Cruise Guest Warns of Taxi Scam at Popular Greek H...

With the primary cruise season in full swing in Greece, some nefarious taxi drivers are on the hunt for frazzled vacationers who they’ll benefit from to get a much bigger payday.

One latest sufferer of a taxi rip-off is now warning different cruise visitors to remain vigilant to keep away from the identical destiny.

For people who have by no means visited the Piraeus Port in Athens, it’s fairly frequent for taxis to line up close to the cruise terminals to pick up disembarking passengers.

That is the place the latest cruise visitor hailed a taxi to take the 15-30 minute trip to Neos Kosmos, which is just about 10.7 kilometers (or 6.65 miles) away from the cruise port.

The cruiser rapidly bumped into issues from the language barrier, as the driving force didn’t communicate a phrase of English, after which was shocked as he appeared to attempt to tack on charges left and proper.

“The motive force didn’t communicate any English and tried to get me to pay in money. He gave me a receipt that mentioned $17.10,” they defined.

At present, the the usual flag-down charge for taxis in Athens is 1.80 euros ($2.10) and the usual metered fee is .90 euros ($1.05) per kilometer through the day.

With the extra 1-2 euros surcharge that may apply to cruise port pickups, this complete just isn’t out of the realm of motive for this trip.

However then, the taxi driver additionally wished to cost a charge of 11 euros ($12.86) for every suitcase that was loaded into his car, which actually racked up the full.

“After 10 minutes of attempting to inform me one thing and pointing to his cellphone and card reader, he confirmed me on his cellphone that it was one other 11 euros per bag(3 luggage). I saved telling him I had no money. He lastly swiped my card, thanked me and shook my hand,” the cruiser continued.

It’s not irregular for taxi drivers to cost a charge for dealing with baggage, however normally that value is 2 euros or much less.

The Trouble Had Simply Begun

Assuming the bags charge wasn’t included within the $17.10 fare, the cruise passenger would have been on the hook for round $55 – which remains to be fairly excessive.

However when the cruiser checked with their financial institution in a while, they have been shocked to seek out that they’d been charged simply over $80.

This meant that they needed to undergo the effort of reversing the cost, which they fortunately had the receipt to make use of as proof.

“I checked my card account later and he had charged $82.14 usd. I’ve already emailed the taxi authority and knowledgeable my financial institution to not pay him,” they mentioned.

Ensuring to get a replica of the receipt is a good tip for making certain everyone seems to be on the identical web page, particularly if there’s a language barrier, and might be useful for resolving potential disputes efficiently.

Learn Additionally: 12 Smart Tricks to Stop Wasting Money on Cruises

In fact, this cruiser hoped that by sharing their story, it might save others from getting scammed to start with. So, what can we study from their story?

Should you’re planning to take a taxi at any cruise port, forcefully insisting on being paid in money is a crimson flag.

I typically desire to pay in money as a result of it protects me from potential bank card theft, however Greek taxis are legally required to simply accept card funds.

Subsequent, taxi drivers who refuse to make use of their meter are seemingly as much as no good and that is seemingly an indication that they’ll attempt to overcharge.

“We arrived on the cruise terminal 2 weeks in the past and walked as much as the taxi line. As he was placing luggage in, we requested if he was going to make use of the meter and so on. He threw our luggage out and refused to take us,” one other cruiser who lately disembarked in Athens shared.

As many within the cruise neighborhood agree, I’m additionally normally inclined to e book an Uber or Lyft as a solution to shield myself and keep away from the taxi line completely.

Rideshare providers enable all funds to be dealt with by means of the app and include customer support groups to guard passengers if something begins to odor fishy.