Hi there,

I seem to have had a bad run with Wellington Combined taxis.  I'm posting here to see if anyone else in the community has shared in my frustration with the company and it's drivers, or whether I seem to be the exception to the rule and the majority of people have good things to say. 

A little background. I live in the city end of Karori (before the cemetary) and work in the CBD.  I am on-call every 2nd week and as such I often get called in to work.  A few times in recent months I've been called at around 7:15am.  So, I call Wellington Combined for a cab so I can get to work quickly and resolve the problems.

On no less than 5 occasions in the last 2-3 months I've had to wait for over 50 minutes for a cab to arrive and pick me up.  It takes me 35 minutes to walk to work from my house so I seriously could have got there quicker by walking.  But, you call a cab because you expect to get prompt service and in calling the cab i expected to wait maybe 15 minutes tops, which would get me to work within 25 mins from calling.  No such luck. 

I complained a few weeks ago by sending an email to the manager.  He referred it on to someone else who made contact with me.  The basis of my complaint was that there seemed to be a trend occuring, and that Karori - or the western suburbs in general - was not adequately covered in the mornings, meaning I and many other people (most likely) are waiting too long for a cab.  My complaint was dealt with in the usual way, and I received $20 in vouchers from them in the mail.  I left well enough alone and decided to accept their vouchers and move on.

However, it keeps happening.  I keep getting calls from work, and I keep being made to wait for over 35-45 minutes for a taxi to pick me up.  This is between 7am and 8am.  I could understand that there is a huge rush between around 8am-9am, but the roads are largely empty in my area until around 745am.  Something interesting that I have tried recently is to call up for a cab, and "book" one for half an hour from the time I call....so if i call at 7:30am I book it for an 8am pickup.  For each of the 5 times I've done that the cab has arrived on time?!  How can they get to me on time if I book them, but they can't get to me on time if I just call and request one immediately.

Anyway.  That's my story - if anyone is interested I will post the most recent email I sent to the manager which goes into a really bizzare experience I had last week.  I haven't received a reply to that email which is a worry. 

What do you guys think?  Am I over-reactiing?  Have you had similar experiences?  Or can you not speak highly enough about Wellington Combined Taxis?

G.