A man took to Facebook on Monday (Aug 22) claiming that a cabby from ComfortDelGro had been unhappy with his passengers, a “heavily pregnant” woman and her two young children, and proceeded to suddenly drop them off at Toa Payoh instead of their home at Yishun.
The man had booked the cab for his wife and kids via the company’s app at 9:54 that evening. The driver, Lim Chye Beng, picked up the woman and her toddlers from Marsiling, Mr Zdhnray Mohammad wrote in a much-shared post.
However, instead of leaving immediately, the driver had the woman and children wait in the taxi for over five minutes while he smoked a cigarette.
Mr Zdhnray’s wife asked the cabby to take her “preferred route (BKE – SLE – Mandai)” instead of the longer route via CTE that he suggested.
“In the car, my wife was busy handling two sleepy toddlers without being aware of the journey. When the driver reached the expressway, the driver drove passed SLE going towards PIE,” Mr Zdhnray wrote.
When his wife noticed that “something was off,” she asked the cabby why he was driving toward Toa Payoh.
The man grew defensive “and lied saying ‘No, in front there is Mandai,’ when it was clearly heading towards Lornie Rd/Braddell.”
After this, the cabby asked the woman how much she usually pays when travelling from Marsiling to Yishun, to which she replied the fare is usually less than $20.
At this point, the driver got angry.
“To my wife’s horror, the driver said ‘Like that I drop you off at Toa Payoh. You go take another cab, I don’t want to drive you!
I wanna go back home I stay at Toa Payoh. You are wasting my time and petrol.’”
In a panic, the woman called her husband, and he asked to be put on speaker, so he could talk to the driver.
“I ordered the driver to send my wife and kids back to Yishun but the driver just refused to do so.
Without any sympathy, the driver just alighted my wife and kids at Toa Payoh and refused to send back to Yishun despite him being in the wrong and knowing that my pregnant wife were with 2 sleepy toddlers,” Mr Zdhnray added.
The incident left her “in shock and emotionally distressed.”
When she called the company’s customer service to complain, the officer was initially unhelpful.
“The customer service officer asked what happened as she typed the whole thing. When my wife paused to take a breath, the officer budge in and asked why didn’t she take the offer for $20.
She said ‘Since the driver offered you $20, why are you still crying?’
My wife replied that she has not fully tell the whole situation. Only after my wife explained the whole thing, the officer started to acknowledge my wife’s traumatic experience.”
Mr Zdhnray went on to call the incident “utterly disgusting and resulted in a traumatic experience especially for my wife and kids.”
“Not only the driver was rude, he was inhumane to drop at a place that was far from the actual destination despite knowing that my pregnant wife was with 2 toddlers who were crying from this whole situation. What kind of human does that?! In addition, poor service from Comfort DelGro.
Now my wife have trouble sleeping, have series of panic attack and shortness of breath. Who is gonna be responsible for all this??,” he added, asking for a “full refund and an explanation to this with a follow up action on the driver!!!”
Ms Tammy Tan, ComfortDelGro’s group corporate communications officer, has said via email to AsiaOne that the driver has been fired for his “completely unacceptable” behaviour.
“Our cabbies are expected to be professional by taking the right or preferred routes and completing every trip that they take.
In this instance, the behaviour of the cabby was completely unacceptable. As such, we have terminated his hiring agreement with immediate effect. We are also in contact with the passenger and her husband to convey our regret at what had transpired and to render them assistance,” she told AsiaOne. /TISG