Taxi Scam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport

I have just blogged about Malaysian Style last week and on item 3, it was stated as follow:-

Lesson 3
You have no friends in Malaysia (yet) and you decide to take a cab from the airport. You'll soon realize that the one-way taxi fare is more expensive than a night's stay at most decent hotels.(this is still prevalent even though the government has said it again and again that illegal cabs wouldn't surface again)
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In the newspapers lately, various complaints have been made known and are as follows:-

RM160 for taxi fare from KLIA to KL
I RECENTLY received guests from Russia who were here for the first time and immediately felt both embarrassed and angry that they had to fork out RM160 for a so called budget taxi coupon at KLIA.

I had already text them to ask for a budget taxi coupon, which they did. But somehow, my guests had to fork out RM160 for the one way trip from KLIA to Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

In the morning traffic rush hour the following day, my guests took a cab to KLCC and it cost them RM6 because the honest taxi driver used the meter. But returning from KLCC to Setapak, they had to pay RM40 as no taxi wanted to use the meter.

This problem has been around for many years and perhaps hundreds of visitors have been cheated by taxi drivers. Why aren't the authorities able to stop this embarrassing situation at KLCC?

Don’t suspend just the licences of taxi drivers; charge them in court and blacklist them permanently.
MALU MALAYSIAN, Kuala Lumpur.
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Unfair ploy to upgrade taxi at LCCT
AS A frequent traveller on AirAsia, I use the taxi service at LCCT often. I always travel from LCCT to the same place, and always with two passengers on board. Therefore, I know the exact fare that I should be charged, which is RM60.80.

That was not the case on March 21 when I wanted to buy a ticket to my usual destination, and I was told that my fare was more than RM90! When I asked the counter staff on this, they said that my luggage might be too big to fit into the Budget Taxi, and that they were charging me for the Premier Taxi.

I told them that we only had two bags and there were only two of us on board. Even if my luggage couldn’t fit into the boot, it could’ve been placed in the front seat or between the two passengers in the back seat.

After they checked the sizes of our bags and that they would fit, they let us buy the Budget Taxi ticket.

I felt that we were being forced to “upgrade” our taxi without a valid reason. The fare is RM30 higher.

We fought our case since we knew how much we should be charged. What about the others who don't know?
ALMOST SCAMMED, Kuala Lumpur.
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Shame on LCCT taxi company
ON March 20, the attendant at the LCCT taxi counter refused to sell me a budget taxi coupon on the excuse that my suitcase was too big and the queue long.

I insisted on budget taxi because there were only my daughter and me sharing one suitcase and we are both quite skinny. No need to use a chopper to kill a fly, right? I also told her that queuing was my problem, not hers.

But she insisted we took a premier taxi costing over RM90 to Kuala Lumpur. On learning that both taxi counters belong to the same company, we took the bus to KL Sentral and from there, a budget taxi – a Proton Saga, same as those in LCCT – to hotel. It was a comfortable ride.

The total cost? RM30, plus a little more time. Shame on you LCCT taxi company!
REFUSED TO BE CONNED,Kota Kinabalu.
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My own experience - I don't opt for the premier taxi at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) when I come back from overseas trip. I travel alone usually so the budget taxi is just nice for me. BUT!

Yeah big BUT .............. if you were not careful with the girls at the airport taxi counter just after the customs checkpoint at the arrival door, you could be duped. The company managing the airport taxi may sue me for putting this up but I'm only highlighting what happened to me just like those complainants that wrote to Star newspaper.

Each time when you approach the counter, they would wish you and then ask for your destination. For sure they would tell you the price of the premier taxi first. If you were not careful and pay for it and subsequently boarded that taxi, there goes your money. You would have thought that was the only taxi available in the airport not knowing that budget taxis were available too.

If you were used to their first offer, you could answer back - "please give me the budget taxi". Without questioning and haggling you any further, they would print out the budget taxi coupon, you pay for it and off you go.

From what I witness on many occasions, when a foreigner approaches the airport taxi counter, the girls at the counter would definitely sound very sweet and say "Afternoon sir, where is your destination please".

Foreigner would respond "Hotel so and so at Kuala Lumpur". Straightaway the counter girl would print out a ticket for the premier taxi without informing the foreigner of the budget taxi option. You call this a sales gimmick or keeping quiet on options or plain cheating or Caveat Emptor?

The operator could say that "Well, the customers never ask any questions or for any other cheaper options".

Where are the authorities? Which authority in the first place? Well, at this point various authority would be passing the buck here and there. All this are happening right at the first step (for the foreigner) into our country.

Related post:-
* Malaysian Style
Tags: Malaysian Style, Taxi, Cab, Airport Taxi Scam, Airport Taxi, Airport Limo, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, KLIA, LCCT, Disputes