Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hapkido1996]

[bbud656]

[World Traveler]

[nate1983]

[madoka]

[Zyzyfer]

[bbud656]

[catman]

Korea is definitely not any worse than back home.

If you want to experience being truly ripped off try going to Southeast Asia.

[happiness]

[World Traveler]

[johnnyrook]

While I mostly have had good experiences with taxi drivers here I definitely wouldn't say the taxi industry here is as aboveboard as my home country.

When I first came to Korea in summer 2009, my gf and I were staying in a hotel in Jongno. We'd been out in Hongdae and we tried catching the subway back but it was late and the train ended up terminating at a station less than halfway, can't recall now but it definitely wasn't 신촌 or 이대, but we hadn't transferred yet, so I guess 아현 or 충정로.

As we came out to the street there was a bunch of men waiting at the exit propositioning people coming out to take taxis, and sure enough they asked us our destination and quoted a ridiculous price of 15,000 won. Bear in mind that everyone but me was Korean, this exchange occurred with my gf in Korean and she heard them quoting similar prices to the other Koreans, who all just ignored them and hailed taxis from the road, which we did as well. The guy who picked us up, on hearing the story, just laughed about it.

Now, I know this doesn't happen at every station; I've arrived late at night at Suwon Station plenty of times, but that's a big centre with taxi ranks, so I guess they can't pull that kind of thing at places like that, or maybe Suwon is just much more innocent than Seoul. But it definitely must be a persistent scam that goes on at many stations around Seoul, I mean what are the odds that a bunch of taxi drivers banded together and just decided to go and do that at that one station on that one particular night? Not likely.

The one other time I had a bad experience with a cab driver was a few months ago. My mum was visiting and we stayed in a hotel one subway stop from Seoul Station the night before her flight. The next morning we decided to take a taxi instead of the subway because going up and down subway steps really exhausts her and it was raining. So we got in this cab that was parked right outside our hotel, and after hearing that we were going to Seoul Station to go to the airport he kept pushing us to go all the way to Incheon Airport with him. Finally I said a strong no and he proceeded to take us on a huge detour before bringing us to the station. Ended up paying like 5000 won for a trip that was less than one kilometre.

I'm surprised to hear about taxi touts in the airport though. Never encountered them any times I've arrived alone there, and my mum has come to Incheon Airport twice where she's been on her own for a while because I was running late, and if there's anyone who attracts scammers like flies it's my mother, but she had no problems.

My gf is actually always reacting to taxi drivers with great indignation. In my experience it's quite common for drivers to drive a little bit more when asked to stop to click up an extra 100 won, which doesn't bug me in the slightest since it's less than 10 cents, but my girlfriend doesn't take to it too kindly. She rarely confronts them about it but she usually takes a while to calm down afterwards. She's also had a few unsavoury experiences taking cabs on her own where the drivers have been talking about sexual things and I think one guy even tried to proposition her.

[isisaredead]

[hapkido1996]

[bbud656]

[northway]