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I just got ripped off by a taxi.

Just one hour ago, I was thinking just to take 15 mins to go to the supermarket buy some stuff. Then I asked my workmate where is the closiest supermarket, then she told me the Spinney's in the Dubai Marina it will only take 5 mins. So I got on the taxi and told the driver I want to go to the Dubai Marina and I was worried if I said the name wrong so I also told him I ONLY want to go to the Spinney's supermarket to buy somethings.

So after 3-4mins he took me on the highway, then I asked him where he is taking me then he was shouting back to me and saying you said you want to go to the Dubai Marina Club so I am taking you there now. Then I asked how long does it take, then he said another 10 mins. Then I told him I only want to go to the spinney's then he said yes spinney's is there in the Dubai marina club, it end up cost me 39 dirhams just to got some shampoo and 35 dirhams back to my hotel.

I didn't go all the way to the Dubai Marina club (where ever he thinks it was) I told him to stop in one of the supermarkets on the way. Imagine if I go all the way to where ever he wanted to take me... how much it will cost me?

It's your friends fault for telling you Dubai Marina which is on the way to AbuDhabi. The taxi is just following orders.

Cheers,

D

smartd wrote:It's your friends fault for telling you Dubai Marina which is on the way to AbuDhabi. The taxi is just following orders.

Cheers,

D

We have Dubai Marina here too... When I got back I saw the sign. But Look I told him I only want to go to the supermarket....

Most of the cabbies here dont know anything. They are expats who have just come in and i think it is a very bad idea hiring them.(the cab company )

Piece of advice: Make sure u know exactly where u are going.. i know its kinda difficult for u being new and all.... pretend u knw the way,, and always demand y he is he taking the LONG route.... u moght be able to save some of ur moolah Good Luck

well the taxi driver got it mixed up:

there is a Dubai Marine Beach Resort beside the open beach in Jumeirah and there is the newly built Dubai Marine towers.

most of these cabbies think they get it all right when u hint on where u going; as if they know Dubai inside out!

this has happend with me many times before.
anyways, what to do... just try to enjoy the ride!

Yeats wrote:well the taxi driver got it mixed up:

there is a Dubai Marine Beach Resort beside the open beach in Jumeirah and there is the newly built Dubai Marine towers.

most of these cabbies think they get it all right when u hint on where u going; as if they know Dubai inside out!

this has happend with me many times before.
anyways, what to do... just try to enjoy the ride!

what pissed me off is that I told the dammmnnnn driver I only want to go to a supermarket.... anyone has brain will not take me all the way across town.

Taxis in Dubai are really bad. Actually, a few weeks ago they had a report in the newspaper that the tourism authority started "monitoring" taxi drivers and what they say to their passengers, and they found that lot of drivers were dissing the UAE and Emiratis when speaking to tourists. They were giving the tourists a very bad image.. and that's a shame really, because for a lot of these tourists, the taxi driver is acting like a guide, answering questions..etc., and usually it's all crap.

Anyway, the taxi driver who brought me home from the airport once when returning from Mecca, stole several boxes of dates which he didn't bring down from the car. I didn't get his number though.

I suggest all tourists study a map of Dubai carefully next time and know where they're going before they ride a cab. Tell him where you want to go before getting in the car.

Bazooka wrote:Taxis in Dubai are really bad. Actually, a few weeks ago they had a report in the newspaper that the tourism authority started "monitoring" taxi drivers and what they say to their passengers, and they found that lot of drivers were dissing the UAE and Emiratis when speaking to tourists. They were giving the tourists a very bad image.. and that's a shame really, because for a lot of these tourists, the taxi driver is acting like a guide, answering questions..etc., and usually it's all crap.

Anyway, the taxi driver who brought me home from the airport once when returning from Mecca, stole several boxes of dates which he didn't bring down from the car. I didn't get his number though.

I suggest all tourists study a map of Dubai carefully next time and know where they're going before they ride a cab. Tell him where you want to go before getting in the car.

yes they are bad... the other day I took a taxi from Emirates Towers to the 21st Cetury Tower it cost me 10 Dirhams, when I caught the Taxi from the 21st Cetury towers to the Emirates Towers it costed only 5 Dirhams... can anyone explains why it will cost double to return.

Maybe it's because Emirates Towers and 21st Century are on the same side of the road. The cars go in the direction from 21st to Emirates Towers on that road, so there's no need to take a u-turn or anything.

When going from Emirates Towers to 21st, you have to use a tunnel and return the other way, then go over a flyover roundabout thing and then you reach the the same side of the road again.

Bazooka wrote:Maybe it's because Emirates Towers and 21st Century are on the same side of the road. The cars go in the direction from 21st to Emirates Towers on that road, so there's no need to take a u-turn or anything.

When going from Emirates Towers to 21st, you have to use a tunnel and return the other way, then go over a flyover roundabout thing and then you reach the the same side of the road again.

that maybe it, I am not too bitchy about that, just that I lost the trusth to the taxi drivers here.....

It's easy to lose trust in taxis. I've been in several taxis in several countries which have charged me more than necessary or taken the long route thinking I'm stupid and won't know.

That doesn't really worry me much as reports of taxi drivers taking female passengers to remote areas and raping and murdering them though That happened twice in Ireland in the past couple of years.

In Abu Dhabi a few years ago, there was an Afghani guy who murdered Pakistani taxi drivers. He was a serial killer. The taxi drivers were afraid to allow any Afghan ride with them. I think he killed 10.

Bazooka wrote:It's easy to lose trust in taxis. I've been in several taxis in several countries which have charged me more than necessary or taken the long route thinking I'm stupid and won't know.

That doesn't really worry me much as reports of taxi drivers taking female passengers to remote areas and raping and murdering them though That happened twice in Ireland in the past couple of years.

In Abu Dhabi a few years ago, there was an Afghani guy who murdered Pakistani taxi drivers. He was a serial killer. The taxi drivers were afraid to allow any Afghan ride with them. I think he killed 10.

don't scare me

Thats OK Fiepo at least you can console yourself with the knowledge that people like to eat Chinese, so your body will be put to good use... LOL...

Liban wrote:Thats OK Fiepo at least you can console yourself with the knowledge that people like to eat Chinese, so your body will be put to good use... LOL...

thanks for that.... rape is ok... just don't take my money hahahahah

Feipo wrote:thanks for that.... rape is ok... just don't take my money hahahahah

Feipo then make a deal with the taxi man, ask him to r*pe u and then give free ride for a month that way u will begin to love Dubai taxis.

Feipo,

I can relate with you in being ripped off. I used to live in Dubai in the late 90's.

Let me tell you about the stupid thing I did.........

I used to live in Chicago Beach Village near the Burj Al Arab Hotel (I don't even think the compound is there anymore)......

Anyway, I was coming home from a disco one night alone, and no I was not drinking but I got in the front seat of the cab. See I come from a small town in Canada and wasn't even thinking, well needless to say, the happy hands cab driver got a smash in the face and then as soon as I mentioned police he froze. He dropped me off and I didn't even have to pay him. I guess he got enough of a fare.

I know it was a stupid thing to do and I never did it again, but as soon as I mentioned police the guy backed off.

Try it sometime when you feel they are ripping you off.

Some people are idiots. The loser cabbie must have been like, "oh look, a single, good looking, western white girl... She must be easy".

I am happy it worked out for you at the end!!!

sniper420 wrote:

Feipo wrote:thanks for that.... rape is ok... just don't take my money hahahahah

Feipo then make a deal with the taxi man, ask him to r*pe u and then give free ride for a month that way u will begin to love Dubai taxis.

a month free ride??? wow I didn't know I worth so much hahahaa I will take it for just 2 weeks

kelly1966 wrote:Feipo,

I can relate with you in being ripped off. I used to live in Dubai in the late 90's.

Let me tell you about the stupid thing I did.........

I used to live in Chicago Beach Village near the Burj Al Arab Hotel (I don't even think the compound is there anymore)......

Anyway, I was coming home from a disco one night alone, and no I was not drinking but I got in the front seat of the cab. See I come from a small town in Canada and wasn't even thinking, well needless to say, the happy hands cab driver got a smash in the face and then as soon as I mentioned police he froze. He dropped me off and I didn't even have to pay him. I guess he got enough of a fare.

I know it was a stupid thing to do and I never did it again, but as soon as I mentioned police the guy backed off.

Try it sometime when you feel they are ripping you off.

WHAT?????

That was bad... Luckly you got home safe, I will be very careful from now on.

too many damn cat avatars

FeiPo.
Go to the bookshop and buy yourself a copy of "Dubai Explorer".
Its RED in color and make sure you get the latest 9th Edition.
Inside is a MAP of DUBAI. Not only is it just a map. It is a satelite photo of the entire Dubai.
There are only a few roads here so theres no reason for you to get lost or anything. As for the taxi drivers here....just don't act soft.
Tell them exactly where you want to go and make sure you give them directions for a start. For example:" Take the Sheikh Zayed road heading towards Abu Dhabi." Or heading towards deira

By mentioning one of these directions will very much secure your ride.
Make sure you have the name of the location correctly.

Saying "Sheraton Hotel" can either land you somewhere in Deira...or it can land you somewhere after the 7th interchange.

Or saying Jumeirah beach or Jumeirah Beach Hotel can be totally different.

So the mistake you made was saying Dubai Marina. You didn't say Dubai Marina Club or Dubai Marina Resort.So the fault lies in you and not the taxi driver because they are generally not too bright.

Glory wrote:too many damn cat avatars

Put the avatar of ur chimp then

It can happen at anytime. The missus and I got a cab from the Jumeirah Beach Hotel going to the Springs. Granted we'd had a few beers but we clearly told the driver to go over Barsha and take the Al Khail road. The dipstick tries a fly one at Barsha hugging the right hand lane trying to take the sliproad onto S. Zayed adding a few km's and a few chips in the pocket for him. I think not!!
He soon got told to stop taking the pi"$ andto get over Barsha - this was followed by the usual "sorry, sorry", shakee headee episodes.
Over the two years we've been here it currently seems to be at it's worst for hopeless and dodgy taxi drivers. We've been stuck with guys who speak no english and have been in the city for 2 days!

I pity the tourists personally - at least we know where we want to go.

And the only way it'll get better - when the lords and masters finally realise that a pathetic taxi service does not endear itself with the required image of Dubai being perfect (or starts hitting them in the pockets) trhough disgruntled tourists going elsewhere or it gets flagged in the press.

Am I wrong??

Aren't there taxis run by the Government? A friend of mine who lived there for 3 years told me to only take the cream coloured mercedes taxis.

Don't know as I don't move for another month, but it's a thought. Does anyone know?

Barbs

That's right cream coloured ones are owned by Government and they are not always mercedes - they are camry, infiniti, etc. Anyways good tip is always sit at the back sit of the taxi if u r reserved type of person.

honestly not all of he taxi drivers are bad. I did meet some good ones!!

Whoa peeps! Granted there are some problems with Taxi's around Dubai but let me put a new light on it.

Alot of the drivers are fresh in the country and obviously have not been shown routes to places, so are just as lost as many tourists and if they don't speak your language very well you have that barrier to deal with.

Plus with regard to fares and many drivers refusing to pick up peole for short distances, going the long way round etc. Did you know that these guys MUST earn 303Dhs A DAY before they can even start to earn any money? Most of the cabbies work at least a 16 hour day, many owkr upto 20 hours - you try driving around on these roads for that amount of time 7 days week and not feel knackered, frazzled etc.

And I have to say the way some passengers treat and speak to taxi drivers is appalling.

So just remember these facts next time you're having a HARD time with your cabbie!

Chocoholic wrote:Whoa peeps! Granted there are some problems with Taxi's around Dubai but let me put a new light on it.

Alot of the drivers are fresh in the country and obviously have not been shown routes to places, so are just as lost as many tourists and if they don't speak your language very well you have that barrier to deal with.

Plus with regard to fares and many drivers refusing to pick up peole for short distances, going the long way round etc. Did you know that these guys MUST earn 303Dhs A DAY before they can even start to earn any money? Most of the cabbies work at least a 16 hour day, many owkr upto 20 hours - you try driving around on these roads for that amount of time 7 days week and not feel knackered, frazzled etc.

And I have to say the way some passengers treat and speak to taxi drivers is appalling.

So just remember these facts next time you're having a HARD time with your cabbie!

Well I appreciate ur sense of empathy. If everybody were like Choc, then the worls would have been betta place

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thanks for that.... rape is ok... just don't take my money hahahahah[/quote]

hmmmmm rape is ok ???? hmmm hey i can give you a carlift them we can park somewhere between dubai and abudhabi,,.... i wouldnt mind fullfilling your fantasy hahahaha

ok now about the cabbie !!! CHOC is totally right ... and based on your story ... im sorry gurl but its just that the information given to the cabbie was enough to confuse him ... bcoz if you just want to go to spinneys you should have said SPINNEYS !! then he should have dropped you off to the nearest one,. lets just not over react to a small miss understanding these guys are really doing hard work and been driving all day ,.. so the least we can do to these guys are give them the right direction ... if your going to be pissed off you should be pissed off with your friend who sent you to say Dubai Marina !!! where you could have just said "to the nearest spinneys!!!" now !!! about the Shouting !!!!! YES that is true most of them are DTC (Dubai Transport) drivers they F@Ckn act like WE F@ckin OWE them BIG time JUST to RIDE with them !!!! DTC Drivers need some attitude overhaul if you ask me !!! but METRO & CARS cabbies ARE great !!!! they even give you options on wich route to take ,... and if supposed they dont know the way ,... they use their radio to go and ask around on which is the best way ... now THAT is SERVICE !!! ... and METRO AND CARS are .50 fils cheaper on the flag down !!

the taxi drivers in HK are even worse!!