Private Hire Taxi drivers short-changing customers - Beware!

[la_que_sabé 10]

Hi there

Just thought I'd make Sheffield Forummers aware of this: on Saturday night, I got a Mercury taxi (fare of £4) and gave the driver a £20 note. He gave me £6 change. When I explained I'd given him £20, he became aggressive and told me I'd given him £10. He then showed me a £10 note which he said I'd given him. This is evidently a scam he is using. I've lodged a complaint with the police and also the company but, the company believe the taxi driver over myself and defended his aggressive stance also - saying that it would be normal to get aggressive if being accused of soimething they did not do. As a lone female passenger in the car, I was scared by his manner and felt bullied into taking the wrong change. Therefore, I suppose I'm just wanting to say, if you do get a Mercury cab, please try not to pay with a £20 note or clearly say you are paying with a £20 before handing it to them. I did take down the driver's details and will be passing this onto the the enforcement officer also for them to investigate.

 

NB: I've used Mercury for several years now and this is the only time something like this has happened. Needless to say, I will not be using them anymore but I do recognise that this was perhaps one bad egg in a bunch of good and honest drivers.

[patrick38 10]

thanks wont be using them again

[gnikojm'i 10]

wasnt there another thread like this last week? same driver maybe, or maybe there are lots of people doing it now!

[kermit103 10]

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=513328&highlight=TAXI+SCAM

[dieselbabe 10]

Did this happen also to some other forum member with a taxi?.

This is why (even thou my friends think i am mad) i mark my £20 notes before i spend them to prove i give them the note, and it has help a couple of times when people try to short change me, the look on their face is pricelss.

[JamieT 10]

@dieselbabe - wasn't that scam used in the film Paper Moon ?

1. Guy spends a marked $50 note, and gets the right change.

2. Girl goes to the same till spends $10, when she get the change she complains she is $40 short in change

3. Manager is told by the Girl - "I'm sure it was a $50 - it had "to my niece on her birthday" written on it"

4. Manager checks the till and finds $50 with those words written on it.

 

Not that I'm encouraging or condoning working this scam you understand !

[gnikojm'i 10]

@dieselbabe - wasn't that scam used in the film Paper Moon ?

1. Guy spends a marked $50 note, and gets the right change.

2. Girl goes to the same till spends $10, when she get the change she complains she is $40 short in change

3. Manager is told by the Girl - "I'm sure it was a $50 - it had "to my niece on her birthday" written on it"

4. Manager checks the till and finds $50 with those words written on it.

 

Not that I'm encouraging or condoning working this scam you understand !

 

yeah, was also shown in the tv prog the "real hustle"

[dieselbabe 10]

@dieselbabe - wasn't that scam used in the film Paper Moon ?

1. Guy spends a marked $50 note, and gets the right change.

2. Girl goes to the same till spends $10, when she get the change she complains she is $40 short in change

3. Manager is told by the Girl - "I'm sure it was a $50 - it had "to my niece on her birthday" written on it"

4. Manager checks the till and finds $50 with those words written on it.

 

Not that I'm encouraging or condoning working this scam you understand !

 

 

I never seen the film TBH, i got the idea when i see people at work write down the amount on notes when they count them in bundles . But i never use this scam, i speak up right away and not when i left a shop when i notice a £10 note missing from my change, then tell them to look for a £20 with what i marked it with.

[lyndsayx 10]

I always say 'sorry it's a £20 but i don't have anything smaller', then there's no confusion. Thanks for the tip-off though, i certainly will avoid Mercury in future as i don't fancy dealing with aggressive taxi drivers!

[lalapopcicle 10]

I use this company regularly and they're normally pretty good and the drivers are friendly, although i've heard this happened to a friend of mine. I always make sure that i say, 'sorry i've only got a twenty' now so they can't try it on.

 

One more thing you might want to be careful with... me and my partner use this firm to go to centertainment if we're having a few drinks and it's always the same price back. One time we arrived home and the driver told us the fair was nearly double (i'm not sure if it was because i moved to sheffield and don't have the accent and he might of thought i wouldn't have known any different) but after we told him the price we usually paid... he quickly told us 'just to give him that then'.

[*RTC* 10]

I usually use this company when my customers request a taxi but will refrain from doing so in future if this is the type of people they employ.

[HotPhil 10]

I usually use this company when my customers request a taxi but will refrain from doing so in future if this is the type of people they employ.

To be fair, you've only got one person's post on an internet forum to base that decision on. It may well not be the case, but the OP could just as easily be mistaken (or worse - intentionally trying to generate bad PR for the firm for whatever reason (unlikely, but not impossible)). I know I've made this kind of mistake in the past - accused a bar of short-changing me, making them count the till, then remembering I'd broken the note I thought I'd given them on a chicken tikka sandwich from the Spar earlier.