Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Legion Cabs Your Service Stinks
The following is a rushed written complaint and submitted through Legion Cabs' feedback system (http://www.legioncabs.com.au).
On friday night/saturday morning (3/12-4/12) I had an incident where I had to wait more than an hour for one of your cabs. I called up for a cab, within 15-20minutes of waiting I called back to check on the status. I was assured by the operator that a cab had been assigned, he even gave me the taxi number although I can't recall it now. A taxi did arrive shortly after the call resembling the number given to me however when I approached the taxi he told me that if I wasn't going to the city then he wasn't going to take me. I waited roughly another 15 minutes and called up again and the operator now told me that there were no taxis assigned to me yet. I told her of the situation and I had been waiting for almost an hour. I finally gave up and took the train - whilst waiting I finally got a call from one of your operators to ask me if I needed a cab 1 and a half hours after I orginally placed the call. I! would have been much more pleased with your service if you had at least called me back to inform me that no cabs could come within a reasonable time rather than let me potentially wait in the cold for 1 and 1/2 hours.
On friday night/saturday morning (3/12-4/12) I had an incident where I had to wait more than an hour for one of your cabs. I called up for a cab, within 15-20minutes of waiting I called back to check on the status. I was assured by the operator that a cab had been assigned, he even gave me the taxi number although I can't recall it now. A taxi did arrive shortly after the call resembling the number given to me however when I approached the taxi he told me that if I wasn't going to the city then he wasn't going to take me. I waited roughly another 15 minutes and called up again and the operator now told me that there were no taxis assigned to me yet. I told her of the situation and I had been waiting for almost an hour. I finally gave up and took the train - whilst waiting I finally got a call from one of your operators to ask me if I needed a cab 1 and a half hours after I orginally placed the call. I! would have been much more pleased with your service if you had at least called me back to inform me that no cabs could come within a reasonable time rather than let me potentially wait in the cold for 1 and 1/2 hours.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Long Time No Blog
Not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore. I'm back again - less busy in my personal schedule I guess - but still busy (if that makes any sense).
Taxis in sydney suck. Melbourne's aren't that much better either. Brisbane ones are okay. Why do they suck you ask me? After the Optus Christmas party - Caryl and I both decided that we've had enough partying and head home. We decided that we'd hail down a taxi walking back to Milson's Point station. After about 10 minutes of walking around and holding my hand up to random taxis we decided that this wasn't going to work - so we decided that we'd go into the Vibe Hotel North Sydney (opposite Milson's Point Station) and ask the concierge for a cab number. 15 minutes passed - Caryl complained about being cold and tired. Still we waited. I decided to check up on the cab. The operator told me that Cab 3814 was on it's way and will give me a call on my mobile phone when it gets there. So we waited patiently for another 15 minutes. A cab resembling the number the operator gave me pulls up.
Me: Hey buddy
Driver: Hey just wait a minute I'm going to call someone.
Me: I think you're here from me.
Driver: Uh - just wait. Are you going to the city?
Me: No - I ordered a cab to North Ryde.
Driver: If you're not going to the city then I can't take you.
Me: Oh okay.
Walking away I see a group of guys come up to the cab (they were there much later than us) they got the cab and left.
Upon seeing this I told Caryl that the cab was probably for those guys but the more I thought about it the more I suspected that the cab was really for us but wanted to make a better fare with going to the City (easier to pick up more passengers after dropping passengers off in the City). So concerned and tired, I call the number again.
Operator: Legion Cabs - Address of pickup please.
Me: No, I want to check on a cab. I ordered a cab for the Vibe Hotel North Sydney
Operator: Hold on. Tony is it?
Me: Yes - As you can probably see I've been waiting for about 45 minutes for a cab.
Operator: Oh really? Hold on I'll see if there has been any cabs assigned to you...
Me: Yes there was! This is the *third* time I've called and the last operator told me that a cab had already been assigned. I think I saw him too but he said he won't take us unless we were going into the city.
Operator: Okay sir.
Me: Look, if you can't assign a cab to me just tell me now so I can organise another company to pick us up.
Operator: We're trying our best sir.
Me: Okay. *hangs up*
At this point Caryl suggests to me that we'd be better off taking the train to the city and try our luck there plus we can always catch the last bus home.
So we decided to take the train into the city. After waiting for about 20 minutes for the train at Milson's Point, my phone rings. It's a Legion cabs operator calling to see if I still wanted a cab. I just told them no. I'm thinking geeze - by the time a cab did come after that phone call would probably another 5-10 minutes which would probably mean it would've taken us 1 and 1/2 hours to wait for a cab!!!
Anyways our badluck wasn't over. We found our way to Town Hall station. Went to check the bus time. Found out we just missed an hourly bus by about 15 minutes. So we went around looking for a cab. There must've been so many people looking for cabs at the same time. We went up and down George street. For another good 45 minutes. Gave up since it was about time for the next bus to go back to Caryl's place. Luckily the bus came on time.
Sydney not only has problems with it's rail system - its taxi system is very much broken on friday nights of course if I had have booked a day beforehand we may have not had such an experience (maybe).
Taxis in sydney suck. Melbourne's aren't that much better either. Brisbane ones are okay. Why do they suck you ask me? After the Optus Christmas party - Caryl and I both decided that we've had enough partying and head home. We decided that we'd hail down a taxi walking back to Milson's Point station. After about 10 minutes of walking around and holding my hand up to random taxis we decided that this wasn't going to work - so we decided that we'd go into the Vibe Hotel North Sydney (opposite Milson's Point Station) and ask the concierge for a cab number. 15 minutes passed - Caryl complained about being cold and tired. Still we waited. I decided to check up on the cab. The operator told me that Cab 3814 was on it's way and will give me a call on my mobile phone when it gets there. So we waited patiently for another 15 minutes. A cab resembling the number the operator gave me pulls up.
Me: Hey buddy
Driver: Hey just wait a minute I'm going to call someone.
Me: I think you're here from me.
Driver: Uh - just wait. Are you going to the city?
Me: No - I ordered a cab to North Ryde.
Driver: If you're not going to the city then I can't take you.
Me: Oh okay.
Walking away I see a group of guys come up to the cab (they were there much later than us) they got the cab and left.
Upon seeing this I told Caryl that the cab was probably for those guys but the more I thought about it the more I suspected that the cab was really for us but wanted to make a better fare with going to the City (easier to pick up more passengers after dropping passengers off in the City). So concerned and tired, I call the number again.
Operator: Legion Cabs - Address of pickup please.
Me: No, I want to check on a cab. I ordered a cab for the Vibe Hotel North Sydney
Operator: Hold on. Tony is it?
Me: Yes - As you can probably see I've been waiting for about 45 minutes for a cab.
Operator: Oh really? Hold on I'll see if there has been any cabs assigned to you...
Me: Yes there was! This is the *third* time I've called and the last operator told me that a cab had already been assigned. I think I saw him too but he said he won't take us unless we were going into the city.
Operator: Okay sir.
Me: Look, if you can't assign a cab to me just tell me now so I can organise another company to pick us up.
Operator: We're trying our best sir.
Me: Okay. *hangs up*
At this point Caryl suggests to me that we'd be better off taking the train to the city and try our luck there plus we can always catch the last bus home.
So we decided to take the train into the city. After waiting for about 20 minutes for the train at Milson's Point, my phone rings. It's a Legion cabs operator calling to see if I still wanted a cab. I just told them no. I'm thinking geeze - by the time a cab did come after that phone call would probably another 5-10 minutes which would probably mean it would've taken us 1 and 1/2 hours to wait for a cab!!!
Anyways our badluck wasn't over. We found our way to Town Hall station. Went to check the bus time. Found out we just missed an hourly bus by about 15 minutes. So we went around looking for a cab. There must've been so many people looking for cabs at the same time. We went up and down George street. For another good 45 minutes. Gave up since it was about time for the next bus to go back to Caryl's place. Luckily the bus came on time.
Sydney not only has problems with it's rail system - its taxi system is very much broken on friday nights of course if I had have booked a day beforehand we may have not had such an experience (maybe).
