r/Netherlands • u/Brief-Exit8097 • 23h ago
Legal Overcharged by a taxi
Last weekend I got overcharged by a taxi which billed me 550 euros instead of 55, probably on purpose. Unfortunately, I do not have the receipt cause taxis don't do receipts, and I do not have license plate of the car, although I have some info:
- Uber profile of the taxi (he asked me to pay off app via card, silly me I agreed)
- car model and color
- picture of the person from the Uber profile
- name of the merchant on the transaction (the taxi is not linked to a taxi company, the company behind is a different business, I believe it's his wife business)
- phone number (not sure if still up to date)
- address (not sure if up to date)
- Uber ride cancelled + 2 calls done to the driver around the same time
What can I do apart from trying to dispute the transaction with my bank, which I believe it's gonna be a tough battle as I don't really have a receipt to show the right amount of the ride?
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u/SuperSquirrel13 23h ago
Paid with credit card? Use insurance. Paid with something else, consider it school fees.
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u/PeterdeBeer22 23h ago
Was it an Uber or a Taxi because those are two different things and you seem to be using the terms interchangeably. If it was an Uber, booked via Uber, then contact Uber. If it was a Taxi, contact the taxi company. If it was some random dude with a car that you go into, don't do that again.
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u/mageskillmetooften 23h ago edited 23h ago
Uber will do nothing for him besides telling him it is his own fault and problem. They might ban the account of him and/or the driver for paying outside of the app which is a breach of terms.
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u/Brief-Exit8097 23h ago
Correct, that's what Uber will tell me. The taxi was booked via Uber, then cancelled the drive to pay outside of the app. Unfortunately they will not take any actions apart from potentially banning him from the app
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u/yeloneck 23h ago
And they told you how it is. I mean how naive you have to be to pay outside Uber for Uber ride?
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u/Zooz00 22h ago
If you give money to strangers outside the platform of course that's not Ubers problem. Thanks for your generous donation to the economy!
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u/Missaeb27 6h ago
But uber should want to know one of their drivers is using their app to find people to scam. Yes, OP was naive here and shouldn’t have agreed to it - but uber needs to know about the driver so the can ban him from driving for them.
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u/precious_hr 23h ago
I don’t understand. Why did they cancel the drive to pay outside of the app? What was their reason for doing that? Also why did you agree?
I know it’s not a solution to your question, but I don’t understand the reasoning behind this and trying to prevent this happening to me.
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u/Neveran8th 20h ago
Then the driver doesn't lose whatever percentage Uber takes from the fare (probably 30%?).
Why OP agreed, I have no idea.
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u/_squeezemaster_ 17h ago
A driver tried this with me. I ordered an Uber at night at a location in Amsterdam that is very quiet at night, no cars. Shortly before the Uber arrived the ride was cancelled. Then 30 seconds later a car popped up, pulled down his window and asked “Taxi?”. I said “I don’t get it, you are my Uber driver, right?” He kept denying that he was. I don’t remember if the car had the same number plate. I didn’t trust him so ofcourse didn’t step in, but I guess it was similar as OP someone who was trying to charge a large sum for a simple ride.
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u/ILoveYouLikeILove 18h ago
Why did they cancel the drive to pay outside of the app?
Because he wanted to scam op obviously
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u/Nerioner 17h ago
I am sorry but at some level of stupidity and naivety you just gotta take the L and learn from it.
Contest charge on cc and report to uber.
Probably you will get nothing in return as you breached tos yourself too so this will be just very expensive lesson
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u/bprofaneV 13h ago
I'm glad none of you ever fell for any ruse! This person is already feeling the sting. Just offer advice or not. Skip the pointless smug lectures.
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u/Nerioner 13h ago
Don't hurt yourself falling of that high horse of yours.
Your virtue signalling beams so bright it can be seen from London
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u/zoute_haring 15h ago
Uber is an taxi company.
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u/DiligentAudience7314 14h ago
Incorrect. They are not. Uber operates as a ride-hailing and booking platform that connects passengers with licensed taxi and private hire drivers in the Netherlands, rather than owning a traditional fleet of cabs itself. Otherwise they would be under the taxi CLA as well. And they are not. Check out the union court cases against them. They won.
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u/zoute_haring 6h ago edited 1h ago
They still must drive with blue plates and those private drivers must have an taxi licence. Uber tried to evade Dutch law but failed.
They are a normal taxi company as the TCA used to be.
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u/DiligentAudience7314 5h ago
No Uber is not. They do not employ the taxi drivers. They are self employed and have a taxi licence, hence the blue plates.
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u/zoute_haring 1h ago
I know. That's how it also used to work at the TCA in Amsterdam. TCA was a taxi company and so is Uber. Both with "self employed" drivers.
TCA was scum, and so is Uber.
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u/eti_erik 23h ago
If you book Uber, you get a regular taxi, just through a different billing company. I don't think non-taxi drivers are allowed on Uber at all.
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u/DiligentAudience7314 14h ago
Not sure why you are getting downvoted, you are correct. They need taxi licences! So they are taxi drivers. Uber is however not a taxi company.
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u/eti_erik 13h ago
No, Uber is a multinational. But if you book an "Uber", you get a regular taxi. You could get the same one through a regular taxi company.
If you offer taxi services without having a taxi licence, you are a "snorder". That is illegal and it has created problems in the past. There is a reason why taxis have blue licence plates.
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u/InsuranceGloomy6413 23h ago
Taxis do receipts, you have to ask for them though.
You canceled Uber like an idiot so they won’t do anything for you. (Rightfully so)
All other info is pretty useless.
Have you tried phoning the driver?
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u/Different-Idea2878 22h ago
This was incredibly dumb. If you paid with a creditcard, contact your creditcard company, otherwise too bad.
Also taxis do give receipts, you just need to ask
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u/Gullible_Tangelo7438 23h ago
Did you try reporting this in the uber app?
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u/RoodnyInc 23h ago
Sounds like he cancelled Uber ride and just payed
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u/kaini 23h ago
The cancelled ride will be there and I can guarantee you Uber will not be happy to hear about an off-platform trip, let alone a scammy one.
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u/mageskillmetooften 23h ago
True, but Uber will not help him get money back.
They might block his Uber account tho.
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u/dunzdeck 23h ago
First of, I am sorry to hear this.
So, if you paid with a credit card, initiate a charge back with your provider (most likely you haven't done this before but they all offer it).
Also contact the police and insist on filing a complaint. Give them all the details you have.
Contact uber, tell them the story, also mention that you went to the police
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u/InvictusRMC 23h ago
Speaking from my own experience, credit cards don't really seem to work that way here. iNG's fraud department told me tapping physically is consent for a transaction.
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u/Brief-Exit8097 23h ago
Unfortunately no credit card, I used my debit card and double unfortunate my debit card I used for the payment it's a debit card from an investment broker, so not really good at customer service and this kind of stuff
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u/doingmyjobhere 17h ago
If you called the driver with Uber and then cancelled, the plates and name of driver should show on your Activity tab in the app.
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u/lookForProject 22h ago
Did you try to contact the rider? Perhaps it was intentionally, but this might earn the driver a world of trouble.
There is a chance, that this is just a mistake.
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u/Plenty_Builder_2723 10h ago
If an Uber driver tells you to.pay off app, never agree. One, they try to cheat the company which isn't right. Two they try to make more money off the company without paying their commission to Uber. Maybe if you paid via debit card, you can recall the payment.
Otherwise, report the issue through Uber customer service with the driver's details and payment details.
Also, never agree to cancel the ride on the app if the driver still wants to take you, no matter how cheaper they want to take you. Do this for security reasons.
Report to the police as well. Not sure if they can do something about it, but there is no harm in trying.
I hope this gets sorted.
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u/Inevitable_Ear_6934 23h ago
Always use Uber where possible or agree estimated costs before with normal taxi scammers
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u/Jolly-Dealer-5097 16h ago
If the driver cancelled your uber ride, why would think it would not be a scam?
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u/DetectiveDeCock 15h ago
For a substantial amount of taxi drivers, scamming tourists is their primary source of income. You can try to file a complaint with your credit card company, although I am not sure how it plays out. I think they may conclude that you paid the 550 euros yourself.
The next time: stick to the Uber app and don't agree to a ride outside the app. If they insist, get out and take another taxi.
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u/CautiousInternal3320 23h ago
Did you approve or sign the transaction?
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u/Brief-Exit8097 23h ago
I didn't sign the transaction, I just put my phone on the payment terminal, and my phone did even ask me for confirmation, the payment just went through...
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u/His-tor-ical-bigdik 21h ago
For future reference, setup pin for transactions over €50.
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18h ago
[deleted]
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u/His-tor-ical-bigdik 18h ago
Pin/Password/biometrics My ING is setup so that if I need to spend over a certain amount of need to authenticate, below €50 I don't need to.
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u/CautiousInternal3320 5h ago
Before putting the phone on the terminal, you are expected to verify the amount, because it is a way to approve the transaction.
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23h ago
[deleted]
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23h ago
[deleted]
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u/paulusdecimus 23h ago
Hero for saying what everyone is thinking.
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u/Individual-Toe-1959 23h ago
Thank you, this thought of people living in Zeeland or where ever of being righteous is very annoying. If you live in the Capital like me, you know what's up.
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u/Content_City_8250 23h ago
I remember a time before the liberalization of the taxi market when taxi driving was a
proper job with native professionals dressed in suits. Not this Maghreb/Albanian/Turkish taxi mafia, free-for-all, we have now.
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u/InvictusRMC 23h ago
To be fair, was it ever not considered a shady market? Supposedly broken meters or switches that make meters run at twice the pace etc.
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u/Content_City_8250 23h ago
Not in my experience (born in the 60s) and living in Nijmegen at the time.
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u/SoefianB 20h ago
what stops nederlanders from becoming taxi drivers then?
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u/Content_City_8250 20h ago
Are you new to Holland?
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u/SoefianB 20h ago
Uh, niet echt lol
It's not like taxi companies won't hire Dutchies, I do see Dutch taxi drivers, but they're just rare. Nothing's stopping Dutch people from becoming taxi drivers aswel
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u/doingmyjobhere 18h ago
This stupid racism again? In a taxi thread? You're claiming somehow Dutch white taxi drivers can't be scammers just because they're white? While it is a well known fact that taxi drivers scam people everywhere in the world. It's not about the person who does the job, it's the job itself. Same with tourist trap shops, most of them try to scam people. That has nothing to do with race or ethnicity.
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u/eti_erik 23h ago
Okay, I don't live in Amsterdam but around Amersfoort. Yes, many taxi drivers are immigrants (or 2nd generation ,whatever). That does not make them less correct. I think the scammers flock to Amsterdam where they can fool tourists. I have not met a single scammer round here.
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u/doingmyjobhere 18h ago
Taxi drivers scam people everywhere in the world. That has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. This commenter is just a common racist.
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u/eti_erik 18h ago
Probably, yes. There could be a specific group of Turks or Albanians (or Dutchmen for that matter) behaving like mafia in Amsterdam, I wouldn't know that, but with the wording they appear to suggest that all migrants are scammers and Dutchmen are not. That is bullshit, and a dangerous thing to say.
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u/2004_Theo 15h ago
Can you please post a description of driver and car for us? So that we can avoid be scammed also. Thank you
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u/IamFarron 23h ago
a Uber is not a Taxi
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u/InvictusRMC 23h ago
I believe all uber drivers in NL are also required to have taxi license. Please correct me if I'm wrong, though.
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u/PsychologicalBook837 23h ago
File a digital police report and thereafter contact your bank with said report.