Why I won't call them again: Unreliable, with a rude dispatcher…read moreTony's Tip: Give them a pickup time that's 5-10 minutes before you need the cab because punctuality is not guaranteed
I've used Canton Town Taxi three times recently. The first time was when I missed my commuter rail stop late on a Thursday night. Granted it was past midnight. But it took 20-30 minutes to get someone to Mansfield to pick me up. Still, my experience that night was decent, and the dispatcher who works late night is a nice guy. He took my call the other night as well, as I was coming home from Boston, again after midnight. I called 20 minutes prior to my arrival at Rte. 128 station, and a cab was waiting for me when I exited the building. If those had been my only experiences, I'd probably have given the service four stars, as the cabs are sort of dumpy.
However, my experience Friday morning (2/26/10) was a far cry from acceptable. For starters, I had made a request the night before for a taxi to pick me up at my house at 5:00 a.m. My car was being worked on and I needed to get to Rte. 128 station to catch a 5:24 train to NYC, which was already going to get me to a meeting a bit late (I had no choice because the blizzard in NYC had frozen flights into the city). The trip to Rte. 128 usually takes 10-15 minutes from my house in Norwood. I had gotten home at 1:00 a.m., so I was only going to get about 3 hours of sleep. Thus, I was trying to steal as much shuteye as possible.
Well, 5:00 rolls around and there's no taxi (you'd have thought he'd arrive a bit early). So, I call to make sure someone is coming. The early morning dispatcher picks up (NOT the same guy referenced above) and tells me the guy is on his way - perhaps 2-3 minutes. I say, "okay." The clock hits 5:05, 5:06, 5:07... I call back and ask what the deal is. The same dispatcher tells me he's on his way. I tell him - firmly - that I had specifically requested the taxi not be late because of the train's departure time (which I had also mentioned). I now have a train coming in less than 20 minutes and that I'll be very upset if I miss it because in that event, I might as well not even head to NYC.
Guess what this guy says to me? "You know what, buddy? That's not my problem," and he hangs up on me! WTF?!! Needless to say, I'm fuming at this point. Two minutes later (call it 5:10), the cabbie shows up. I race down to the car and hop in, at which point he proceeds to start telling me why he's late. I cut him off, saying, "I don't really care right now. You have ten minutes to get me to the train or my day is shot!" So, this guy hightails it out of my neighborhood, onto the highway (doing 70+ mph), and runs a red light right at the final intersection, as I arrive at around 5:22. I throw $25 (for a $23 fare) on his seat and sprint into the station just as the train's arrival is being announced over the PA system. Disaster averted, with just a minor assist from the cab driver.
I give these guys two stars because my late night experiences have been okay, and the driver did race to correct for his late arrival. But given my reservation, being late in the first place is unacceptable, and there is no excuse for the unbelievable rudeness of the dispatcher. Perhaps he was having a rough morning - that happens to all of us. But this is a service business, and I hope my review serves to reinforce that idea to the dispatcher and his superiors.
