Question Are You Tired of the Taxi Ripoff?

[living4experiences]

I've just arrived in Cozumel and have been ripped off four times by taxi drivers! I thought I did enough due diligence to be informed about what I should be paying from point A to point B, but the taxi Mafia has little care about adhering to their rules. The first three drivers refused to provide me the rate card. The fare should have been 260 pesos from Casa Mexicana to Iberostar. The first two drivers quoted 350 pesos to which I countered with the correct fare. The price was lowered to 300 pesos. Once I mentioned I wanted to see the rate card, they all of a sudden didn't understand what I was talking about. I walked away and headed down the road on foot to catch another taxi. Driver number three said 300 pesos and also refused to provide the rate card. Now I was running out of time to get to my destination, so I paid the $300 pesos.

Coming back from iberostar, with no option, I was forced to pay the $300 pesos from Iberostar to Casa Mexicana. Once we arrived, I waited till my stuff was out of the van and then I asked the driver for his rate card, to which he did not know what I was talking about. I then typed the question into Google Translate and showed it to him. He looked dumbfounded and wouldn't answer, even seeing the question in his own language. I then went to the front of the van and took a picture of his license plate. He conveniently found a rate card. This rate card was in USD for cruise ship passengers only, for transportation from the International and Punta Langosta Piers. It occurred to me now that the drivers are charging regular tourists the cruise ship passenger rates all the time. This was not a zone rate card and it was not in Spanish or Pesos. When I asked to take a photo of the rate card, he refused. Now I'm angry and telling him that by law he needs to show it to me. He finally let me get a photo, but he didn't make it easy and wouldn't let me touch it. He says that Casa Mexicana is at Punta Langosta Pier. So somehow that means I'm a cruise ship passenger?

I would be interested to know what the community here does in these situations in Cozumel. Besides taking a picture of the license plate, what other photos should one gather in the event of filing a formal complaint? I'm not saying I would take time from my vacation to do so, but this might be enough of an intimidation to the driver that I'm not a customer that will be taken advantage of.

I'm thinking that Maybe I should just get in the cab, knowing the price, and pay it at the destination. If he has a problem with it, then that would be another issue.

 

[ggunn]

Or maybe it's just a recent development.

I dunno, maybe. I am going back in April and I will, as always, look at the bill and compare it with the Visa charge. No problems so far.

 

[Vicko]

Do you guys go to vacation abroad just to get angry at stuff that would not bother you if you were at home?

 

[ggunn]

Do you guys go to vacation abroad just to get angry at stuff that would not bother you if you were at home?

It sometimes seems that way, doesn't it? For myself, I don't want to waste precious vacation time being angry. I try very hard not to sweat the small stuff, and my wife and I have a traditional "no arguments" toast at the beginning of every vacation.

Ever since The Incident she isn't allowed to mix caffeine and tequila.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Do you guys go to vacation abroad just to get angry at stuff that would not bother you if you were at home?

See my comment in post #39. It would bother me in my home city if the taxi drivers requested I pay more than the posted rates. "Bother," yes, but "angry," no.

 

[Zman96]

We have only been going to CZM since 2008, a total of 30 trips and I have to say different scams have become more prevalent in the last 5 years. The gas scam has always been around and I have had words with them a few times when they tried different schemes. Some restaurants try to play the exchange rate games, by giving you a peso menu, charging you in dollars and then when you say you want to pay in pesos they convert their USD price to be a lot more than the menu price. I have only had a few taxis try to get a bit more, but normally we take cabs from a north condo to town and we know the rate and just hand the driver the amount and say gracias and go on our way. It has become annoying to always needing to be vigilant to those trying to cheat for a extra money and it has dampened my love for the island a bit. Its a principle matter for me not the $5 here and there, though it can add up quickly.

 

[ReefHound]

It has become annoying to always needing to be vigilant to those trying to cheat for a extra money and it has dampened my love for the island a bit. Its a principle matter for me not the $5 here and there, though it can add up quickly.

One of the benefits of AI is not having to be on guard constantly. No need to worry - or even wonder - every time you have a meal if you're being given the dollar menu or the peso menu, to carefully check the bill that you were charged the price on the menu and only for the items you ordered and to see if tip was included.

 

[ggunn]

One of the benefits of AI is not having to be on guard constantly. No need to worry - or even wonder - every time you have a meal if you're being given the dollar menu or the peso menu, to carefully check the bill that you were charged the price on the menu and only for the items you ordered and to see if tip was included.

Not a good tradeoff for me but YMMV.

 

[BRT]

One of the benefits of AI is not having to be on guard constantly. No need to worry - or even wonder - every time you have a meal if you're being given the dollar menu or the peso menu, to carefully check the bill that you were charged the price on the menu and only for the items you ordered and to see if tip was included.

I have to say that the only way I have been unhappy with payment at a restaurant is the waiter dunning me for a bigger tip. It has happened twice in 27 years. Never went back to either place. One time there was a large group of us dining at a hole in the wall Mexican place. I gave the waitress a big tip, in relation to the bill. She quietly came over to me to make sure I understood what I was doing.

 

[ggunn]

I have to say that the only way I have been unhappy with payment at a restaurant is the waiter dunning me for a bigger tip. It has happened twice in 27 years. Never went back to either place. One time there was a large group of us dining at a hole in the wall Mexican place. I gave the waitress a big tip, in relation to the bill. She quietly came over to me to make sure I understood what I was doing.

Once many years ago my dad added a tip in what he thought was dollars but was actually in pesos, so he was effectively stiffing the waiter, who said not a word about it. When my dad figured out what he had done he went back and made it more than right. My dad was a class act.

 

[living4experiences]

Sometimes it is just being unfortunate, but I also think many times people can make themselves a target.

If you're a tourist, you're a target.