UAE | Traffic and Transport

Taxi firm 'moved swiftly' to refund overcharged fare

A resident was surprised to receive an official from a taxi company who returned the fare overcharged by drivers and apologised for the mistake.

  • By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 21:17 February 3, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Drivers were reluctant to print receipt, says victim. Picture for illustrative purposes only.
  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Abu Dhabi: A resident was surprised to receive an official from a taxi company who returned the fare overcharged by drivers and apologised for the mistake.

She had cited two instances of overcharging against the new taxi drivers of Trans AD, the taxi regulatory authority in Abu Dhabi, to Gulf News.

"We instructed Cars Taxi, the franchisee, to refund the total taxi fare to the complainer and issued a warning letter to the drivers as the complaints were found to be true," said Sultan Mohammad Al Shamisi, Director of Customer Services and Compliance Division at Trans AD.

Fast action

K.N., who works with Abu Dhabi University, had told Gulf News a driver charged her Dh19.95, instead of just Dh10, on a trip from Najda Street to the Tourism Department on December 26, 2007.

It happened to her again on January 7 when the driver charged her Dh44.60 on a trip from Najda Street to Abu Dhabi University, which should have been Dh31.90 only.

She said both drivers were reluctant to give a receipt but she insisted and managed to get these.

K.N. said Cars Taxi sent a person to return the money and apologise for the taxi drivers' misbehaviour. "I appreciate their effort," she said, adding that she never expected the authority to react so fast. "Trans AD's efficiency is impressive. I'm also glad to see the power of public monitoring done by Gulf News."

Cars Taxi told Gulf News they refunded the money as it was a mistake by the driver. "We have issued a warning letter to the drivers and put them [on] retraining on operating the electronic meters," said Mohammad Ali, Business Development Manager of Cars Taxi.

"It happened because the driver pressed the wrong key as there is a separate charge for airport etc. If they commit any unintentional mistake, drivers have to inform the management and we settle the matter amicably with the customer."

Were you ever over-charged for a taxi ride? Did you bring it to the attention of the authorities? Was your money returned?


Your comments


I was over charged and when I called this company and left a comment twice no one answered me back. I also complained about the lack of customer service from the taxi drivers, no knowledge of Abu Dhabi and rudeness. But no one from the company called me back, even though I did leave a message on their answering machine.
Wahid
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: February 04, 2008, 10:18

I was taken aback on reading this article. It happened with me last Thursday (31st Jan, 08) while I took a taxi from Airport Road to Najda Street. The normal taxi fare would come to no more than Dh4, but the meter showed Dh8, and since I was in a hurry to reach the office, I quickly handed the driver the amount without a second thought of taking a receipt from him.
R.
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: February 04, 2008, 10:06

So in order to avoid these problems in the future we should come ahead and register a complaint against such cheaters, I really appreciate such a fast response from the taxi officials. I hope we will not have such problems in the coming future.
Suhail
Dubai,UAE
Posted: February 04, 2008, 09:31

I just wish it is always like that, that the taxi company will take action against the complaints of so many commuters. But I do believe they are not always acting on every complaint because if they do I don't think the taxi drivers would select their passengers. The RTA should allow car lifts so that the commuters will have other means of transportation.
Ruben
Dubai,UAE
Posted: February 04, 2008, 07:27

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