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lulu144
Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Location: Gwangju!
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 Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:13 am Post subject: the most rediculous thing i've been told in korea... |
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okay.... so I've read some pretty messed up things here on daves... and i'm sure this isn't the craziest... but it really p#$%ed me off.
So a few days ago i was taking a cab to the bus terminal. The taxi driver proceeded to pick someone else up and go completely out of their way to the ktx station and that person paid the fare as it read on the meter. Next he continued to take me to the bus terminal. When I got there i though iw ould only have to pay the fare after we dropped the other person off... oh no.... not the case. I had to pay the full fare.... which included going out of my way for the other person... wtf! I was pissed. sure it was maybe only 2000 won... but it's the concept of the whole thing. I tried to argue with the cabbie but it was of no consequence. so i paid and left the cab being more angry at korea than usual.....
So I'd been having kind of a crappy week and then when i got back to school on monday i think they kind of noticed that something was different and I 'looked different' etc. Well I told my co teacher ( I don't know why I usually don't like to share things with her) about it and how I'm tired of generally being taken advantage of as a foreigner.
Later she came up to me and said she was talking with the pricipal and he had said that it is the 'rule' in Korea that if a cabbie picks up someone else and drives them god knows where... you MUST pay the FULL fare.... wtf.... the rule?? uhhh yeah right.... nice justification for me being taken advantage of.... like isn't this illegal>? and if not it should be. If it is the rule then cabs would do it all the time etc etc... what a joke... whatever Korea |
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Yesterday
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Land of the Morning DongChim (Kancho)
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:17 am Post subject: Re: the most rediculous thing i've been told in korea... |
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| lulu144 wrote: |
| what a joke... whatever Korea |
it is a joke - it is actually ILLEGAL here for cab drivers to pick up a second person..... but you just got one of those bad taxi drivers.....
also - most illegal things here - are overlooked by the authorities and you are a foreigner - so therefore the taxi driver was correct as he was korean.... (koreans believe very firmly - that anything a foreigner says against a korean person is completely inccorrect / wrong)....
does that make any more sense.....?
don't get angry... just get used to it...
this bullshit will happen to you another 1000 times before one year is past....
Last edited by Yesterday on Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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ChuckECheese
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:26 am Post subject: |
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That's crock of *beep* OP. You shouldn't even have to pay if you were Korean. The driver has taken advantage of you because you're foreigner.
You should have taken the driver's name and his license number posted near the taxi meter and ask your K-friend to report him for illegal activity.
Next time, if the taxi driver decides to pick up someone else along your route, don't argue with him or bother paying him, but just get off the taxi and get another taxi to get to where you're going. This way you'll end up paying less.  |
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seoulkitchen
Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Location: Hub of Asia, my ass!
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:50 am Post subject: Thanks for the free ride! |
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| ChuckECheese wrote: |
That's crock of *beep* OP. You shouldn't even have to pay if you were Korean. The driver has taken advantage of you because you're foreigner.
You should have taken the driver's name and his license number posted near the taxi meter and ask your K-friend to report him for illegal activity.
Next time, if the taxi driver decides to pick up someone else along your route, don't argue with him or bother paying him, but just get off the taxi and get another taxi to get to where you're going. This way you'll end up paying less. |
This is true, it was made illegal several years ago.
ChuckE has a great idea. Just make sure you get out at the same place the other person does. Don't pay or look back, just walk away. Then get another cab.
Good luck out there and never let them bring you down! |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:18 am Post subject: |
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| I've shared many cabs in this manner but I don't think I've ever felt ripped off. Usually the driver knocks a couple of hundred won off the price if he's gone out of the way for the other person. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:33 am Post subject: |
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Haha that is r3diculous.
But of course you have to pay the full fare. What do you think is the point of him picking up a second person? Community service? Only problem was making you pay extra. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:39 am Post subject: |
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What are you guys talking about?
Even Koreans pay the Taxi Double, especially during peek-times.
If a cab goes in the s ame direction for the same people they all pay the full price.
YEs it is illegal for a taxi to do so because they "earn" an unjust margin, but if you are really in ned of a cab, and this cab is going that way, you are happy to pay that price.
although illegal, it is pretty widespread use. Did it myself a couple a times and is a great way of talking to people you would never ever meet anyway else.
Normally these cabs do NOT take foreigners as extras, unless you explain to them you know the system. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| Hyeon Een wrote: |
| I've shared many cabs in this manner but I don't think I've ever felt ripped off. Usually the driver knocks a couple of hundred won off the price if he's gone out of the way for the other person. |
But wht should *I* be inconvenienced by going out of the way for the OTHER passenger. I was there first, HE can damn well be inconvenienced by waiting until I get to MY destination. Don't like it? Get out and catch your own cab.
(BTW, I totally do the "get out of the cab and flag another one" any time the driver picks up another rider... after taking a phone picture of the cabbie licence so I can report him, of course) |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:46 am Post subject: |
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| Young FRANKenstein wrote: |
(BTW, I totally do the "get out of the cab and flag another one" any time the driver picks up another rider... after taking a phone picture of the cabbie licence so I can report him, of course) |
This is exactly the reason why they do not pick up foreigners ... |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:50 am Post subject: |
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| Juregen wrote: |
| If a cab goes in the s ame direction for the same people they all pay the full price. |
Any time I've actually let the cabbie get away with it (maybe the first few times before I got wise to the scam), the second passenger was NEVER going in the same direction as me, so I end up paying double or triple or more because he went so far out of his way.
I remember the first or second time this happened to me, I was taking a cab from Jongno to maybe it was Yongsan. Second passenger gets in around Seoul Station, or thereabouts. Next thing I know I'm going across the Han River to Yangjae!! Drops the bugger off, drives BACK across the Han, drops me off, then expected me to pay the full fare! Had I known then it was illegal, I would have laughed in his face instead of angrily throwing the money at him. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:50 am Post subject: |
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Top 10 Things that Bug Me Less the Longer I Live in Korea
(unless I misunderstood the OP and he/she means the amount they were overcharged was 2,000 won...)
Last edited by JongnoGuru on Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:58 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:55 am Post subject: |
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| Juregen wrote: |
| Young FRANKenstein wrote: |
(BTW, I totally do the "get out of the cab and flag another one" any time the driver picks up another rider... after taking a phone picture of the cabbie licence so I can report him, of course) |
This is exactly the reason why they do not pick up foreigners ... |
They pickup foreigners in all three of the smallish cities I've lived in. Maybe they're more wary of the foreigners in Seoul.
Anyway the taxi driver usually asks the second passenger where they are going. If they are going in the same direction they get in, if the taxi driver is going somewhere else they won't get in.
I think the OP just got unlucky with a bad driver. This 'system' hasn't caused me any trouble yet.
The only time the system nearly collapsed was when myself and a co-worker were in a taxi (gone about 2-5metres) and we saw a Korean co-worker who lived on the route home. So we stopped the taxi and he got in. When he got to his place the taxi driver tried to make him pay the fare on the meter, but we said no, no, we'll pay. The taxi driver was very confused, he thought he'd got a double fair but he hadn't and was a bit annoyed. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:57 am Post subject: |
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| Juregen wrote: |
| This is exactly the reason why they do not pick up foreigners ... |
 I'm sure it is. He does something illegal and the foreigner calls him on it. Oh woes the poor cabbie. I was already IN the cab. He blew the fare with me by picking up someone else and going out of my way. Tough noogies. I don't let anyone rip me off. |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:57 am Post subject: |
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| I had a taxi drive take me from the bus station (not sure which one) in Daegu to go to immi. I have done this before and i know the far. About 8800 won. (bet you Daegu-ites know which station it was). So homey picks up another far, and we drive....and drive....and drive. My fare at eh end was about 12,800 won. I gave him 8800 won. He protested. I, in my fluent caveman sign language, indicated that we had made a giant loop to get to my destination. He looked sheepish. Nuff' said. I was time constrained that morning so it annoyed me a little. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:11 am Post subject: |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
Top 10 Things that Bug Me Less the Longer I Live in Korea
(unless I misunderstood the OP and he/she means the amount they were overcharged was 2,000 won...) |
Exactly. The OP was not overcharged but might have had to pay slightly more but, hell, the other passenger got a cab ride, and the cabbie made extra profit, so 2 people benefited even though one person had to pay a wee bit more. The beauty of the system is you can benefit from it too, if you are that other passenger needing a cab ride during busy times.
Jurgen is of course correct that cabbies may be reluctant to pick up foreigners because of the impossibility of making them understand how this works. |
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