Sorry, but I have a hard time feeling sympathetic for these LA cabbies when every time I try to use my credit card to pay they act like I just skipped out on the fare.
Happens all the time here. Only once has a cabbie ever let me pay with card, he was angry at all the other taxi drivers who only accept cash so as to not report the income.
Something very similar happened to me the other day. A cab driver refused to let me pay by credit card. He said that he loses money on every ride that uses a credit card.
I've been told by cabbies that it takes the cab companies a week or so to process (at least in LA) and that's why the drivers hate it so much.