Mid America Cab Company

Horrible. 1^st time 1/​29, needed to get to Dr., no problem, trip cost $ 7.50. 2^nd time, return trip, cab was a no show, multiple calls all went to recording to call back later (@4:00 pm), had to wait for family to get off work for ride home. 3^rd time 2/​1, needed to get back to same Dr. Office, cab again no show, finally got call through, was an hr late, and fare was almost TWICE $$, $ 13.50, same locations, same time of day! Belleville needs a better service — feeling hostage to bad service — only service I could find, shouldn’t be allowed to do this to anyone.

Highly recommend! Under new management they arrived early and got us to Labert Airport early. We will use them in the future. Thanks!

We called the night before to order a cab for the next morning to take us from Belleville to Lambert Airport. They said they’d have the driver arrive at 5:45 AM, which should allow plenty of time for my wife to make her 7:45 AM flight (I had a later flight). That seemed a bit tight to us, but we figured there’d be little traffic so early in the day so we agreed.
5:45 rolls around and no cab has arrived. Because we were already working with a tight schedule, my mom called to make sure the cab was in fact on its way. The man she spoke to said «no one had told him» about our reservation, but that he’d be there in 15 minutes or so.
20 minutes later, the cab arrived. After getting seated, the driver (who seemed to be the owner/​manager– more on that later) confirmed my wife’s flight time and said, «Ahh, we’ve got plenty of time!» Considering the airport recommends arriving 1.5 hours early and Belleville is a good 30 minutes from Lambert with no traffic, there was not, in fact, plenty of time. While some may consider the recommended 1.5 hours excessive, my wife’s disability and our both having carry-​on luggage requiring extra TSA inspection meant that we did actually need as much of this buffer time as possible.
I replied, «Well we were supposed to have a cab 20 minutes ago…» and before I could continue, the driver/​owner cuts me off with,“As I’m sure you know, young lady, sometimes mistakes are made!“
First of all, I’m 31 years old; second of all, is there ever really a reason to address someone as «young lady» that doesn’t involve being a condescending prick?
Furthermore, all I wanted was a sincere apology for their having lost our reservation, and maybe an offer of a discount on our fare. I worked in customer service for years and it’s pretty basic knowledge that when a mistake has been made, whether or not you are personally responsible for it, you apologize and don’t make excuses. Apparently this driver/​manager missed that memo, though, because he proceeded to launch into a speech about what a good reputation they have and how they’ve sent previous cabs on time. By that logic, the next time McDonalds messes up his order at the drive-​thru, the worker should just tell him, «Well, the last 5 cars ahead of you got the right order! Mistakes happen!» instead of apologizing and fixing the problem.
When I commented on his attitude and stated that I’d just wanted some sort of apology, he grew even more impassioned and defensive. At this point I said I no longer wanted to discuss the situation and asked that he’d please just get us to the airport as quickly as possible. Again, he continued ranting, still offering no apology, and again, I insisted that we close the discussion and just drive. We’d been in town for a funeral; we were stressed, tired, and worried about getting my wife through the airport in time, and neither of us felt like dealing with this guy’s ego.
A bit later I noticed the meter wasn’t on, and asked about it. He replied that it was a flat rate in a rude way that suggested I obviously should have known that. Well, the person we’d spoken to when we made the reservation had said it would be «about,» $XX, implying a metered sort of set-​up, so I hadn’t known that. Furthermore, the approximate rate we’d been quoted was more than the apparently «flat» rate we should have been quoted. When I informed him of this, he said that he’d fire the person who told us that. First of all, how do you even know who it was, since there was apparently no record of our reservation in the first place? Second, talking to customers about the employees you’re going to fire isn’t exactly the most professional behavior, though at this point it was hardly surprising.
The ‘tude continued a bit later:
«What was your airline again? Oh, SORRRRRRY, am I allowed to ASK that?»
I replied that his sarcasm was not professional and gave him the information.
He apparently decided at the end of the ride not to charge us at all, though at that point it was hard to feel any real gratitude. We’d just finished a needlessly dramatic ride that could have had a completely different tone had the driver just exercised the most basic level of customer service. We never did get any sort of apology. Considering he was obviously somebody in charge, if not the owner, his behavior seemed all the more ridiculous. My wife joked later that he must have changed his mind about the fare when we started talking (to each other) about her medical issues towards the end of the ride.
My wife got through security just in time for boarding, but I had to take what was supposed to be her checked bag as my second checked bag, as the line at her airline counter was too long for her to wait for an agent. This ended up costing us more money than it would have if we had each checked one bag.
Needless to say, we’ll be going with a different cab company during our next visit to the Metro East.