There is no surety about ‘Taxi for Sure’!

With a brand name “Taxi for Sure” makes a big promise and the owners must have taken that into account.

Author: Sandeep Amar

Updated: January 17, 2015, 11:14 AM IST

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It is not easy to keep a brand name “Taxi for Sure” – as the name makes a big promise. But if someone has actually kept a brand name like that, they must have taken that into account. The dictionary meaning of the word “sure” is “certain to receive, get, or do something” or “completely confident that one is right”. But here is an experience in which “Taxi for Sure” was not able to demonstrate any such adjectives.

I tried booking the “Taxi for Sure” cab on January 16 at 7:30 PM by dialing 011-60601010 – while boarding my plane in Mumbai (going to Delhi). The response was “This number does not exist” – and the response continued as I made repeated calls. Then I used the “Taxi for Sure” app to do the booking – after putting in all the details, the message was “Sorry your booking is not complete, once booking is complete you will get an SMS” (Not sure of exact message, but it meant the booking is not complete). If the app cannot complete the booking, what is the use of having an app booking process?

In any case, I got the SMS and I got relieved that booking is done for 10 PM. Please see the screenshot of SMS:

As per this SMS, I was supposed to get driver details 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time of pick-up.

At 9:45 PM, my plane landed in Delhi with outside temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. I got the mobile signal around 9:50 PM and waited for message – there was no message and no details of the driver. Then I called 011-60601010, and as customer care executives were busy it connected in 3-4 minutes. I asked the customer care executive to give me the number of the driver since no sms had come. He gave me the number of the driver. I started dialing the number as I walked out of Airport in 10 degrees Celsius cold – and the airport area around Delhi is colder since it’s an open area with limited construction. The number was out of reach, I kept calling again and again but there was no response.

I was freezing in the cold and then I called the Taxi For Sure call centre again to be in queue for 4 minutes. I disconnected and called again and again and finally managed to connect at around 10:15 PM. I told them I am running low battery, please tell me if the booking is there or not. The customer care executive told me that he is giving me a new booking – I told him to give me the number of the driver as the SMS is not coming. He asked me to hold on, but I was holding for 5 minutes and he never came back, and the call disconnected on its own.

Again I started calling 011-60601010, again wait time, disconnection. At 10:28 it connected and I told the customer care executive that I am freezing here in cold, is there a booking or not? He told me there is a booking, I asked him to give me the number of the driver. He was telling me the number and the call disconnected. I lost hope of getting a taxi from “Taxi for Sure” and I had waited enough in cold for them to give me a clear answer.

Within a minute I got a call from the second driver they had allocated. I took the number of the Taxi and quickly rushed towards the location of the taxi driver. And finally got the cab after 45 minutes of complete chaos.

When I had called them last time (not this incident) – they had told me that if you book and you are not present – you have to pay INR 100. I wonder if the company will pay a customer who has booked the cab and the cab does not come? Will the taxi driver be fined? Unfortunately all fines and rules are applicable on customers not service providers.

There is nothing sure about “Taxi for Sure”. The app did not work. The SMS (driver details) did not come. The 011-60601010 has a long long wait – you have to call 10 times (literally) to get the status. And finally the Taxi did not come as promised. I had to wait in freezing cold for 30 minutes and do all the chasing on phone – and finally with some luck I got a cab from “Taxi for Sure”. Maybe this is what they mean by “sure” – it may not be the same cab which was booked, may not be the same driver, may not be the same time, may not be the same location – but the Taxi will surely come sometime, someplace and you will not know about it.