Karwa -the worst taxi on the planet
would like to make public my anger and frustration about the lack of customer service and tardiness associated with Karwa taxi service here in Doha. I have recently moved to Doha and my wife is using taxi's for transport as we wait for her drivers license to be processed.
Earlier this week my wife pre booked a taxi the night
before to collect her at 1pm to collect my 4 year old
daughter from school . This taxi turned up almost an hour
late. My faxed compaint to Karwa has received no response
as of yet.
Today (13 May) it has happened again and as I quite this
letter the taxi is 1 hour late already. Just 5 minutes ago, after Karwa informed me that the taxi would be there is a matter of minutes, I receive a call from Karwa asking me for directions to my compound.
Now that I have complained over the phone they are no
longer answering my call to the call centre and leaving it to ring off. In the end they were an hour late again!
This is absolutely disgraceful. I urge other users of this shoddy service to also voice their complaints in the hope that someone will wake up to the issues and action can be taken. We can live in hope but I am not expecting much - PS I sent a copy of this to all the english speaking newspapers - think they will print it?
I use them a lot and haven't got any complaints against them.
The drivers can't be blamed, they are underpaid, fined heavily and regularly. What do you expect from them.
worse service on planet.
The other day one taxi driver didnt switch on the meter. i ask him and he said no need, i said ok. i reach my office, i ask him the fare and when he open his mouth i really shocked. normally its only max 15QR and he ask from me 35QR, then i call to KARWA. explain everything, they ask from me taxi number and then they said that i dont need to pay anything as per MOWASALAT RULES. so i didnt pay anything so guys, if any taxi driver refuse to switch on the meter so dont be argue with him, just enjoy the free ride. have a brilliant weekend
again an almost complete monopoly quickly results in poor service!
When taxis were all owned by poor Qataris, yes they were!
There was little problem in finding a taxi anywhere near a major road, the guys (not Qataris of course, other nationalities paid a mothly rent to the poor Qataris) worked 14 hours a day and service was easily available. Cars weRe old but available. Now cars are old but unavailable! Bring in some competition Qatar. It will improve service. In regard to drivers cheating, what would you do, come here and find that the company expects you to earn a minimum amount b4 u get paid anything? Cheat, maybe, but if you think you will be caught better cheat big time!
In this and all life people have a threshold of fairness, if they feel they are being cheated they will cheat too! Get some switched on management to run competing firms and problems will disappear!
the next time they try and negotiate a price with you, agree to that price. Then when you reach your destination, give then QAR 5. If they argue with you, tell them you will report the taxi nbr to the cops and file a complaint.
Trust me, you will get off paying him QAR 5.
Or better still, don't pay him coz the metre shows blank. he can't argue coz he will be penalised for not cranking up the metre ;-)
......There is no Customer Service or Fast Food in Qatar. Karwa is no different.
i didn't even want to pay the fare in the end, but i did, don't know why...
so he does it to women passengers and proud of it eh... what a shame...
oh, forgot.... i've also had taxi drivers who refuse to turn the meter on and want to negotiate a price. i tell them that if they don't turn it on, i will either get out of the car or they will take me there for free... after much argument, he will turn the meter on and funnily enough the fare is half the price of what he wanted me to pay (which i knew all along anyway), so then i have a go at him for trying to overcharge me and he admitted he does this to women passengers... i was very annoyed !!
it's happened to me several times also... i speak to the supervisor but he never seems to care. then when i asked where i can email or post a complaint they refuse to give me details. i was once on the phone with them for 45min complaining to them that the taxi hadn't arrived and they tried to tell me that they tried calling me to let me know the taxi was there. i told them that i was on the phone to them at the time, standing outside my building with no taxi to be seen. i could go on and on....
It happened to me also, but in another way. I engaged a taxi and the driver switched on the meter. But after a mile or so he switched off the meter and told that his time is finished. If he will use the meter he will be fined.
I do not know whether what he told is correct or not. But I was compelled to pay more money than usual
it's next to impossible to book a taxi on 2 hours' notice, i used to call a day in advance to book one.. a few times before though, i have been lucky to book taxi on the last minute, but those times, i can only count by my fingers.. it rarely happens... very rarely in fact..
:(
it happened with me alot of time
even one time i stoped one karwa inthe street no customers with him
but before letting me up he asked me where to go and wjhen i told him he said NO
what is that
Why only one company with not enough cars to serve all the people here
that not good at all
Its a shame. Back in early 2007 the fleet was fresh from the Asian Games and drivers wouldn't know where to go when you gave them addresses. Now, they are almost 4 years old and decrepit. One I got in yesterday had 340,000 km on the clock and showed it.
My biggest problem with Karwa is the near-impossiblity to book a taxi without two hours notice. C'mon Karwa, we know you have a huge fleet and there are always spare taxi's around the malls. Get your act together and stop trying to encourage upselling with your Limo service.
Also, get some new cars and throw out the old.
only if there's competiton OR active check n balanace
KARWA situation could ever improved. Bad Communication, Coordination, new drivers, lowest available staff and round the clock pressure .. will all bring an end result of system collapsed.
therefore serious guys, look for private drivers for a monthly/weekly deals. you'll find a zillion such drivers but be very picky to trust someone in the first place
a Guinness World Record for Worst Taxi Service, now that's an idea! :P
seriously though, they need to have a serious thought about improving their service, coz lots of people still depend on taxi for transport...
They are horrible and it hasn't changed in years. Please call a limo service. They are often even cheaper than Karwa. google Fox limousine.
They would be happy with you for calling it the " worst Taxi" if that fetch them another " Guinness book world record":-P
They even were telling my wife he was in a specific place only 3 mionutes away and then telling me he was at the same place 15 minutes later!
Although it must be a really crap job working at a Karwa call centre - there was one nice guy who actually seemed to be concerned that my kid had been waiting in the sun for an hour!
so much for "customer care centers" eh?