So I’m sure you’ve had a taxi ride where the driver forgot to turn on the meter. Usually they’re pretty reasonable and will ask how much does it usually cost or have some number that’s about right. But today I got a ride to my gfs place that i took hundreds of times. It’s about 160-180. He tried to take 300. I wasn’t having it and was getting pretty pissed and just threw him a hundred and left. Is there some laws on what to do?
Yes, I had that experience - driver forgot then turn it on.
I pay and add a little bit more as you know taxi driver job was not that easy.
Laws? yes there is karma.
Taxi driver here is much better than Manila.
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Being a third-world-ian as myself, it is an importance to make sure how the fare gonna be charged before it started. A quick glance to the argo-meter and haggle in broken Chinese, “why that was not turned on?”
The driver should give you a decent reply, “let’s make this XYZ, OK”
You should do this the second you notice there are no argometer running.
So instead of being reasonable with the taxi driver (who may never have driven that route or know the distance and may of had no intention of really trying to cheat you), you took idea of the law into your own hands and cheated him by only giving half of what you know is a reasonable fare for the distance.
You cheated him by not giving what you know to be a reasonable fare.
You’re not understanding. I explained the price. He forgot the turn it on, that’s his job. I said I always tried to reason. He insisted 300. I’m not going to pay that much and spend 10min debating. I offered 180. If you’ve drive a taxi for a living, you clearly know that it’s not 300nt. That’s a 140nt difference. If he said like 200-250. Maybe I can understand. 300 is ridiculous. He knows it. A 160nt cab ride with no traffic on a straight shot on xinyi rd? We made zero turns. He’s chargings almost double. I should have just not payed.
It seems you perceived his action as an unambiguous attempt to commit fraud (no possibility of mere incompetence on his part and/or a misunderstanding on your part) and your action as a settlement between what you actually owed him and the compensation he owed you for the attempted fraud.
Would you have handled it differently if a police officer had witnessed the incident?
Absolutely not. Because he forgot to run his meter, there is no amount that is exactly what I owe him. I reasoned with him at 180, which is more then fair when it’s usually 160-165. only 180 on traffic time. So it stands to reason we must come to a agreement that reasonable and fair. He did not insisting on 300 which is nearly double. So my final offer is 100. Thats his fault for not running the meter, if the police is there what would the officer have done. I did pay him. How can the officer tell me how much to pay him?
I understand your logic, but from a legal perspective it doesn’t sound kosher. You paid him less than what you believed you owed him, because (rightly or wrongly) you didn’t like him.
If he’s so incompetent and/or dishonest that he deserves to be punished, I reckon he’s worth filing a complaint about, but “one rip off deserves another” is a tough sell. 
Here’s the issue that maybe I didn’t clear up. I tried to give him 200nt and get 20nt change back. Paying him 200nt. I didn’t have 80 in change. He wouldn’t take it. And kept asking for 300. I wasn’t going to leave him 200 and leave paying more. I was on a schedule and I wasn’t going to argue more after trying to reason him with for a couple minutes. I offered him a more than fair price. That’s his fault not taking it. And since he never put on the meter, he should have tried to be reasonable.
It’s been a while since I’ve taken a taxi in Taipei, but isn’t there some kind of fine print on the back of the seat saying what to do in the event of a fair dipsute, or am I thinking of somewhere else?
I have no idea, that’s why I asked. I’m not a cheap guy. I normally tip cabs, I tip the McDonald’s guy like a couple hundreds delivering. If he said 200. Fine, I’m not going to waste my time arguing a couple nt. But when he’s so unreasonable at 300 which he has to know is clearly wrong, it was a simple route straight on xinyi rd. From daan to xinyi. Daan to tianmu is just under 300. A 300 cab ride is pretty long. This was a short ride. And the fact that he wouldn’t budge at all made me so pissed when someone tries to rip you off so badly.
Heh, I’ve had this every week since taking a job out in Tainan county. Get off the train, get in a cab, driver says 150. I say no, we need a receipt, he turns on the meter, 120. Same guy the following week, same story. It’s not much, but I don’t like the idea of just naming a price for the foreigners.
My wife says I should report him, but I’m not sure who to, and given he’s one of only two drivers who are ever at the station, maybe best not to get them annoyed at us.
That said, it goes both ways - coming back, the company always calls us a taxi to the station, the woman never uses the meter, and just asks for 100, then gives us a blank receipt. Drives like a lunatic, mind.
I honestly uber as much as I can unless it’s during the busy hours where the price goes up. I was really supported of taxi’s but lately they’ve really pissed me off from stealing my phone to other annoying stuff. At least I know the price before hand and the car is clean and the driver is usually pretty nice.
In my experience, taxi drivers in Taiwan are quite honest, most of them drive like they are suicidal but that’s another topic(also, not just here). I encountered the situation where the driver didn’t turn on the meter twice, first time I just paid him whatever he asked for, after that I learned my lesson. Second time, I told him the meter wasn’t on, no discussion there. I can’t say whether it was on purpose or not. Anyways, you had your fair share of bad experience. I suggest in the future, you check if the meter is on and if the driver can give you some kind of receipt beforehand, like those at the HSR stations.
On a different note, I can’t call myself a world traveler, so I don’t know if there are worse places for taxis(I guess there are). But my absolute worst experience regarding cabs was in Kuala Lumpur. During one week, there was only one straight up driver who counted by the meter. All the others haggled for an outrageous price in advance(turning on the meter wasn’t an option for them, they’d just laugh) or were incredibly rude. After the third day I just gave up on taxis and preferred to walk.
I find this thread a bit perplexing.
One of the things I love about Taiwan is that taxi drivers here will agree to a flat fare up front. Even if I end up paying 150 instead of the 120 it would be with the meter turned on - that’s really nothing. I’ll take the 30 NT hit - at least I know the guy will be taking the most direct route, and I don’t have to worry about being given the run around.
Also Taxis are cheap as fuck. How much do you really need to haggle?
It’s not about haggling. Taxis in taipei must follow the rate with the cities laws with the meter.
I stick to Taiwan Taxi, Tafong, or any other big company. First of all, as part of a company, you can call the managers and complain if service is amiss. Also, they have company provided GPS, meaning that if they do not know the address, they look it up. No driving around lost in space…wasting time and money. Moreover, if I lose something, at least I know which company it was -tell me if we ever pay attention to the cabbie’s name or number.
Tafong is right around the corner for me, so I can book longer trips -Yilan, airport, hire a van- with an agreed upon price.
Taiwan taxi now has an app, so calling them is one touch away, a la Uber.
Taxis and doctors have both the same problem: compared to our own Western countries, service is quick and cheap, but they suffer for it. The rush is a killer, literally, and yes, there are many trying to make a better buck out of cheating. Hours are long and teh job is thankless.
They come in threes, be careful.
For future prevention, buses and the MRT I hear are pretty awesome. Rate hasn’t changed probably since @Icon arrived on the island.
Also, try the app, FindTaxi. It’s in English and I’ve heard really good things about it and there’s a lot of filters for cars with things like karaoke to English speaking.
I do take the mrt. But summer time…it smells god awful haha. But I take it to tianmu from dongmen often.
Hey, prices do have changed since I came here! The MRT has expanded a lot though since. When I came her, it only got to Kuting. 
In summary, options for complaints:
- taxi company
- Taipei city transport -ask for foreigner service
- Police… if you get into fisticuffs