late taxi results in missed train

[nobump]

OH and I had booked a week away, nice hotel, advance train tickets to get there. Can drive but train less stressful. I,m not a good passenger. Booked taxi to get us to the station, with time to spare. But taxi never showed, phoned company up, said it was stuck in traffic, yes it,s rush hour the driver should have left more time to get here, then it was just on next street, then 15 mins late it just dropping someone off first, and don,t shout At me or I will cancel your taxi :O. Flagged another taxi down. Got to the station but not to the platform on time. Train was just pulling away as we got there. Anyway lost money on original tickets and had to buy tickets on the day. So hundred quid out of pocket. Have been phoning taxi company. Feel they should cover additional expense as the mucked up booking and ultimately caused us to miss train. We are waiting on someone phoning us back. Will in to there office when we are home if not heard from them. We would have lost out on money spent on return tickets if we switched to driving. Anyone had aww experience of this?

 

[sparkle_1979]

It would be a good will gesture I would have thought though I doubt legally they have to, they will prob say you should have accounted for tragic and booked earlier.

 

[nobump]

If the taxi had appeared at time of booking then the 35 mins we,d allowed to get to the station would have been more than enough time. It was the taxi being late to pick up that has caused the issue.

 

[sparkle_1979]

Yeah you're right but I doubt you have anywhere legally to stand. It's the same if a train is late and ou missed a flight because of that, the train company wouldn't compensate would they

 

[Abz1982]

Hmm, I do wonder on this as when I worked at a Uni I used to have to book taxis for the staff.......if we changed our minds or we were more than 15 mins late WE had to pay a £15 charge for THEIR inconvenience.

Problem here is that to get that money back you will brob need to go to small claims.......and I think that's like £35 to lodge the claim, and I am not sure you get that cost back.

 

[nobump]

A train is public transport. But taxi is private to the person booking so don't think the can be compared directly. The taxi company has a Facebook page so if we get no joy we'll make sure other people know they are unreliable.

 

[sparkle_1979]

They will prob just delete your message. They can't really help traffic and you can't plan every journey for traffic or they would lose money..

I'd personally let it go and next time I'd make sure I book way before so your accounting for traffic too

 

[nobump]

Your missing the point taxi was booked for 8 am. They need to account for traffic to be able to pick us up on time. I allowed 35 mins to go 2 miles. If when we first phoned the had said they had made a mistake we could have phoned other companies. Instead they said it would be a few minutes. We waited 20 before givin up and flagging another taxi by chance. We only missed train by about a minute. So if taxi had turned up on time we would have made it with time to spare as planned. My gripe is with taxi that was pre.booked not the one we took as a result of the other not showing.

 

[cat lover]

ur being totally reasonable, glad u complained

 

[C_baby]

If you pre booked a taxi you are in a verbal contract that they will provide you with a service at said time. They failed to deliver on that contract.

However they would only reasonably be expected to compensate you the cost of their service, ie you would get a refund on the fare paid had you paid for their taxi. (You went on to use a different provider making it more complicated).

I would have thought it would be very difficult to get any taxi firm to compensate you for missed onwards travel. It's worth trying though as they may provide you with a 'goodwill gesture' as way of avoiding bad publicity.

 

[nobump]

Result taxi company has admitted reponsibility we need to email them details and well get a refund B-)

 

[Abz1982]

Thats fab! They must have realised you werent going to walk away.

 

[lhancock90]

I think a complaint is totally understandable but i can't see them offering a refund etc.

 

[nobump]

The owner accepted it was their fault they said the had sent our taxi to the wrong address. Just sending them an email with pictures of the tickets etc. If the don't pay up we'll make an official complaint.

 

[lhancock90]

The owner accepted it was their fault they said the had sent our taxi to the wrong address. Just sending them an email with pictures of the tickets etc. If the don't pay up we'll make an official complaint.

That's amazing! I'm so totally going to complain more!

 

[ellismum]

I'm pleased its all resolved.

In future please get travel insurance, even for UK short trips!

 

[nobump]

Spoke to soon. Went to office manager not there no message regarding refund with any staff. Official complaint has been made.

 

[R_x]

Hope you get it all sorted. They should be there at the time you booked

 

[fantastica]

Hope you get it sorted, with the company we use they always ask what time your flight/train is and if it's within a certain amount of time of the booking they always have to state that they cannot guarantee you will make it on time, so I guess that means if it is booked within good time, then it is their responsibility?

 

[nobump]

35 mins is loads to get up town, if they hAd even said they had sent taxi to wrong address but would do there best we could have called other firms as well And let them know if we got something. But to say it was stuck in traffic, or on next street when it was nowhere near is not good enough. Emailed licensing board hopefully they can help.