Civility and Customer Service

The important part of this story is that my husband is home.

He came home today. His doctor wanted to send him home Monday, but snomageddon happened and we weren't sure that we would be able to get him to the hospital yesterday(more on that later). So, they kept him until today.

We don't have a car, and while I had been borrowing my parents' car, they needed it back so I gave it back Monday. This figures prominently in this story. The case manager at the hospital said they would give him a taxi voucher and send him home in a cab. Sounded good me. He's perfectly coherent, and there was nothing to stop him from being able to do it himself.

Now, there are 3 cab services in our smallish town. There is one that we use on a regular basis. We have never had any problems with them. They have had long waits sometimes, but they always warn us. We use them so often I have their number memorized. In fact, we'll be using them later today, and we already have a time call for tomorrow morning with them. That's not the company they called.

The one they called is one that we have never dealt with, mostly because they are more expensive. The nurse called them, let's call them Elite, to not protect the guilty. The original call went in at 10:45. Elite told the nurse they would be there at 11:15. DH called me at 10:57 to tell me that he would be home soon, he was just waiting for the cab. So, he stayed on the floor until close to 11:15 then he went down to wait. Now, my DH is disabled. He has a hard time walking due to some damage done by a car accident. He can't stand for very long. So, he waited outside. The temp was in the high teens, which actually is warmer than it has been.

11:15 came, and went. 11:30 came, and went. Around 11:45 he called Elite and they told him 5-10 minutes. That came, and went. He called them again, and was told 5-10 minutes. Again, that came and went. Finally, at 12:20, by the cab's clock and by the time from the dispatcher, the cab showed up.

Now, if you ask me, 10:45-12:20 is over 90 minutes. 11:15-12:20 is over an hour. Anyway you want to count it he waited for over an hour. Waiting outside, since the door he was waiting at didn't have anywhere to be inside and still see the cab.

When he got home and told me, I was pissed, especially since he had been given a time as to when they would be there. So, I called the cab company. The dispatcher yelled at me, lied to me, and hung up on me. Now, before I called her I checked my caller id. I knew exactly when DH called me. She told me that he couldn't have called be before 11 because they didn't get the call until after 11, and she told the nurse when they would be there, so there was no way he could have been waiting for 90 minutes. After saying that she hung up on me. So, she lied to me, she yelled at me, she said I was lying, and she hung up on me. I called her back, told her that she lost customers, she yelled at me that they were just a rinky dink cab company and to leave her the fuck alone. Then she, you guessed it, hung up on me.

I don't take well to being hung up on, let alone yelled at and cussed at, and lied to. So, to the Internet I turned. I posted a warning to everyone on my friends list on FB to avoid this company. Then I turned to Google. Now, there are review sites for companies all over the place. I wrote up a review listing what happened. Then I posted it on more than 5 review sites. I think the actual number was 7, but I lost track after 5. I've contacted the Better Business Bureau. Tomorrow we are going to the hospital, and I will be finding out who I have to talk to about letting them know about this company, and warn them about our treatment. I'm also debating writing a letter to the editor.

There is one thing that could have happened to avoid all this. If the dispatcher had said she was sorry, something came up, or given me a good reason, I wouldn't be writing this. Just 4 little words, I'm sorry that happened, that's all it would have taken. Instead, I'm complaining about them everywhere I can. I am going to actively encourage everyone I know who takes a cab to not use them.

I know the customer isn't always right. I've been on both sides of the counter. But, there was no need for her to yell at me, especially as I wasn't yelling at her. In fact, I was speaking in a nice conversational tone. That's the choice she made, and the consequence of her choice is that I am leaving negative reviews and talking to people I know about the poor service of the Elite Livery Taxi company.