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Oh, hell - you don't have to go that far away from home for an example of YellowCab doing it wrong yet once again - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apcurium.MK.YellowBirmingham&hl=en
One of my more recent 'fun' experience with YellowCab was using this app.. [you can stop reading here if your short on the attention span - otherwise, go make some popcorn]
It was a event filled weekend in BHam... I knew going into it that there was going to be transportation competition...
I kid you not - more than a month in advance, I start seeking transport...
I called around to a few of the limo services, knowing out of the gate that YellowCab sucked about as hard as any transportation could possibly suck and so I needed to look elsewhere... We were talking $600+ for the 'lowest-end' quotes I could get for roundtrip transport for the evening... Non starter... (funny anecdotal story: I audibly gasped at one of the quotes and the guy's response was to laugh: "Hey! Still cheaper than a DUI!"... If Mr. Limo driver knows the market 'value' of transportation in BHam, so do our city's fine leaders... (i.e. $750 or DUI, because there aren't other real options in Birmingham - other than hoping to not yet caught))
So, I'm Googling - trying to find alternatives... Somewhere that I can't recall, I see a post about another city - someone suggests to another forum user that they should install their city's YellowCab app to schedule a ride and then proceeds to detail into how well it worked for them...
"PERFECT!", thought the stupid, desperate man (/u/mattezell <- a stupid and desperate man).
Not wanting yet another one-use app installed on my phone, I called BHam YellowCab to schedule a ride...
"lol, stupid desperate man", said the Universe.
You'd think I'd have asked them for a million dollars delivered on a sprinkle covered unicorn...or for the quantum mass of a razzlequark(? yeah, me either...)...
In other words, I asked for the impossible (apparently?)...
"Ok... App it is..."
I install the app, setup a profile/account/embodiment-of-futility and scheduled a ride...
"I. just. scheduled. a. freaking. ride... In Birmingham... Using my phone... Awww, yis!!! Welcome to the almost future(/present?), Birmingham!"
Knowing that... well... YellowCab is YellowCrab, I couldn't just leave things be... So I called... Erry week or so - just to confirm... To make sure that the confirmation indicator that appeared on my screen in the app actually meant something ("IT'S THERE EVEN AFTER REBOOTS!!!! IT MUST BE REAL!!!")...
The call on week 1 was my first indication that something could go wrong...
Helpful BHam YellowCab Operator: "App? I don't know what you're talking about... You can't reserve a ride - call back when you need a ride. click" Stupid desperate man: "Hmmm. Ok.. Perhaps that's my fault... It's like 7 on a Tuesday - they're probably really freaking busy or something... Just call back tomorrow at a more reasonable time or something... I'm sure it's fine..."
Yeah... It wasn't fine... Over the following confirmation calls, I received a variety of answers - ranging from "Yup! I see you right here.. [repeats specifics] You're good to go!" to "App? Just call when you need a ride".
So, short story made long made longer, showtime nears and still no ride... 15 until latest scheduled pickup.. 10... 5...
Stupid desperate man: "I'm calling"... SUPER DUPER (not being sarcastic) friendly YellowCab operator: "How can I assist you? What? Ah, that's no good - let me get that fixed for you.. I will get a ride out there ASAP.. Can you hang a minute - I am going to put you on hold and give a couple of drivers a ring to make sure you're taken care of..."
To this lone (awesome) YellowCab operator's credit - he was the man. (The "f'ing S", if you will)...
He attempted desperately to help. He called back periodically to check in on my 'progress'... I could tell that he felt my pain... He knew I'd been wronged and wanted to help me with all of the power that he had endowed to him by his YellowCab overlords..
Unfortunately, during the peak of demand for what was one of the most event filled nights in BHam in the summer of 2015, 'all of the power that he had' wasn't a sufficient amount of power to do anything - "no drivers are available for dispatch to that area for at least an hour"...
Now an hour past when the rides were scheduled for and 30 minutes from showtime, our options had pretty much dwindled to 1...
Fortunately, this wasn't the first time I'd 'not been bought dinner by YellowCab' (wink, wink, nod, nod), so I'd abstained for the evening until we had rides on site - and so was able to provide round trip transportation for our crew...
"But wait! There's more!"
If you're not tired of reading of the ways that YellowCab can make your special night magical: we collectively decided after our event that we'd retrieve the car in the morning... That we'd hail a cab to one of our fine local watering holes and then later have a cab drive us home...
Yeah...
No...
After MORE THAN AN HOUR (not kidding. I really needed a drink by this late hour in our evening..) of attempting to hail a cab, and actually having multiple drivers blow us off because our destination wasn't going to be profitable enough, we called it a night and I transported our butts home for house beers...
So..
Dearest, Birmingham... We want to be 'a destination'... We want people to come and enjoy our city - with all of it's AWESOME local brews, foods and events...and then this it the only option that we provide them? We've got to do better... We deserve better... We need better...