Gozo Cabs — unethical behaviour

Website: www.gozocabs.com

I want to begin by giving some framework for myself so you can better understand where i am coming from. I am a 29-year-old canadian woman who is a graduate student doing research in india. I have traveled to over 35 countries over the last 10 years. I am not a stranger to stressful situations, different cultures, and changing travel plans. My trip with gozo cabs last friday is hands down the worst experience travel experience i have had. Our cab was over 90 minutes late. He stopped answering his phone calls and the only way i could get an update on where he was through calling the call centre. He left my mother and myself sitting outside a busy delhi train station alone on a friday night for 90 minutes while surrounding men hassled us. When he finally did arrive his car was in terrible shape. There were no seat belts (And this vehicle is supposed to be for highway driving) and the back seat was detached from the base so we were constantly sliding toward the floor. 40 minutes into the drive he decided to pull over at a truck stop. It is the drivers job to drive. We were two women alone at a truck stop outside of delhi at night and he expected us to get out of the vehicle. I did not feel safe and only after some pushing did he allow us to stay in the car. Furthermore, we were already 90 minutes behind schedule and now he wanted to stop. Absolutely unacceptable. We understood if he needed a bathroom break and we told him he needed to be back in 5 minutes. He was gone for over 15, again we were not going to get out of the car to find him as we did not know where we were, it was dark, and we didn't feel safe. We hired a taxi because we needed to get to agra quickly, he drove 20-40 km under the speed limit the entire time, except for when we explained that our hotel was going to close and could he please drive the speed limit. He would then speed up to 130 km/hr for 2-3 minutes before slowing back down to 60-80 km/hr. While he was driving he was falling asleep at the wheel. I had to yell at him to wake up multiple times as the car slowly veered in one direction or another while he nodded off. Once we reached agra he had no idea where to go. He told me to use my gps which i informed him doesn't work. I told him to call the hotel for directions and gave him the number as my phone was nearly out of credit. He had to call multiple times, and sped through agra erratically, making wrong turns and driving extremely carelessly. Once we reached the hotel we were so relieved to be there safely and we just wanted to get out and get to bed. He then got out of the car and demanded money for the phone calls he had to make to get to the hotel. We said absolutely not. He followed us into the hotel and badgered us while we checked in and would not leave without us giving him money. We refused and managed to get up to the room under the watchful eye of hotel security. I do not know what your policy is on drivers but a taxi driver looking for his customers to provide gps is unacceptable. A taxi driver looking to be repaid for a phone call he has to make for directions is unacceptable. A driver falling asleep, making unplanned stops, and driving erratically is unacceptable. If he incurred costs that should be the company's responsibility to reimburse him. The fact that he followed us into our hotel and demanded money is unacceptable. We paid for a service and he didn't do his job, plain and simple. I felt unsafe throughout the night, i felt unsafe in the morning as we weren't sure if he would be waiting at the hotel. I am disgusted with the entire experience.