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taxi scam

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

i remember we stalked out of the hotel, seeking a way to get to sunway lagoon. no buses, no trains and not by foot, of course (it's way out of town!), taxi seemed like the only option we've got. with "hotel taxis" (or so they're coined, since they're commissioned to serve hotel guests and the flag-down rates on the roads of kl are less than slim) stationed right in front of the entrance and the price of 40++ ringgit for a 20-minute journey seemed reasonable (at least in the singapore context, yes). so those taxis looked very appealing as a mode of transport :D

then things started to happen. when we got on, i noticed that the meter had had their protective government signs removed. i vaguely remembered some report about the taxi drivers messing with their meters, making them increase the value faster and by a larger amount with each increase. but the memory seemed so distant, i half suspected i'd imagined it, so i cast it aside. it started off at 6 dollars though, which raised eyebrows. so kl taxis have a hire charge similar to singapore? o.O then the meter started running really fast. like 20 cents every 20 to 30 seconds. our hearts pounded with every increment :x it's like we were going to have heart attack soon. mum was especially comical in miming that action LOL (: but we were glad that we reached when it hit around the agreed 40++ dollars, though the real price was 49.80, i think :x

after sunway lagoon and its pyramid shopping mall, we actually contemplated calling the original driver to fetch us back to the hotel. never were we going to flag down along the streets, as many locals told us that we won't be able to get back without 60-70 dollars. but dad refused to call using his cellphone because overseas call costs a bomb. and to our dismay, there wasn't any public phones (that were so commonly seen along the streets) within the high-class mall. by a stroke of luck, we happened to step out through the main entrance of the pyramid and spot a huge load of taxis AND a public taxi counter! so we ran forward to inquire about costs. and to our utter surprise/shock: the trip to petaling street chinatown (it's near the hotel) costs 27 dollars, and fixed price some more! like omg, it's almost half the price of the first trip :O it's at that point when we realised that we'd been ripped off. so much for the hotel service -.-

anyway, the taxi driver this time was really nice. we didn't use the meter, since we had already paid the counter (so it's a fixed price for all :) no scam). but he turned it on to explain how the meter should work nonetheless, like how it should start at 3 dollars and how it should increase slowly, only 10 cents at a time. and even advised us to take note of the government signs on the meter. ((: well, it's not so bad after all, cos we've learnt our lessons quickly and only got scammed that once :DD

xinying ploughed through her empty list at 10:22 pm