Comment by developer2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by developer2 | Hacker News Reader

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Taxi drivers in my city are notorious for, at least in my experience, attempting to swipe your credit card with Stripe on their personal cell phones. Not just for the tip, but for the entire fare. They openly commit fraud against their company by trying to steal the fare for themselves without reporting it to their company.

I've refused to pay for, and reported to their company, 4 separate drivers in the past 2 years for this practice. I have to assume that the companies somehow don't care that their drivers are going rogue, or else this wouldn't be happening so frequently. Where is the threat of dismissal, or even better, prosecution? Same thing goes for unlicensed taxi drivers moonlighting with a friend's car - taxi drivers here are required to hang their licensed ID on the side window, and the frequency with which you find someone driving "off the books" is downright reprehensible.

The worst part is, I feel my personal safety is at risk every time I report these criminals. They are likely to know it was me, and they know where I live. It's irresponsible, potentially dangerous, and unacceptable to permit them to operate in this way.

Our taxi companies are hook, line, and sinker in the pockets of our government. We have a history of corruption here, and taxi companies are definitely part of the equation.

Why do you think this is fraud?

At least in SF, I'm pretty sure the standard deal is that the drivers pay for the cab regardless of what they get in fares. Cabs were a cash business for a hundred years, after all.

I think the deal with credit card machines in the cabs is that the cab companies see it as a revenue source. I know cab drivers grumble about the cost of using them. It makes sense to me that Stripe is cheaper for the cab drivers.

Depends on the arrangement they have with the taxi company. If they're supposed to share a percentage of each fare with the company, then it may not be fraud in the strict legal sense, but they're certainly violating the contract they have with the taxi company.

That's the standard arrangement in most cities in North America, not just SF. I don't think a driver processing a credit card with Square/Stripe is shady or fraudulent either. It might be against a given city's regulations, technically. But then those would be pretty messed up regulations.

A hundred years? That's cute. Cabs have been a cash business for 250 years:

http://www.lvta.co.uk/history.htm

It's weird that you thought the correction was so meaningful and "that's cute" was such clever snark that it cajoled you to register a new account.

>They are likely to know it was me, and they know where I live.

Never give your actual address. Pick a house number a few down. Especially if getting picked up to go to the airport. Some rogue/criminal taxi/uber/lyft drivers will ask questions about your trip to determine if your home will be vacant and for how long to pass the info onto someone else who will come by to burglarize your house.

>Not just for the tip, but for the entire fare. They openly commit fraud against their company by trying to steal the fare for themselves without reporting it to their company.

You think the company doesn't have access to the meter records for fares if keeping a percentage is part of the deal? If the driver keeps 100% of the cash, why pay 7% for a credit card?

I know in Chicago most of the drivers who rent their cab by the hour/day/week prefer to use square because the fees are lower and they get paid in a week or less, not the couple months the cab company takes to pay them, if they ever do.

Are you a taxi driver? You are being so apologetic towards a group of criminals, I have to assume you are one of them. Since when it is acceptable to ignore your employer's rules, to earn an extra 7%? Normal companies in any other industry would be be firing you on the spot, and probably seeing you in court, for this kind of bullshit. Truly moronic.

So it's okay to refuse to pay for a service that's already been rendered to you because they don't follow the law to the T and charge your card in a different way. Get off your moral high horse, pay for the cab fare, report the driver after, and report it to your credit card company. Unless you're a cop, you really aren't in a position to enforce a law and you're also breaking the law if you walk out of a cab without paying.

So it's okay to refuse to pay for a service that's already been rendered to you because they don't follow the law to the T and charge your card in a different way.

That seems entirely reasonable. If I were paying the bill in a restaurant and a member of staff insisted I paid using some personal transfer service, I'd probably refuse too unless I was able to confirm that it was legitimate.

you're also breaking the law if you walk out of a cab without paying.

Difficult to argue that's the case if no opportunity was offered to pay legitimately.

>> you're also breaking the law if you walk out of a cab without paying

How funny, that as I leave such a taxi, not one of these drivers have risen their voice about my refusal to pay. One of them tried to retract by pulling out the official keypad, and by then I was already exiting the car as he shrugged his indignation. They are the ones in the legal wrong, and they know it.

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