Double charged! And no help in sight!

[lupo pazzesco]

I went out of town this last weekend for Labor Day, spending 4 days with a friend, which was greatly needed.

Now, I took a cab to the train station, since I wasn't sure how to get there by bus, and the Metro website couldn't plot a course, citing there wasn't any service to that area. No big, I checked landmarks as we drove and plotted a course back.

Anyways, I made my cab reservation, got picked up and dropped off all right, but when I went to pay with my card, the driver said his system went down, and not to worry, that without a confirmation code, it wasn't going through. Again, no big, I paid cash, he wished me a great day, and I went to catch my train.

Well, yesterday, I checked my bank account and lo and behold, there's a pending charge from the cab company!! I'm naturally irritated that I'm being charged TWICE for the same cab trip, and went to the website, clicked on the contact link and looked for a number. There was only the number for reservations, and the people there were no help. You had the option of sending an email, so I did.

Today, I get an email back, short, two lines, and in all caps, saying that this person, with no identifying info whatsoever except for a first name and an email at yellowcab.com, claims I'm not giving her enough info and wants me to send her my credit card info via email to her, so she can TRY to straighten this out. (Mind you I gave her date, time, location of pickup, location of drop off, etc. I didn't have the cabbie's name because when I asked for a card, I never got one!)

I'm not comfortable with this, and sent an email asking for her direct number, or the number for the office at the company that handles this because I'm not sending my credit card over the internet without a secure way to do so, and there's no guarantees with that, really.

I haven't gotten a response yet, but so far, everyone I've tried to call, they've been rather short with me. I'm getting really irritated because I'm paying $70 for a $29 initial fare! I even tipped rather generously, (About $6 for the whole trip) and no one can seem to help me fix their mistake.

Just needed to rant before I go back and attempt to get this settled once again.

[It's me]

File a dispute with your credit card provider.

[Shangri-laschild]

Yeah, I'm going to agree and say handle it on the credit card provider end since these people aren't being helpful at all.

[marasbaras]

I'd give her the last four digits of my CC number. That should be enough for her to figure it out.

If she can't ... THEN dispute.

[One-Fang]

Um ... you said it's a "pending" charge. I would wait until it's actually fully charged. Often times pending charges are never put through (or are reversed, depending on how they're processed) when it's come to light that they are not legit.

Do not act on "pending".

(If it's deducted your balance, but still saying pending, it's still possible it's going to be reversed. Yes, that sucks that you can't access that balance in the mean time, but that's just a part of the way credit cards work. The risk you take having used it in the first place.)

[hecubus]

If you can't get through to the cab company, try and contact the local Taxi Commission. They might be able to help you out.