Private transfer never arrived
powerful_Rogue
Posts: 7,504 Forumite
Just after a quick bit of advice please.
Private return transfers booked from airport to hotel in Turkey.
Return journey paperwork said the taxi will arrived at 1905hrs to take is to the airport for a 2245hrs departure. Journey time is 93 minutes from hotel to airport.
Waited outside hotel at 1845hrs. Was a car sat there and he looked at us and said "Willaims?", which wasn't us or anyway close to our name.
15 minutes later the car is still there, and we noticed amongst many signs in the windscreen, one of them said "A2B" - Who our travel was booked with. Went over and showed him the paperwork from A2B, which he looked at and said "No".
Come 1920hrs, still no vehicle has turned up for us, and as the paperwork said to wait 15 minutes, we called one of the numbers in which there was no answer. Called a second number and the person was very abrupt. Said a car had been waiting, no one and turned up and we would have to make our own way to the airport. Tried explaining about the "Willaims" car but to no avail.
Hotel called us a taxi whilst I called the 24hr UK number. VBery helpful lady who said I would have to get a taxi, which turned up whilst on the phone. Was trying to talk to her and sort out the price etc with the driver who spoke no English and I spoke no Turkish.
Got to the airport, but time was now extremely tight. Driver dropped us off outside the entrance in the road. Tried asking for a receipt, even using mime, but to no avail. As traffic was building up, he jumped in the taxi and left.
So £100 for the taxi trip, however due to no receipt, A2B can't help. Lady I spoke to this morning was the same person I spoke to last night and was very helpful and said she remembered be talking to the taxi driver whilst on the phone to her.
Any advice or simply a LBA / Small claims court?
Private return transfers booked from airport to hotel in Turkey.
Return journey paperwork said the taxi will arrived at 1905hrs to take is to the airport for a 2245hrs departure. Journey time is 93 minutes from hotel to airport.
Waited outside hotel at 1845hrs. Was a car sat there and he looked at us and said "Willaims?", which wasn't us or anyway close to our name.
15 minutes later the car is still there, and we noticed amongst many signs in the windscreen, one of them said "A2B" - Who our travel was booked with. Went over and showed him the paperwork from A2B, which he looked at and said "No".
Come 1920hrs, still no vehicle has turned up for us, and as the paperwork said to wait 15 minutes, we called one of the numbers in which there was no answer. Called a second number and the person was very abrupt. Said a car had been waiting, no one and turned up and we would have to make our own way to the airport. Tried explaining about the "Willaims" car but to no avail.
Hotel called us a taxi whilst I called the 24hr UK number. VBery helpful lady who said I would have to get a taxi, which turned up whilst on the phone. Was trying to talk to her and sort out the price etc with the driver who spoke no English and I spoke no Turkish.
Got to the airport, but time was now extremely tight. Driver dropped us off outside the entrance in the road. Tried asking for a receipt, even using mime, but to no avail. As traffic was building up, he jumped in the taxi and left.
So £100 for the taxi trip, however due to no receipt, A2B can't help. Lady I spoke to this morning was the same person I spoke to last night and was very helpful and said she remembered be talking to the taxi driver whilst on the phone to her.
Any advice or simply a LBA / Small claims court?
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Comments
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Chances are slim tbh, they said the car was there you said it wasn't so it's your word against theirs.
I don't however see what the taxi driver not speaking any English has to do with anything, negotiating a price is a universal language.
Not having a receipt is also a big no no, it's a crucial piece of evidence when it comes to courts and proof. But even then it would just mean you got a taxi and still not prove you weren't late for the original car.
Try the small claims court but without proof you got the taxi and them saying you didn't show for your ride your chances are slim and don't think for a minute the helpful lady will be so helpful when your seeing them in court .0 -
taxi due at 1905, you went outside at 1945, guessing that is a typo.
the car waiting for williams does seem odd if no one arrived for it
no idea how you prove it didnt turn up though, and without a taxi receipt !0 -
The car was there though. I kept saying to the missus thats our car, the fact it had the name of the company in the windscreen and no-one was there to take it seems to much of a coincidence. He just had a different name so wouldn't take us. Not much you can do to make a driver take you. Explained this to the 24hr UK line when I called them, described the car and the driver so hopefully goes some way to prove we were there.
Negotiating the price wasn't an issue. The issue was trying to get a receipt.
Id like to think on the balance of probabilities that we can describe the car and driver that was waiting, the fact we followed the procedure on making all the relevant calls, the fact our substitute taxi arrived whist on the phone to A2B (she heard me trying to talk to the driver etc) would help prove our case.
I remember the missus took some photos of the front of the hotel last night, just checked and unfortunately she took them in such a way that it dosent show any cars, however they are all time stamped at 1900hrs - 5 minutes before the departure time.0 -
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In your case it doesn't sound like there is any proof whether or not the car was there, or any proof of how much you paid for the taxi.
Small claims cases are decided on a 'balance of probabilities'. The judge has to decide who is more likely to be correct.
It sounds to me like you acted reasonably so you probably should get a refund. It is not ideal that you don't have a receipt, but I don't think this should stop you from claiming the amount (especially as you were in Turkey and the taxi driver didn't speak English).
A case like this could go either way due to limited evidence, but you explain yourself very well on here, so a judge may well side with you if you ended up issuing a small claim.0 -
Not ideal, but might you at least be able to get some of the cost back from A2B with a debit or credit card claim?0
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If the hotel called the taxi, could you maybe email them and ask for the taxi company they usually use? Then use that information to ring or email the company and ask for a letter via email confirming the journey details and price you paid.
When I have gone on holidays I have often emailed different tax companies for quotes prior to going, got replies and then checked them out on tripadvisor, so a lot do have agents who reply in English.0 -
ThumbRemote wrote: »Not ideal, but might you at least be able to get some of the cost back from A2B with a debit or credit card claim?
Holiday was booked via Sunshine who then put the package together, so don't think a section 75 would work in that instance.0 -
If the hotel called the taxi, could you maybe email them and ask for the taxi company they usually use? Then use that information to ring or email the company and ask for a letter via email confirming the journey details and price you paid.
When I have gone on holidays I have often emailed different tax companies for quotes prior to going, got replies and then checked them out on tripadvisor, so a lot do have agents who reply in English.
Emailed the hotel this morning asking if they could contact the taxi company and ask if a receipt could be emailed through to me. No reply as yet though.0 -
I would try maybe putting it in writing - giving a description of the driver and car - after all, how else would you be able to give such a detailed description unless you had been at least reasonably close to him and how else would you know he arrived before 1845 and left at x time unless you had also been there.
As for the taxi cost....perhaps try contacting the hotel and enquiring if they remember you asking them to call a taxi or any other details (perhaps overhearing discussions about prices etc) and perhaps if they know what the taxi fare to the airport is (not sure if its fixed by local government like ours but worth asking). Despite not having the receipt, you can perhaps prove on the balance of probability that you did incur £x loss due to the negligence of the company (or their third party agent). And perhaps add that any term which makes your legal rights contingent on compliance with a formality may be considered unfair and void.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284435/oft668.pdfRegulation 5(5) - Indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may
be regarded as unfair
1. Terms which have the object or effect of
(n) limiting the seller's or supplier's obligation to respect commitments
undertaken by his agents or making his commitments subject to compliance
with a particular formality;
If they are regulated, try the regulatory body to see if they handle complaints.
Alternatively, if you paid for a package holiday and paid by credit or debit card, those avenues (and the financial ombudsman) might also be something to look into.
Of course, its always going to come down to how much time & effort you're willing to put into it.You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride0
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