Taxi For Sure — Refund - missed flight

Address:

Bangalore, Karnataka

Booking id: TFS-AT-C625106 Details of Booking: I had booked my cab on Taxi for Sure through MakemyTrip on 11th October for my journey on 30th October. Pickup was to be from Temple Tree apartments, Cambridge Layout, Ulsoor to Bangalore Airport at 6 PM on 30th October. Pls. see the attached files for booking details and confirmation mails and booking voucher from MMT. The only reason for booking a taxi so early alongside booking my flight ticket was to make sure I get an assured taxi. 30th October being close to Diwali was expected to be a busy day for Taxis and I did not want to take a chance with booking late for Taxi. Sadly, my assumption that booking a taxi early on TAXIFORSURE would give me an assured Taxi on time turned out to be incorrect. I want to reemphasize that I had once again reconfirmed my Taxi on 30th at 6 PM by calling TAXIFORSURE on 29th October, and the Customer care executive had informed me that by taxi booking was confirmed and i need not worry. The number through which I called you was [protected] and time of call was 12:30 PM on 29th October. You can listen to the recording again. ON DATE OF JOURNEY 30th October was a working day from me and I quickly wrapped up my work in office and reached home at 5:20 PM. At 5:30 PM i.e. half and hour before the scheduled TAXI, as it usually happens, I did not check any SMS from TAXIFORSURE regarding my driver details, taxi number and driver contact details. I felt uneasy and immediately called up TAXIFORSURE but all your lines were busy and I could not get through. I kept calling again and again. You can check your call waiting record for the number [protected] on 30th October after 5:30 PM. Here, I want to add one more point, I was being charged by my operator for listening to your music all this time. The voice was melodious and kept singing[protected], nobody was picking up and I was being charged. Anyways, this is but a trivial irritant in my complete story. At 5:41 PM, I received a message from MEGACABS saying " Dear Customer, Thank you for choosing MegaCabs, your booking for Oct 30 2013 6:00 PM, Booking No: CAM257424 is confirmed. T and C Appllied. " I was surprised to see this message as I had never chose MEGACABS. had booked through TAXIFORSURE and not through MEGACABS I had never even heard about MEGACABS before this. The message did not have any contact number of MEGACABS for me to call and check. I felt angry and stupid at the same time. All this time, all the lines of TAXIFORSURE were busy and I could not reach any Call center person. I opened my laptop and searched for MEGACABS on internet and found out their contact number. I called them on [protected] on 5:41 pm and again on 5:59 pm. I gave them my booking ID and they assured me that taxi would reach on time at 6 PM and I would also get driver details on time. Please check their recordings too. I had called MEGACABS from my mobile number only i.e. [protected]. At 6:01 PM, I received the same message again from MEGACABS saying " Dear Customer, Thank you for choosing MegaCabs, your booking for Oct 30 2013 6:00 PM, Booking No: CAM257424 is confirmed. T and C Appllied. ". No mention of driver number was there. At 6:08 PM, i received another message from MEGACABS giving me the driver name as Manjunath and his cell no as [protected]. I immediately started calling the driver but now his number was coming busy. I must have given him 7-10 missed calls. At 6:12 the driver called me up, asked me for my address. The driver told me that he had just been informed by MEGACABS for my booking and he will take at least half an hour more as he was on MG road and there was heavy traffic. He told me that it was not his fault that he is going to be late as he has been only just informed by MEGACABS. Meanwhile, all lines for TAXIFORSURE were busy as usual. I again called up MEGACABS on 6:19 PM and 6:24 PM, and told them driver is saying he would be late and if so, I will miss my flight. I told them clearly I am getting very late and the driver should reach immediately. They kept telling me that the driver would reach on time. But it was already past the time. This exchange went on between me and the driver and MEGACABS for a long time till the driver reached at 6:45 PM. I and my mother were standing near the gate only. I have receipt of the cab stating journey starting time at 6:45 PM. The driver only dropped me at the Airport on 8:23 PM. I and my mother ran with our luggage to the counter. We reached the counter at 8:30 PM, but the Go Air airlines staff said it was closed now. I had taken his written remarks on my ticket. Attached is copy of the same. I checked for any replacement flight and alternate arrangement with GoAir only, but all the flights on that day and next day were already full because of Diwali time and they said sorry, , not possible. At this time, I finally managed to get through TAXIFORSURE's busy phonelines and talked to a Customer care person, explained him the whole issue and asked to talk with a manager. I finally got in touch with Mr. Amit, manager who understood my case. He suggested me to book an alternate early flight whichever possible, reach home and then claim for compensation. At Airport itself, I tried booking through JetAirways, but could not book as all flights to Delhi were now costing around 28-35k per passenger. I only had my debit card with me and with a debit card limit of 40K per day, could not book flights at the airport for 2 people. The only flight I could book on reaching home that still had 2 seats left during Diwali time was Air India at 13:10 on 31st October. It cost me Rs 57, 294 /- for two people. I finally took the AIR India flight on 31st and reached home. STATUS: I want complete reimbursement for this amount of Rs 57, 294 /- . Even here, I am not claiming any damages for my mental torture and the horrors of worst (non) journey of my life even though it was undoubtedly, one of my worst experiences ever.