Ethics of cancelling a car service...when it didn't cancel
December 1, 2014 3:23 PM Subscribe
Over the holiday weekend visiting NYC, I ordered, and then canceled, a car (from a major NYC car service) to come to the house I thought I’d be visiting in the suburbs and take me to La Guardia at 6 a.m. I then decided to stay where I was in Brooklyn and didn’t need the car after all. So I canceled with the service the night before, at around midnight.
The dispatcher on the phone seemed kind of breezy and I asked him “are you sure that’s canceled?” and he said “Yeah, I’m putting in a cancellation.”
But of course at 6 a.m. the driver called my cell from his own cell. He had come out to Westchester. No one had told him about the cancellation. From his area code, if that's where he really lives, it looked like he drove about 50 miles to the address I’d canceled. He must’ve left his house at 5 a.m. expecting a big fare. I felt horrible telling him I was in Brooklyn, not Westchester, and had canceled with the service the night before. He said “Ok” in a resigned voice. It sucked.
I called the service and told them the driver had come on out…thinking perhaps I’d canceled too late for him to pick up a message…and it turned out my cancellation wasn’t even in their computer. The dispatcher just didn’t do it.
So I know it’s not technically my fault because I canceled and that was all I had to do as a customer; but 2 days have gone by and I still feel somewhat crappy/responsible. I don’t want to pay for an expensive cab I didn’t take. I’m not rich and I had to take a different cab from Brooklyn to LGA and pay for that one, which was cheaper but still pretty expensive. But I feel like I owe the driver something anyway. I mean I know I don’t legally owe him anything but my conscience is not letting it go.
Because this is anonymous and I can't respond, I'll say now that I personally don't believe the guy can just get a different job with a better company if he doesn't like this irresponsible company, because I think it's hard to get a job and who knows the guy's story.
He didn’t speak very good English and his phone was staticky so I didn't really feel like I could discuss it with him that morning. I thought of texting him and offering to send him $20 but his cell didn’t accept text messages. Besides, what good would that really do in the long run except assuage my guilt. Right? Or not right?
So. I guess I'm wondering what the response from most people would be in this situation. What would you do?
The dispatcher on the phone seemed kind of breezy and I asked him “are you sure that’s canceled?” and he said “Yeah, I’m putting in a cancellation.”
But of course at 6 a.m. the driver called my cell from his own cell. He had come out to Westchester. No one had told him about the cancellation. From his area code, if that's where he really lives, it looked like he drove about 50 miles to the address I’d canceled. He must’ve left his house at 5 a.m. expecting a big fare. I felt horrible telling him I was in Brooklyn, not Westchester, and had canceled with the service the night before. He said “Ok” in a resigned voice. It sucked.
I called the service and told them the driver had come on out…thinking perhaps I’d canceled too late for him to pick up a message…and it turned out my cancellation wasn’t even in their computer. The dispatcher just didn’t do it.
So I know it’s not technically my fault because I canceled and that was all I had to do as a customer; but 2 days have gone by and I still feel somewhat crappy/responsible. I don’t want to pay for an expensive cab I didn’t take. I’m not rich and I had to take a different cab from Brooklyn to LGA and pay for that one, which was cheaper but still pretty expensive. But I feel like I owe the driver something anyway. I mean I know I don’t legally owe him anything but my conscience is not letting it go.
Because this is anonymous and I can't respond, I'll say now that I personally don't believe the guy can just get a different job with a better company if he doesn't like this irresponsible company, because I think it's hard to get a job and who knows the guy's story.
He didn’t speak very good English and his phone was staticky so I didn't really feel like I could discuss it with him that morning. I thought of texting him and offering to send him $20 but his cell didn’t accept text messages. Besides, what good would that really do in the long run except assuage my guilt. Right? Or not right?
So. I guess I'm wondering what the response from most people would be in this situation. What would you do?
I would place a complaint with the management of the car service.
posted by cabbagesnkings at 3:34 PM on December 1, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by cabbagesnkings at 3:34 PM on December 1, 2014 [5 favorites]
Does the service have a customer service number/email, Twitter or Facebook account? Maybe complaining about it there will do something.
posted by sevenless at 3:35 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by sevenless at 3:35 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
It is highly likely that the driver just had a cell phone number from 50 miles away, and not that they actually got dispatched from that distance. (FWIW my area code lists me as being in NYC even though I actually live in Los Angeles.) The resignation you heard wasn't that of someone who drove 50 miles out of his way in the wee hours of the morning and now has to drive all the way home for no pay, but someone who was mildly inconvenienced for a few minutes, likely before being immediately dispatched to a different address for a similar fare.
Keep in mind, too, that car service drivers run on shifts. Nobody is getting up early to be at your early pickup, it's just whoever is on duty at 6 AM. Typically they will send someone already in the area, and it's common for car services to refuse to send someone if the distance is too far. They will literally tell you "sorry, we don't serve [neighborhood]."
There is no way in a million billion years any NYC car service would dispatch someone 50 miles, for any reason. Never happen. They will laugh and hang up on your ass before they'll do that.
This is something that likely happens to this guy at least a few times a week, and it's only moderately annoying. At worst, he might feel like he's now "out" a long fare to the airport. But I promise that, by the end of the day, he had forgotten all about it.
posted by Sara C. at 4:41 PM on December 1, 2014 [12 favorites]
Keep in mind, too, that car service drivers run on shifts. Nobody is getting up early to be at your early pickup, it's just whoever is on duty at 6 AM. Typically they will send someone already in the area, and it's common for car services to refuse to send someone if the distance is too far. They will literally tell you "sorry, we don't serve [neighborhood]."
There is no way in a million billion years any NYC car service would dispatch someone 50 miles, for any reason. Never happen. They will laugh and hang up on your ass before they'll do that.
This is something that likely happens to this guy at least a few times a week, and it's only moderately annoying. At worst, he might feel like he's now "out" a long fare to the airport. But I promise that, by the end of the day, he had forgotten all about it.
posted by Sara C. at 4:41 PM on December 1, 2014 [12 favorites]
Also keep in mind that the vast majority of people booking car services in NYC, aside from maybe weekend nights in some parts of Brooklyn and Queens, are going to the airport or other long trips*. It's not like his typical fare is $5 and he was really looking forward to his one big ride of the day.
*It's very common for wealthy corporate types to commute via car service from the outer boroughs or even suburbia into Manhattan and vice versa
posted by Sara C. at 5:09 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
*It's very common for wealthy corporate types to commute via car service from the outer boroughs or even suburbia into Manhattan and vice versa
posted by Sara C. at 5:09 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hey, you actually did the due diligence of calling the car company to cancel. You did everything right. It was the guy at the car service who screwed this one up.
Probably what happened is that he radioed his boss to say that there was a cancellation, they both busted on the guy who didn't put the cancellation in, and then his boss probably said "well, since you're already there, I got a guy who needs a 6:45 pickup, why don't you stay where you are and get a donut or something and then go get THAT guy instead," and so he got another job and a donut besides. The worst case scenario is that there wasn't another pickup, his boss just said "damn, sorry....well, c'mon back in and we'll get you into the rotation for last-minute car services" and then he drove back to Brooklyn in time to deal with deal with the morning rush of "oh crap I can't take all these bags on the subway like I thought let me call and get a car right now" stuff.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:33 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Probably what happened is that he radioed his boss to say that there was a cancellation, they both busted on the guy who didn't put the cancellation in, and then his boss probably said "well, since you're already there, I got a guy who needs a 6:45 pickup, why don't you stay where you are and get a donut or something and then go get THAT guy instead," and so he got another job and a donut besides. The worst case scenario is that there wasn't another pickup, his boss just said "damn, sorry....well, c'mon back in and we'll get you into the rotation for last-minute car services" and then he drove back to Brooklyn in time to deal with deal with the morning rush of "oh crap I can't take all these bags on the subway like I thought let me call and get a car right now" stuff.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:33 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's not your fault for canceling. His manager sucked. Yes, you canceled late, but when he woke up, he should've been notified it was canceled and he could've gone back to bed or looked for other fares.
I'm guessing his area code doesn't match where he lives or works from. But, if you want to call him next time you need a ride and personally ensure you can tip him, go for it. I'm sure this guy has moved on. I am betting this sort of stuff happens a lot to dispatched cab drivers, whether it's no-shows or late cancellations, etc.
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:43 PM on December 1, 2014
I'm guessing his area code doesn't match where he lives or works from. But, if you want to call him next time you need a ride and personally ensure you can tip him, go for it. I'm sure this guy has moved on. I am betting this sort of stuff happens a lot to dispatched cab drivers, whether it's no-shows or late cancellations, etc.
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:43 PM on December 1, 2014
I know what it's like to have a big guilty feeling with nowhere to go. Your best bet would be to sink it into your community. Do a strong and wonderful thing for someone in your world tomorrow.
posted by thejoshu at 6:07 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by thejoshu at 6:07 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
You called in plenty of time to cancel, this is not on you, OP.
However, unless you called a car service local to the area in Westchester where you had originally planned to leave from there is no way of knowing where the driver was from or how far he had traveled.
As someone whose SO is a so-called "black car driver" I can tell you that drivers get messed with all the time, and nobody at the office is going to then find them a comparable job to make it up to them. He just went back on the list, waiting for another job. Your driver likely did heave a great sigh of resignation, then went off in search of coffee. And told his wife or SO about it that night. Life goes on.
One thing I might suggest in future, as a customer myself -- I always ask for a cancellation number. This tends to snap the dispatcher back to Earth time, and it protects you as well. It also gives you a basis to lodge a complaint, and perhaps the Base will compensate the driver in some way. Small chance, but one lives in hope.
Typical fares, BTW, are running about $28 with no tip from lower Manhattan to, say, Washington Heights. And with Uber and Lyft in town ... competition is tough.
I thank you, OP, for your concern for the driver. Most people don't consider them human beings, working hard to earn a living. I assure you, most of them are doing just that, accents notwithstanding.
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 1:23 AM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
However, unless you called a car service local to the area in Westchester where you had originally planned to leave from there is no way of knowing where the driver was from or how far he had traveled.
As someone whose SO is a so-called "black car driver" I can tell you that drivers get messed with all the time, and nobody at the office is going to then find them a comparable job to make it up to them. He just went back on the list, waiting for another job. Your driver likely did heave a great sigh of resignation, then went off in search of coffee. And told his wife or SO about it that night. Life goes on.
One thing I might suggest in future, as a customer myself -- I always ask for a cancellation number. This tends to snap the dispatcher back to Earth time, and it protects you as well. It also gives you a basis to lodge a complaint, and perhaps the Base will compensate the driver in some way. Small chance, but one lives in hope.
Typical fares, BTW, are running about $28 with no tip from lower Manhattan to, say, Washington Heights. And with Uber and Lyft in town ... competition is tough.
I thank you, OP, for your concern for the driver. Most people don't consider them human beings, working hard to earn a living. I assure you, most of them are doing just that, accents notwithstanding.
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 1:23 AM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by feloniousmonk at 3:31 PM on December 1, 2014 [4 favorites]