Update, April 26 2010: I complained to Parking & Ground Transportation at the Vancouver Airport Authority and that seemed to get Delta Sunshine’s attention. The company has apologized and refunded my money.
I want to warn people to be very wary of using the cab company Delta Sunshine Taxi.
On February 28 of this year, I hired a Delta Sunshine cab; the fare was about $20. When I received my credit card bill a month or so later, there was also a charge from the company for $50.70, with a transaction date of March 11. I don’t take many taxi trips, and certainly not of the length that would result in such a charge; and I didn’t take a cab that night. So I called the company and talked to their accounting department. I was to be called back, but wasn’t.
I called back and this pattern repeated for a few weeks, until today I decided to be more persistent. The person seemed reluctant to look up the transaction. She assured me that the card had been swiped. I asked for details of the trip; it was from YVR (the Vancouver airport) to North Vancouver—neither of which I was anywhere near in March. So, as I was certain the trip was not mine, I decided to call my credit card company to challenge the charge.
Vancity told me that to identify the transaction as fraudulent I’d have to cancel my card and get a new one. They also told me that my card number was manually entered, not swiped. Getting a new card is always a massive inconvenience, so I decided to call Delta Sunshine back and try to get a refund.
I challenged the person at the cab company with the fact that she’d told me the card had been swiped. She tried to brush this off, then told me the slip was signed—but how did she know it was my signature? Easily faked. She refused to consider reversing the charge. I asked to talk to a superior; there was apparently no such person. I asked if the driver who charged my card fraudulently was still with the company; he or she was. I asked if there would be an investigation. Nope.
This was all seeming increasingly suspicious to me. I tried to insist on a refund, pointing out what an inconvenience cancelling my card would be, and that they’d be out the fifty bucks either way, but she would have none of it. She hung up on me when I said I’d make sure to pass the word around to beware of Delta Sunshine Taxi.
So I’m following through. I’d recommend avoiding them at all costs; you may be risking your credit card security by using this taxi company.
I will also go ahead and put in a fraud report on my credit card. It seems that the Better Business Bureau does not handle cases in which illegal activity is involved. Any other ideas would be appreciated.