Well...I'd argue that the $4 is a good sized difference. The dinner was late, after rush hour. The number of people in the cab remained the same. Traffic was about the same. The route was different. $4.00 is a couple of miles/minutes difference. I also thought I may have been cheated because I have not always had the cabbies take the same route in my trips but the fares are usually within a dollar or two. But, not really worth fighting over...(here or in the cab)

The credit card issue is worse. The only cab that has not given me any trouble was at the airport....But it's amazing how fast the machines work when they are told that they just gave you a free ride if they are expecting cash!