Airport Taxi Cab

I wish I could give zero stars.

I booked a taxi for 5:30 a.m. from San Bruno to SFO. Its a meager $8 fare but I always think, hell the taxi driver can go grab a quick fare to SF afterwards. Anyway, so I booked online on Wednesday eve for our Friday morning journey. I received an e-mail confirmation, complete with confirmation number. Very official. Out of pure paranoia I called the following day to confirm. I was assured they had my details and everything was set.

5:30 a.m. on the day and no one showed. We gave them 10 minutes. The guy on the other end pretended he knew who I was (probably so I didn't throw a fit). Then he got someone from a potentially related company to call me back. She was calling from REDWOOD CITY. Fortunately, they had a driver in route. Driver, sort of, showed up at 6 a.m. He couldn't find the house. Oi, shit head, its the house with the lights on at 6 a.m. And we're the severely pissed off people waving our arms around.

After literally chasing this guy down, we were met with the worst cab and cab driver I have EVER met. Not only was the van door off the hinges, the passenger seat was detached from the floor, so it sort of swayed back and forth as he drove. Dude didn't apologize, help us with our bags or even get out of the van. Oh yeah, and his transmission was blown, so it never shifted out of 3rd gear. Awesome.

I wish I would have had exact change.

I asked for a 5:40am pickup with a carseat if possible. When they called to confirm I was told the pickup would be 5:50am. When I mentioned my requested time the only other option he'd give me was 5:30am.

In addition, they charged me $10 for the car seat which was not explained until we arrived at the airport. We had a carseat with us and could have installed our own. (Also is it normal to run the meter while luggage is being loaded into the vehicle as opposed to once the the car pulls out of the parking lot?)

To add to insult the driver was ignored the discount coupon I had and quote my husband the full price. My fault for not paying it myself but still I expect better. Not using them EVER again.

*To address the response from the company:* (April 2012)
The reservation was booked via Internet based on the link from the discount coupon I had. When I made the reservation there was no mention of a charge for the car seat. Also, I listed details such as the coupon in the notes section. The e-mail confirmation did not quote a price for the car seat or cab ride nor did it say anything about needing to mention a quote number to the driver to get the discount. The driver didn't ask me any questions about the coupon or say he wouldn't accept it when I handed it to him at the airport.

I checked my e-mail confirmation from "Airport Taxi Cab Service" and it doesn't not contain a quote number or any kind of unique identifier.

We were waiting outside a business in Mt View for the cab, there was no wait time (reason for turning on the meter) for the driver as we had our suitcases and car seat on the curb ready to go.

I will give them credit for calling 30 minutes before the scheduled pick up It was nice to know someone was coming albeit not at the time I requested.

I too wish I could give zero stars.

I booked a taxi online for a ride from Mountain View to SFO. The email confirmation came right away, and I wrote back to ask a question and further confirm the time, etc... The cab was supposed to pick me up the next day at noon.

Well, noon came, and the cab didn't. I called at 12:15 and the person who answered said he would check and get back to me. He never did, so at 12:30 I called back. After several rings, the same guy answered. This time, however, he pretended it was a wrong number. I pulled up the confirmation email on my iPhone and clicked the phone number at the bottom to make sure I dialed it right. Same guy answers, and this time he not only said that it was a wrong number - he complained that he was sleeping and that I woke him up! At nearly 1:00 in the afternoon! I tried the number from the email one more time, and nobody answered.

Not getting anywhere on the phone, I sent a few email replies to the confirmation email and asked where my cab was. Got nothing.

I eventually called another company, whose cab showed up in 15 minutes and got me to the airport on time for my flight.

Bottom line: don't bother with this company.

EDIT: The comment below states the review is fake. Unfortunately, it is not. It is all true. They probably have no record of me because they never picked me up. I did get a confirmation email and wrote back several times, though I deleted the emails a few weeks after my trip.

DO NOT BOOK CARSEAT WITH THEM.
My friends and I have had bad experiences with regards to baby carseat.

They charge $10 for carseat, and take your reservation online. But when the taxi arrives and you are in a rush to get to the airport, the problems surface. We didn't have enough time to call another taxi so baby had to ride in an unsafe situation.

Some of the issues me and my mommy friends have seen with this company is:
a) they forget to bring a carseat at all
b) they bring the wrong carseat type even though you request an infant one
c) the carseat doesn't work -- very very old and crummy ones whose buckle doesn't work.
d) driver doesn't wait for us to finish buckling baby in, or finish buckling the carseat in

Does anyone know how to report unsafe taxi operation to the authority in this area?

Ripped us off, was about $15 more than what they told us it would be on the phone.

Driver was rude, wouldn't listen, and got lost. Stupidest system I've ever used.

We booked a taxi the night before an early morning flight, and the dispatcher took down all of our information and said that a taxi would be there in the morning. That morning, after waiting five minutes with no taxi I called, and the (different) dispatcher told me "he's on his way". Five minutes later, again "he's on his way". Finally after fifteen minutes I call again and he finally admits/realizes that NO ONE IS COMING. Some computer problem or something, which supposedly "never happens".

Use this service if you want to miss your flight :-(

i used this company for a pickup from home at 4am and a return from airport to home at 6pm, same day. the drivers were prompt and courteous and the cabs were clean. I will definitely use their service again. they accept credit cards and they email the receipts to you.

Totally disappointing experience with this company. Yesterday we needed a ride home from San Jose airport following a vacation to Disneyland with our two-year-old daughter. I found Airport Taxi Cab via Google searching for a cab with a car seat for a toddler. Their website made them sound like a professional organization with the ability to book a taxi with a toddler car seat installed for your ride to or from the airport. We booked the cab six days in advance via their website, receiving email confirmation immediately afterward, which contained very specific instructions on how to retrieve your cab the day of your flight. I followed them to the letter, calling one number after de-boarding our flight, and then a different number upon retrieving our luggage from baggage claim. It was explained through these instructions that upon this second call, the dispatcher would give you the cab number and your wait would be between 5-10 minutes at the Pre-Arranged Vehicles station outside Terminal B. Sounds very organized right? Looks were deceiving.

The first call, the man who answered sounded confused as to why I was calling. I explained to him that this was the number I was instructed to call upon exiting our flight. He sounded irritated and was short with me. The second call, when I asked for what our cab number to look out for was, he told me, "He'll find you," and hung up.

After only a couple minutes, the driver text messaged my phone saying "Hi, I have seat but I available 30 mint airport u wait tell me" (sic) I called him back to ask what was going on. He told me he had a fare going to SJC using the carseat and that we'd be picked up immediately after. Annoying, but ok... what are you gonna do, right? Fifteen minutes after that, he texts me again to say, "I am on the way maybe maximum 20 mint" (sic). Exactly 20 minutes later, I received a text message from him saying, "I drop some body then I pickup u I coming"

As you can imagine, I began losing confidence immediately. I attempted to contact the main dispatch number listed on their website (different from the number on this Yelp page), (650) 755-1234, several times. The first three attempts, the person answering hung up on me. The last two attempts went straight to voicemail with a full mailbox that could not accept messages.

Finally, we could wait no longer. Nearly a full hour after retrieving our luggage, our daughter was severely sleep-deprived, in need of a nap and a diaper change. We gambled with a competing cab company taking us home with no carseat for our daughter (The State of California does not require kids to be in carseats in taxis as they are considered commercial vehicles), but we felt like horrible parents taking such a risk.

I've also posted a review on their Facebook page (which I linked to from their email confirmation, and from which linked me to this Yelp page). I've read the many other negative reviews of people suffering similar disappointment from this company, and the subsequent attacks and denials from this company's owner to those reviewers. It shows very poor customer relations (as a business owner myself, I can recommend to him that he take some of Yelp's free webinars for business owners on how best to respond to critical reviews) and it should be really interesting to see what kind of response, if any, he may offer to this review.

They didn't even bother to pick me up! (also, I really really wish I read the yelp reviews for this company before I booked a reservation with them.)

I scheduled a 4:00 am pickup time using their online form. I received an e-mail confirmation.

The day of the pickup, I received a call at 3:45 am saying the cab driver would pick me up at 4:00 am. I thanked them for calling to confirm, and proceeded to finish getting ready.

At 4:05 am, I hadn't heard from the driver, so I ended up going outside to see if he was already there waiting for me. No he wasn't

At 4:10 am, I called back the number that had called to confirm that they would be picking me up. According to the person, the "driver was already there and waiting"

Fine, I live in an apartment complex, so I went and searched the entire parking area for a cab. No cab.

What turned out to be the dispatcher said he would call the driver and figure out what was going on, but that the cab driver was here and that he would call me.

I waited a few more minutes, then realizing if I waited much longer I would be in risk of missing my flight, called at 4:20 am to figure out what was going on.

The dispatcher said that "he could not reach the driver and did not know what was going on." He asked that I call him and give it a shot to try to reach the guy.

I ended up asking if they could pick me up, to which the dispatcher said "please call the driver yourself.", after which I promptly hung up and drove myself to the airport in an attempt to make my flight. Luckily I did.

The funniest part of their online form is that they request you not double book with them and another company. If you are planning on booking with these guys, I highly suggest you do double book, as there's a chance they won't even bother to show up.

I wish I could give this cab service zero stars.

The online booking tool did not book my request and when I called inquiring as to why this did not happen, I was treated with the utmost disrespect and was not even given the option to book an appointment.

The customer service at this establishment is abhorrent and I would advise that you not use this company for any services.

Based on your response to my comment, Mr. Singh, as well as the responses that you have given to others who have commented on your sub-par service, I will be filing an official complaint with the California Department of Consumer Affairs.