Wallet Rape!
I am not a happy person this evening, for several reasons.
The first is that I had to leave work early, as about two hours into my shift, my sinuses started to clog and hurt like a SOB, and then I started coughing like I was going to hack up a lung.
Damnit, I wish this winter would end!
Anyway, because it's a Sunday, there are no buses running, so I had to call a cab. Fine and dandy, and I've been faithfully using Canadian Cab (one of the two main cab companies here in Guelph, the other being Red Top), since I moved here in 1999. So, a ten year customer. Because I didn't have enough cash on me, and had no easy way of getting that much at the moment, I asked the dispatcher if I could use debit.
He said 'No Problem'.
What he did *NOT* tell me, however, was that they charge a $1.50 surcharge to use debit.
Now, I realise that a buck fifty is not very much. I can accept that reasoning. What I cannot accept, however, is not being informed of such an outrageous surcharge ahead of time (and let's face it, compared to anywhere else you go, $1.50 as a surcharge for using debit is fucking ridiculous).
When I commented to the driver, that I wish I had known about the surcharge before I agreed to take the ride, he suddenly turned both alpha male, and super condescending on me at the same time.
The first statement out of his mouth was to shake a finger at me, and tell me LOUDLY that 'It's not our responsibility to tell you about the surcharge ahead of time. You'd have to pay it anywhere else, SIR... It's no different than if you were to use someone else's bank machine.'
My response was to calmly tell him that it's rather funny that no other businesses anywhere in this city seem to be hurting for cash badly enough that they feel the need to justify a surcharge that large.
His response was to invite me to get out of his cab post-haste.
My response was to tell him that his manager might be quite interested in hearing about the warm, polite, and downright stellar customer service I had received.
How wrong I was.
I called the manager not too long ago. Informed him of the situation, and that I was not impressed with the nasty little surprise. He said pretty much the exact same thing the driver said to me, with the additional tidbit that the driver complained that I had 'given him a hard time'.
My response was to inform the manager that their company had just lost a loyal customer of ten years.
His response was to snort: "Yeah, whatever," and hang up on me.
And how was YOUR day?
The first is that I had to leave work early, as about two hours into my shift, my sinuses started to clog and hurt like a SOB, and then I started coughing like I was going to hack up a lung.
Damnit, I wish this winter would end!
Anyway, because it's a Sunday, there are no buses running, so I had to call a cab. Fine and dandy, and I've been faithfully using Canadian Cab (one of the two main cab companies here in Guelph, the other being Red Top), since I moved here in 1999. So, a ten year customer. Because I didn't have enough cash on me, and had no easy way of getting that much at the moment, I asked the dispatcher if I could use debit.
He said 'No Problem'.
What he did *NOT* tell me, however, was that they charge a $1.50 surcharge to use debit.
Now, I realise that a buck fifty is not very much. I can accept that reasoning. What I cannot accept, however, is not being informed of such an outrageous surcharge ahead of time (and let's face it, compared to anywhere else you go, $1.50 as a surcharge for using debit is fucking ridiculous).
When I commented to the driver, that I wish I had known about the surcharge before I agreed to take the ride, he suddenly turned both alpha male, and super condescending on me at the same time.
The first statement out of his mouth was to shake a finger at me, and tell me LOUDLY that 'It's not our responsibility to tell you about the surcharge ahead of time. You'd have to pay it anywhere else, SIR... It's no different than if you were to use someone else's bank machine.'
My response was to calmly tell him that it's rather funny that no other businesses anywhere in this city seem to be hurting for cash badly enough that they feel the need to justify a surcharge that large.
His response was to invite me to get out of his cab post-haste.
My response was to tell him that his manager might be quite interested in hearing about the warm, polite, and downright stellar customer service I had received.
How wrong I was.
I called the manager not too long ago. Informed him of the situation, and that I was not impressed with the nasty little surprise. He said pretty much the exact same thing the driver said to me, with the additional tidbit that the driver complained that I had 'given him a hard time'.
My response was to inform the manager that their company had just lost a loyal customer of ten years.
His response was to snort: "Yeah, whatever," and hang up on me.
And how was YOUR day?