Complaint Review: Gator City Taxi & Shuttle Svc.

Upon checkout from the  Omni Hotel in downtown Jacksonville, My wife and I had requested the front desk to call a cab to take us the airport.  Unfortunately, we ended up in a Gator City Taxi.   

I knew form our initial taxi ride to the hotel from the airport, as well as information provided by the conference organizers, that the ride should be between $35 and $36.  I should have know something was up when, three minutes into the ride, I saw that the fare meter was not running.  In fact, it did not look like it was even on and the "vacant" button was lit.   I figured I would wait and see what happened as I already knew the approximate fare.  

When we pulled up to the unloading area at the terminal, my wife said "we will need to charge the fare on a credit card" to which the driver replied " Ok, let me get the door for you...".  Once we were out of the cab and had our luggage, the driver stated that "the credit card machine is not working."  On our taxi ride in, the driver used an manual swipe (the old knuckle buster one) so I was not buying this.  Then the driver stated the fair was $49!  When I resounded that the fair on the ride in to the hotel from the airport had been only $35, he claimed that he had to pay a premium to get the call for the hotel pick up.   

I was quite angry by this point, knowing full and well that the driver was trying to scam a higher fare.  I also knew I had the advantage as we were out of the cab at our destination, with our luggage, and that he was parked in a loading /unloading zone and could not stay there very long.  when I stated that I did not have that much cash on me, the driver asked " Well, how much do you have?"  I responded that I was only paying $36 for the faire, and handed him $36 in cash.  I then demanded a receipt, to which he handed me his entire "receipt" packet.  I responded that he would have to fill it out for me  

Driver was trying to scam a few extra bucks from some "tourists" who he thought did not know any better.  Unfortunately, be got only the "fair fare" and no tip...but did earn his company a complaint!