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| - The greeter at the Mirage flagged down a cab for me, I was on my way to the airport to catch a returning flight. Car # 2015 from Star Cabs pulls up and I jump in, my driver is Ruperto R. Jr. and his licences indicated YCS transportation. So far so good.
I'm in a hurry, the flight leaves in 90 minutes, as he pulls out I see a handmade sign taped to the ceiling that says "no credit or debit, cash only". Damn, I have no cash. "Are all cabs cash only?" - I ask. Ruperto says "no", he doesn't have the credit card machine installed. I guess I can't count that against him, I made an assumption since it's 2012 and didn't read the sign before jumping in. Lesson's learned: ask before you jump in.
He says he'll take me to US Bank, so he takes a left and soon pull into the bank. There's an ATM at the door and an ATM in the parking lot for cars to drive up to. I tell him to just pull in the exit since I am sitting in the back adjacent to him (and no one is there), he opts to pull all the way around instead. I think there's a language barrier here, but while I'm quite rushed and looking to minimize time he's a bit more laid back. He pulls up and I can't reach the ATM, and the sun is shining on the screen so I cannot read it, so I squeak out of the door and block the sun and eventually get my cash. Yay.
Ruperto drives me to the airport, when we arrive he pops the trunk and doesn't get out or offer to help. The bill: $17.50. He didn't want to give me change back, when I placed it on the arm rest he just said "thank you", expecting the rest. I should have asked for $1.50 back, but I was more concerned about making the flight so I just left it.
There seems to be a grave lack of customer service and due diligence here, I have yet have an exceptional experience with any of the transportation services offered in LV. Ruperto doesn't mind taking the extra time and drive (I felt) to run up the meter, while I could have just jumped out of the car and got cash at the entrance. If I ever see Star Cab again I'll remember to just avoid them, especially car #2015. I'll remember to ask about credit first before stepping into the cab.
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