I want to alert folks to two incidents of taxi troubles I had during my recent travels. The first was in Istanbul while readying ourselves for our Venice Simplon-Orient-Express from Istanbul to Paris. After a day out seeing local sites like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Grand Bazaar, we got in a taxi and gave our hotel destination, the driver asked with what currency we would pay and we said with US dollars. We then were driven in what seemed to be an unecessarily circuitous route, because he claimed there was excessive traffic. At the end, the fare was far more than it should have been so I said I needed to use my credit card which was in US dollars. He argued, insisting on cash, and was unwilling to take the credit card (in spite of it saying on his windows he did.) He told us to go to an ATM to get cash. At that point, we exited the vehicle and gave him the same cash as we had been charged for a similar taxi trip, and walked down a street toward our hotel where no vehicles could drive.
In Paris, I found a great live jazz venue, Le Duc des Lombards. After the main act and the jam session, I went to the nearby taxi rank (stand) where there were numerous taxis picking up passengers. I got in a vehicle that looked like the other taxis, but made the mistake of not looking at the meter when I got in, which I normally do. Already en route, I realized there was no meter. When we got to my hotel, he told me a ridiculously high fee for the same route I had taken earlier. I mentioned there was no meter showing the fees, and he claimed he was Uber. I told him I did not request Uber and that because I got in his vehicle at the taxi rank, I would not pay the amount he was trying to charge. I gave him an amount similar to what the charge was for the taxi to the jazz club, and then exited the vehicle.
Attempts by both drivers at continuing to be argumentive and trying to insist I pay more were ignored in both instances, and I went in a direction where neither could drive and where there were plenty of pedestrians.
Starr Treks 