I had such a terrible experience with cab drivers today. In the morning I dropped my car at a garage in Shuwaikh then from there I decided to take a cab back to work.
I stop one of those beige and white taxis, I get in, I look and notice the driver had started the counter and we drive off. Five minutes later we are under my office building, I look at the counter it says 500fils so I give the driver 500fils. He then tells me he wants KD1.5 not half a dinar. I was like what? why? The counter says 500fils. He was like ok KD1. I was like why should I give you KD1 when the counter says 500fils. I get out of the cab with the driver yelling at me angrily.
Later during lunch I decide to take a cab back to my house. I stop another cab driver, I get in and I tell him turn the counter on. He says its not working, I was like fine thank you and I open the door to exit when he stops me and tells me its working but I can’t get a receipt. I was like fine I don’t need a receipt. He drops me under my house, the counter said 850fils and I give him KD1 and tell him to keep the change.
An hour later I have to get back to work, so I stop another cab under my house and I tell him to start the counter. He was like why, I will charge you KD1 to get to Kuwait City, you want it to be less then that? I figured KD1 is the same price I paid to get to my house so whatever. He drives off and gets onto the Gulf Road, once we are near McDonalds he spots an American tourist on the side of the road and decides to pick him up. I was thinking “O…K… lets see where this is going” The tourist gets in and wants to go to Souk Sharq. We drive off and a few minutes later we reach Souk Sharq. The tourist asks how much, the driver says KD1.5 and the tourist pays. The ride should have cost the tourist MAX half a dinar and here the driver was charging him triple the price and the tourist was fine with that.
So he drops the tourist off and we start to drive off when I tell the cab driver he should give me a discount now. He was like why? I was like because you wanted KD1 from me to Kuwait City and you just made KD1.5 from this tourist. He was like so? I was like its illegal to pick up another passenger plus you wasted my time now by driving through Souk Sharq. He was like what is this some kind of new law? I told him its not a new law and its not my first time riding cabs so don’t try to fuck around with me. He stops the car and tells me I can get out here and he doesn’t want anything from me. I was like fine whatever.
So I am now waiting in the shade at Souk Sharq for another cab to pass by and one does. I get in and tell him to start the counter. He tells me its not working, I was like thank you and I open the door. He then tells me wait how much do you want to pay? I was like I want to pay whatever the counter tells me and I get out. I could have told the guy half a dinar or whatever but I wanted to be stubborn because I wanted to see how messed things can get.
I wait five minutes till the next cab shows up. I get in and I tell him to start the counter. He politely says ok. We get to my destination and the total was 400fils. I give the driver KD1 and tell him to keep the change. Finally a decent driver.
I can’t believe how bad the taxi service is in Kuwait, and all this in just one day!
Picture by Mink
38 replies on “Cab Service”
you should report the cabbie to the company owner
i should have taken his cab number but he sped off and my vision is pretty crap lol
looooooooooooooooool!! thats SO FUNNY!!! i cant stop laughing .. !!
i dont think there is a law for them in kuwait… in dubai wow the cab company .. they have only one and its great each taxi must go to the expos and stuff even if they dont make money because its a part of the big picture
take the bus next time and blog ur experience ;p
hehehe…
the most thing that i don’t like to used the taxi is, the driver didn’t know much about kuwait’s streets. the second thing, they cannot speak english well.
nice experience, huh?
Hey, i have had the same experience so many times and only been here 3 months! I now use the same firm all the time and they are pretty quick picking me up wherever i am and charge me the same price each time.
They’re all cunts. Their whole argument is “But gas money..My boss won’t let me..”. I don’t give a fuck about gas and your boss, why the fuck should I worry about that?
I hate taxi drivers with a passion. Some of them are really really nice and polite, but the rest are cunts.
lol, thats sad man.. at least u didn’t have the pleasure of riding with an idiot that doesn’t know how to drive… it seems that those cabs have issues with driving!
i hope ur car is fixed sooner that u want it to 😛
Mark…they all tried to overcharge you because you look white..you look like you could have some money on you.
I dont have a kuwait drivers license..and the kuwait authorities are bitchy when you try to use an american license there..so I just use cabs.
I hate that..they do that to me as well when I am in Kuwait. They never use their counters..because there is a law that states that all legal cabs in kuwait should have it..but there is no law instating that it should be used.
But even here in the states…I was in DC…and the cab driver was using a GPS system. You’d think he’d know all the streets.
Cabs are retarded here, I never asked for the counter because they can mess with it and make it more expensive than it should be. Anyways I have this taxi company next to my house which I use all the time so I don’t get into any bullshit.
Cabbies are funny creatures.
fuck cabs in Kuwait…the most disgusting ppl u can ride with, when i was in dubai…it was perfect, all cabs are clean, drivers are well dressed and polite, and u pay what the meter says
WTH!!!
No wonder, i figured that out from the way they drive =\
Damn these cabs =\
When do taxi drivers ever charge right?
mark .. its coz ur a foreigner and he`s not afraid of u .
law Kuwaiti .. chan he yelled and him and told him ” chab wala kelmah , turn the meter on or WALLAH EL 3ATHEEM awadeek b dahya ya 7mar ” .. he’ll be scared.
and btw .. their companies simply rent the cabs to the drivers and charge them a fixed amount per day , and he works on his own .. so if you said anything to the company they wouldnt care.
simply .. call 777 infront of him and tell him that he`s messing up with u and give him his car plates number ,
be tough Mark
Reminds of the Cabs in Lebanon and how they deal with tourists … you can never get a solid answer from them and you always have to spend at least 10 minutes bargaining with them on whay they suddenly decided to charge you 5000 L.L form Hamra to Charle Helo !!!
As Financy said, the drivers are only charged a fixed fee per day to use the vehicles so they try to squeeze as much as possible from people who are using the cabs.
I have to say that they don’t have a law on top of them to force them to start the timers. There is supposed to be a law that states if their counter doesn’t work then they can’t pick people up.
You were pretty calm about it, next time wear your carbon fiber gloves and knock some teeth out, it won’t even hurt you one bit!
all taxi drivers are obliged to start their meters when they pick people up, the whole thing about ‘oh salmiya to hawali’ is 1kd is illegal, taxi drivers get fined if cops catch them with their meter off
really?
who Is not bad in Kuwait?
“Maskeena ya Q8”
lol its worst then tht i asked a couple of the drivers “why the hell dont u use the counters” there like “we just use them for the cops”… and the owners dont care.
HAHAHAHA thats funny .. im sure enhum better than the serviiiiiice in beirut ! 😛
I hate cabs in Kuwait, bastards stop in the middle of the road. I usually keep a bunch of stuff to throw at them when they decide to block the road.
lol
K: hahahaha! Now thats funny! What the hell do you throw?
hehe, i always determine the price before i get in and and usually its more beneficial for me. annoying thing is that if you ask to set the counter they might take longer roots.
lol, i wonder what the tourist was thinking about another guy in the cab, lol, did you chat with him?
1 and 1.5 kd is relatively nothing as compared to if you are paying 30-40 bucks one way here in the states.
WaaaHaaaHaaaaaaaaa “
damn it i’m at work, i shouldn’t laugh like this
my God,, that was really really so damn fcking funny
i always use cab’s when i drop my car in the garage,, i make fun out of them
Marzouq: Tons of things .. from water bottles to oil cans.
it’s a cab, not a bus, so why the hell did he stop for another passenger when he already had one?
more to the point – why on earth did you let him?!
1- Every & anyone will take advantage if you let
him
2- If we all insist n our rights things will
become better
3- When they stop the meter,and not give receipts
they pocket the whole money & short change the
car owner
4- or they actually rent the car on a daily basis
& whatever they make is for them
5- the big companies deduct the expenses &
divide the net,,,so the more illegal fair he
gets the better
6- I never been in one but do they actually have a number printed inside the cab ?
7- When all else fails get a bike
I agree with how terrible the taxi drivers are these days! Not only can they not drive, they rip you off!
Iv heard they work around the clock to make as much money as they can. Their owner demands a certain amount from them by the end of their working hours but they insist on working longer and charging more to make money for themselves.
Sorry you had to go thru sucha bad experience!!
I hate it when everybody says Dubai is better. I am a regular user of cabs in Dubai and most drivers really smell bad, and often the driver would tell you, do you want the meter on? I once said how much would you charge me and his answer was very close to what the meter would have been!!
fucked up grammer DUDE =D
the best thing to do is before a passenger get into the taxicab write the plate number.any problem then report to police.many illegal transport in kuwait the one paralayze the legal transport.
Yes, I guess if each customer reports one time on a taxi driver not willing to use the taxi meter to the Police station, sure next time they will be afraid no to use the taxi meter.
So, at the end, we will not be disturbed anymore by those taxi drivers.
What do you say ?