09 Nov 2020
I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with the service received after booking an pick up service from Stansted airport to SW London. I have contacted Minicabit providing all information & proof of my experience and they have refused to apologise and take action - they merely offered a £10 voucher - which is nowhere near enough for what I had experienced as a solo female traveller.
Please see breakdown of incidents and timeline below:
Booking made for 11.50 2nd of November - I have only made it home in SW46DF at 2.30 am 3rd of November - OVER 2HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES LATER!
- Booking confirmation received stated I would be picked up by Toyota Prius and no direct contact details for driver provided (Trio car call center instead). I had extreme difficulty locating the driver and car as a different model of car with a different plate turned up.
- Upon meeting the driver and attempting to leave Stansted airport and whilst on the parking barriers with cars queueing behind us he told me that he didn’t have a ticket to insert so barriers go up and he didn’t have a bank card either on him. There was no way we could reverse as cars behind us so he asked me to use my personal bank card. I reluctantly accepted as there was no other way. I had to physically hand him my card and disclose my PIN number as contactless would not work. This is unacceptable and not professional to say the least as the driver should not rely on me carrying a credit card and secondly now I am at a situation where the driver knows my name and surname, full address and card PIN number so I have to change this from all my cards!
- We took a detour to the Shell petrol station close to stansted airport so he can get cash and pay me back whilst he filled the car up.
- The driver then got lost in the small streets around Stansted as M11 on diversion, and as a result at 00.37 we found ourselves where we started from - 4 mins away from stansted airport.
- Consequently the driver took the wrong direction of M11 towards Cambridge and as a result we had to drive 11 miles or more towards the wrong direction qnd till the first available exit.
- At 1.12 we found ourselves again where we started from at the M11 roundabout next to stansted airport I with the driver having no idea where to go.
- We went in the petrol station again so he could ask for directions.
- After he got direction we drove towards central london at a consistent speed of or slightly above 80 miles per hour which again is not ideal..
- when we got to central london the driver missed the house and kept driving towards Clapham junction . When I noticed and asked him to by he said that by mistake he put Clapham junction on his gps and not my actual postcode which is in Clapham North. Yet another mistake.
We reversed and started driving towards my home and I arrived at 2.30am!
I chose to book a taxi from Stansted airport looking for a quick and stress free journey home as I have to be in the office at 8.30am in the morning. Instead I received an appalling service that I had to pay almost 60 pounds for.
I honestly cannot regret enough not taking the national express coach to Victoria station that would have cost me 12 pounds and would have taken maximum 1.5h to central london, with an additional 8 quid and 15 mins journey to take me home in clapham.
I am in shock from the overall experience, the massive waste of time, having had to disclose my PIN number to a stranger and then Being lost for over an hour on the darkest of side streets with a stranger at this time of the night.
Regards,
Mandy