Another "Beware of Cab RipOff" Story
 

It's dark out at 10:45 PM on the outskirts of downtown Bratislava.

We have just finished a pleasant dinner at Le Marine Bistro.

The fare to the resto was 5 Euro.

There are two cabs, both with yellow signs that say "taxi", waiting at the "TAXI" sign.

I approach the first and ask if he is free. He directs me to the other.

We get in and I give the address of our hotel. Off we go.

I then look for the meter.

WRONG!!

Fella takes us to the hotel lickety split.

He then writes out a pink receipt for 10 Euro.

I say, "Nein! Seben euro".

He then goes into a long song and dance showing me various laminated cards that "prove" that the fare is 10E. I ask to see his meter. He says he doesn't need one. I ask for his license. Same response.

After I start calling for the police, which I know are out in force across the street for some sort of big do, he gets angry and threatens to drive off with me.

I tell him I will have him arrested for kidnapping. By now we are speaking English, because neither of us speaks German that well.

He finally gives in, stuffs a 2E coin in my hand and I walk away.

Moral - don't let foreigners rip us off. Vote for Trump. He will make sure that there is a meter in every cab and a chicken in every pot.

((I))
Or was it check for a meter and/or ask the fare before getting in.

I know it was only 3E, but I hate being taken for a sucker.

((I))

That is why I always carry a gun before taking a taxi.

There you go!! Your mistake. You said "NO!", which means YES in Slovak.

You didn't learn Slovak for F-you before leaving home, ira? Shame on you!

But thanks for the tip, as we are, as you know, following in your footsteps soon (thank you...vielen dank!). Are you enjoying Bratislava? We'll definitely spend at least a night there after Budapest, but should we spend more? I'm reading an interesting "cultural guide" to the city, and it makes it out to be a very mixed bag (not that that would stop us!).

We too have been ripped off by cabs...the latest was in Madrid. We didn't know it until we arrived at our hotel and our concierge asked what we had paid. I told him and he told me it was twice the normal rate. He was furious and said there are illegal cabs everywhere. We had taken the taxi from the airport. How do you know what is the correct fare and what isn't.

We had another bad experience in Beijing with two pedicabs. They tried to separate my husband and myself and get the full rate out of both of us. The one cab parked across and down the street with my husband, and my cab pulled up in front of the restaurant and demanded double payment from me while the other driver was demanding double payment from my husband. My husband paid the regular rate. My driver tried to block me from getting to my husband but I pushed past him. My husband saw, ran across the street and about decked the guy when he saw him put his hands on me to stop me. It was a scam for sure. One that they had probably succeeded at many times. But not today. They threatened to call the police. My husband said, "Go ahead. We will gladly wait for them." We went in the restaurant and they rode off. Off to claim another victim.

In Cairo at lunch time our guy used the meter, after flipping it to the nightly rate (double). We knew it was too high but arguing seemed to be our worst option.

These reports are another reason to prefer public transportation to cabs whenever possible.

Michael, the essence of your statement is spot-on; though, there's no easy public where Ira was dining.

Typically we ask the restaurant to call a taxi for us; or, in the case of our evening dinner at La Marine last summer, walked into the adjacent hotel to ask for a taxi call. Never, not even here in Vienna, do I catch a taxi that hasn't been called.

Good on you for standing your ground. However, as you said, it's only a few Euros so if that's your only hiccup in otherwise a lovely trip, you're laughing.

I took a cab in Venice and tasked about the expected price - which I always do. The guy wanted nearly double the rate we had paid on the way in, so I told the chauffeur I didn't accept. He dropped us out of his taxi and I discussed with another driver. He said he 'd be at about 50 €, which was in line.
Upon arrival, the meter (because there was a meter) said 46 €. I said I disagreed and gave him 50, which was what we had agreed upon. In hope he would tell his colleague...