Follow up on it. It sounds like you may have gotten a rogue driver. The prices are fixed. Management can't address the issue unless they are aware of it.

I had a 'rogue' driver once who tried to pull something similar on me. Because of where I live, most of the time no one shares my 'share ride'. Doesn't matter - the price is the same. On this occasion (not pre-paid), when I got home, the driver announced cheerfully (big smile), "You got a private ride this morning - that will be $xx." The amount she quoted was, indeed, the private limo rate - not the shared van/shared booking rate. When I pulled out my copy of the reservation, she was not happy, started grumbling about "That's not what they told me, I only work here, bla-bla".

Yes, I did report her, via phone and in an email. If it was, in fact, some bizarre misunderstanding or lack of training (unlikely - the company does have 'limos' that you can book for 2x+ the price of a share ride), then hopefully someone corrected her. If not, or if there had been prior complaints, then perhaps it was time to let her go.

Note: that was also the last time I paid cash. Now I pre-pay with CC and add any tip when I sign the receipt or give it in cash.

I've been in a share ride where we waited for a guy who wasn't even awake when we got to his house. The driver asked us (other pax) if we had time to wait. We did, for about 20 minutes. There was no 'waiting' charge. The driver explained to all of us on the way to the airport that people are late sometimes on early am departures (alarm doesn't go off, etc.) and waiting is case-by-case, depending on driver, dispatch and other pax.

When you knew you were not going to be ready on time AND the driver called, why did you not tell him to depart without you as you were not ready? I can only assume it is because you wanted to ride in the van rather than pay for alternative transportation.

You stated that you thought $60.00 was fair, why did you not just get your luggage and then pay the $60.00? The few times that I have used super shuttle I have never given the driver additional money [tip] until AFTER I had possession of my bag(s).

How was it "clear he wasn't going to open the back and give [you your] bags"? Where there other passengers in the van at this point? Did he state that he wasn't going to return your property?

Why didn't you call super shuttle while sitting in the van to ask about the "late charge" and why it would change from $60.00 to $101.00?

Without knowing more, I don't see how you can dispute the $20.00 tip that you gave. As for the cash that you gave to the driver, I am not so sure that it is clear that you were handing it over just so the driver would release your bags. Maybe it is just an assumption you made, unless the driver made a statement to such effect.

As far as reporting the driver goes; Yes, you should report him. He made two very grave errors from a customer service standpoint [assuming your account of events is accurate]. First, he waited for you when he should have departed without you. Second, he demanded a late fee, which does not seem to be stated on the super shuttle website. [Though I may have missed it or it might be a local policy]

A gross and indefensible generalization. :td:

In true FT fashion, blame the OP. :rolleyes: It's not really clear whether other pax were already on the van or if they were picked up after the OP. Either way, it's the driver's responsibility to manage his time. If other pax were already on the van then the driver would have asked them if they mind waiting. If they weren't on the van (which I think is the case), the driver should have left the OP but chose not to. The driver didn't want to lose the other fares and decided to rip off the OP as well. The OP acknowledged they expected the driver to leave. What else was the OP supposed to do, chase him off with a gun?? :rolleyes: If the driver tells the OP that he's waiting then on the surface that would just seem to be great customer service.

OP never said anything even remotely close to indicate they felt that way.

If the flight isn't until say 7 PM why would you pack ~24 hours in advance? If the ride isn't picking you up until ~4PM, I think most people would be comfortable packing the day of.

Does the burden of being able to see into the future weigh heavily on you? After all it is clear you have never been late for anything because you don't have unforeseen circumstances in your life. :rolleyes:

I guess you are not familiar with LAX (and maybe other large airports). The departures are on a different level than the arrivals and all the Supershuttle staff are on the arrivals level. The best thing OP could have done was to call the tel# on the side of the van, however, as OP was leaving the country perhaps they didn't have their cell with them.

Honestly, those of you blaming the OP for getting ripped off are just way off base. The OP said they expected the driver to leave and that's what the driver should have done. It wasn't up to the OP to make him wait and the OP didn't demand he wait. Yes the OP would have likely paid more for a cab than the amount paid to the driver but that's not the point. The point is the driver charged the OP a fee that he claimed was a "late fee" and then increased that when he realized OP was going to pay it. Supershuttle doesn't have a late fee. The driver ripped off the OP and several of you are condoning that. Unbelieveable.

In all likelihood an honest driver would have radioed his dispatcher and the dispatcher would have sent the driver on his way while seeing if another inbound shuttle could stop for the OP because 1. that's good customer service, and 2. that's what Supershuttle does.

OP, you got ripped off. Contact Supershuttle. The driver might deny it but at least they should be able to verify your timeline and see the $20 charge. That should add some credibility to your story.

Of course I wanted to ride in the van I'd paid for rather than pay for alternative transportation :rolleyes:. It was his van, his schedule, it didn't occur to me to question his decision to wait.

I didn't call SuperShuttle during the ride to ask about the price increase because at that point I believed I was paying an official shuttle penalty of $60--he told me the fee was $101 once we got to LAX, which is when I started wondering who I was paying.

Most drivers are very friendly and courteous, but with this guy everything felt unnecessarily adversarial: he seemed unhappy about leaving before I paid the $60 until I told him there really was no ATM around, he acted defensive when I wanted to check the back seat of the van after my bags were on the curb, small things like that. He was an imposing man, he stood in front of the back doors and seemed unwilling to grant me access to my bags when I told him I needed to retrieve my ATM card. No, he never said he wasn't going to return my luggage. Yes, it was just an assumption I made based on his tone and body language. At the time I was afraid he might drive off with all my things if I refused to pay. Who knows? I wasn't willing to find out.

I was willing to pay a company penalty of $60. If he'd processed my card and given me a receipt for it, I would never have started this thread. What bothers me is being shaken down by a rogue driver.

Big thanks to justhere for your post, I couldn't have put it any better myself ^, and thank you everyone else who's given me advice; I've sent them a condensed version of my post and I'm very much looking forward to their response.

How did the late fee go from $60 to $101? Was $41 the local fare that you had already paid on line by chance, with the driver hoping that you would forget that you had prepaid?

The story is confusing. There was something about a $70 debit card, a $20 credit card tip, etc. so that in the end I'm confused about what the OP paid and how. Also, was OP the last one to be dropped off at the airport? Did the driver use the same aggressive body language with other passengers or demand that they tip?

The driver makes the final decision to wait or go. Driver probably weighed the pros and cons of both, perhaps with $$ opportunity in the pro column. Over there in the con column, I'd say potential complaints from other passengers who were inconvenienced and OP for being ripped off by phony fee.

Just so I understand. The driver called you asking you to hurry up as he had to leave. You told him that you were not ready. You also told him that it might be a lengthy delay before you would be prepared to leave. [Given that you were fixing your laptop AND luggage.] Knowing this information the driver still choose to wait for you, while calling you multiple times. Is that correct?

You forgot to quote this part of my response:

Sorry if I was unclear--here are the numbers:

• Prepaid ride online, ~$50 incl. tip
• Withdrew $60 and had $20 in wallet, so gave $80 in cash
• Signed shuttle receipt, adding $20 tip

Total: $50 fare and $100 "late fee" for driver. The reason I paid the $100 in two parts was because I didn't have it all on my debit card to withdraw; I'd offered $70 from the ATM and the 20 I had in my wallet (so $90 total) but he insisted on $80 in cash and $20 in tip.

The driver seemed perfectly civil with the other passengers and didn't demand additional payment--not that I would've expected him to seeing as I was the reason for the delay.

It's been a while now and my recollection is a bit blurry but I do remember him calling multiple times and me saying that my computer was broken. I don't remember mentioning any kind of time frame, although I might've, and I'm sure I sounded stressed out and fairly upset--more at the situation I was dealing with than at the prospect of having to forfeit my ride. What I do remember is being surprised at not being told he was leaving.

About the misquote of your response--I wasn't directly answering the last part of your post so I left it out, is this considered bad form? I didn't want my text-heavy reply to be any lengthier than it had to be, sorry if I slipped up!

It's been a week since I wrote to SuperShuttle and I've calmed down quite a bit about all of this, I'm more concerned about something being done about the driver than about getting any $ back. The $20 tip charge has hit my account and I'm still waiting for a response from them.

Update
 

Sorry for bumping this, I've been away but I received a response from SuperShuttle--they were very apologetic and said they were refunding the prepaid fare and additional "tip", so about $70 total. No receipt for the $80 cash so there's nothing they can do, but still way more than I was expecting and brilliant customer service. Also, they're "investigating".

All in all kudos to SuperShuttle ^, hope the driver gets sorted out, and for future reference it never hurts to make a mental note of your van number in case things go wrong...

Thanks to everyone who responded!

^^^

Glad SuperShuttle took you seriously and are investigating. Thanks to you reporting this, perhaps one of us reading your post won't get scammed the same way. In fairness to SuperShuttle, they can't address a problem driver like this if no one reports him.

And thanks for posting the update!

I would have blown the **** up if I'd been a passenger on that Super Shuttle that waited 30 minutes. That's total BS and frankly Super Shuttle would've gotten a call from me, from the van, long before the OP came down with his luggage.

I'm not mad at the OP at all - he's said "No biggie, I expected the shuttle to just bail on me and I would have cabbed it."

The driver should be flogged. Or, because flogging likely violates modern labor laws, he should be fired.

As an aside, anybody who says "Don't forget my tip" gets their tip forgotten. Same goes for anyone who tries to slide a "credit card fee" (or similar nonsense) onto a cab/shuttle receipt.

It boggles my mind that you simply "apologized" to the other van passengers.
Why didn't you contact (by phone if nec.) Supershuttle to cancel.
The driver waited because he probably thought you would be right down. 1 minute turned into 30 minutes plus.
If I had been another passenger, I would have been livid.
Supershuttle should bill the tardy passenger $100 for each other passenger and give to them. Sorry. Just my opinion.

Not sure what I could've done beyond apologize--suggestions genuinely welcome. For the hundredth time (feel free to actually read the thread!) the drivers aren't supposed to wait--they're more than capable of cancelling passengers' rides on their own.

Yeah that sounds like a sound business idea! Again you're more than welcome to scroll up, I said I had no problem paying the company a late fee.

Worse yet, the OP says that the driver picked up other passengers late as result of the delay. So it wasn't even as if they were already on the van and said that the delay was okay with them. The OP says that they all made their flights, but how would the driver have known that they would, if they weren't even on board yet? I doubt that the driver phoned them all to ask. I know that if I were on the sidewalk at the appointed time, waiting for an extra half hour and not knowing when or even whether the van would appear I would be 1) a nervous wreck, and 2) pretty damned angry. By the same token, if I were that late for the van, I'd make sure the driver knew to leave rather than wait for me.