the back door, politely ask them in Thai "pai <location> mai?", if they nod get in, and they will automatically turn on the meter. Any scammers will be put off by you speaking 2 words in Thai and not take you.

This is probably better : ไป < จุดหมายปลายทาง > ได้ไหมครับ

literally -> go <destination> can you please ?

Edited August 4, 2008 by kiakaha

[Sabum]

Yes, certainly.

I've seen a lot more problems caused by foreigners completely misunderstanding the situation, than Thais blatantly cheating them.

Sorry but the instant he is trying not to use the meter he is cheating people, it is totally illegal, that blows your little theory out of the water about most problems being miscommunication, no most problems ARE blatant cheating.

[TheDon]

He probably thought is a fixed price to get him home, he tried to avoid tolls so save money and then when your hubby started to deduct the FIXED price shit hit the fan. But please tell your hubby never to accept fixed price. What I do is ask them for the meter (my first question) they say no I slam the door. It may take a few taxi's but I rather go with a taxi driver who is honest and I usually tip them well for it.

But there is some real asshol_e taxi's ive been ripped off and I was actually forced in one once as there was 2 groups of young youths looking at me 4 in the morning and I could see they were ready to punch on with me, the taxi driver said to me 400 baht for me and my friend (each). this is for a trip that wouldnt even cost me 70 baht all up (5-10 minute drive) I wanted to smash the taxi driver as I was SOOOOOOO pissed off but my mate held me back and we got out the taxi. It probably was the smarter thing for us to do

[jaiyenyen]

The Don,

You disappoint me.

What happened to the old Don we all know and love? He would have sorted those two gangs of yoofs out with a few well aimed snap kicks and still had some left for the scumbag taxi driver.

[seagull]

Having a negotiated fare and agreed upon in my book, is fair and square. Meter or no meters. But passenger (OP's hubby) agreed fare includes the toll fees. So driver deviates and not pay for the toll. Then pax wants to deduct the toll fee from the total fare. And from then, hence this posting from kung_i about threatening behavior from taxi driver. So is this about the driver's attitude or about the toll fee.

Having said these, imho, OP shouldn't be ranting over the toll fee. Perhaps, wrong time wrong place and wrong taxi driver.

[TopDogger]

Yes, certainly.

I've seen a lot more problems caused by foreigners completely misunderstanding the situation, than Thais blatantly cheating them.

For sure, as a lot of Thais don't expect foriengers to speak Thai. So even someone who can string together a few words of half decent Thai, like directions for a taxi can still end up getting the blank "what the fuc_k are you on about" look, and then the driver will just go with what he understood, ie - the name of the destination.

[TopDogger]

Sorry but the instant he is trying not to use the meter he is cheating people, it is totally illegal, that blows your little theory out of the water about most problems being miscommunication, no most problems ARE blatant cheating.

lol.. how much do u think they'd make pr month with the current price of fuel if no one ever tipped em.. Fixed rate, no problem, provided they ain't taking the piss.. You think all the taxi's arriving in Pattaya/Hua Hin have meters on? Maybe 1 in 1000 does...

I'd hazard a guess that its more profitable to drive a motorbike taxi than a 4 wheeled one @ the moment, a lot of the regular drivers outside my condo now have motorbikes..

[DP25]

This is probably better : ไป < จุดหมายปลายทาง > ได้ไหมครับ

Yeah. But anyone that needed to be taught that simple phrase, is not going to be able to read what you wrote.