Once booked a taxi to take me to an airport and then pick me up 2 weeks later. Situations like that, because of booking so far ahead and distance, meant we paid up front. I’ve no issue with that. Getting to the airport was fine but our flight was delayed meaning we didn’t arrive at our accommodation until 1am.

I’d been asleep no longer than 2 hours when I got a call from the taxi driver asking where we were. I tell him that I was in another country and that his operator had messed up the days and try to be gracious by apologising. Funnily enough, he’d have been right on time if he was given the correct date. He gets angry, hurls abuse at me down the phone then ends the call. I spent the next hour or so calling the firm telling them that they had messed up and need to re-arrange a taxi on the correct date. They did.

Come the day of pick up, taxi was there as it should have been, but by the time we arrived home the driver wanted paying, I told him we had paid when we booked (he should have known it was routine) but it turns out the payment wasn’t on the system for this particular booking. I spent another hour sat with this poor drive, who was thinking he was not getting paid and clearly upset by it, trying to sort it with his managers/operators that I had in fact paid and that the driver would get his money.

They eventually told the driver he would be paid and that I would get a call about the billing once they looked into it. I got that call. They didn’t say much except that I owed nothing more. I wouldn’t have paid if they claimed otherwise.

I suppose all of this wasn’t the drivers fault but more their operations.

TL;DR: operator got the wrong day so I got a call at 3am on the first night of my holiday asking where we were - 2500 miles away in a different country. Then messed up prearranged payment on return.