Norshore Cab

Worst cab service ever! If you are not going far enough for them they will tell you that their credit card machine isn’t working. Happened 4 times in a row. I will never attempt to use their service again…

Pre booked a cab from O Hare airport to collect us as my daughter was ill — I called to see where they were & they said that they had given our cab to someone else as they were out before us!
They said the
At another cab could be dispatched right away but it would be 30 mins! Needless to say we didnt take them up on it.
Today my husband ordered a cab in their app to go to the airport. No cab turned up — he just about made his flight having used another firm.
Don’t use them for the airport! Or if you need to get somewhere on time!!!

In my previous review of Norshore Cab I gave them a well deserved
5 star rating.
And, since I reside in East Rogers Park I loved the fact that they were
located in Downtown Evanston, which is quite close and really convenient.
Now, Norshore has a phone app and I will admit that I resisted this because
I prefer talking to a real person on the phone, however today I decided to
take the plunge and download the app onto my I-​Phone.
And, I will admit, the app was/​is a bit confusing/​frustrating because it kept
reading that my pick up address was not my actual pick-​up address.
So, I called Norshore, which I obviously should have done from the
get go and I spoke with not the nicest operator who told me she would fix
the error, which she did.
So after my 3 hour Doctor’s Appointment, I will admit I was feeling kind
of grumpy because I really wanted to get the Hell out of there.
like now. like yesterday.
I decided to give that old phone app another try.
Things were looking promising, I put in my order and received a message
that my taxi was dispatched, and only 2 minutes away!
Boy, was I liking that!
So, I go outside and I wait thinking this is going great!
However, all of a sudden a message pops up that says «Passenger is in the Cab»
Say What? I’m right here!
So, I called and was told that they picked up the wrong customer.
Sorry, we will dispatch another cab to you right away.
So I Got a message that Cab #9 is on his way, like 3 minutes away!
Okay, lets try this again!
I went outside and waited once again and I see a Norshore Cab
coming down the street.
And I decided no way in Hell was I letting this cab get away so I start
waving. like really big waves and this cab which had a #9 on it didn’t even
stop and went right by me.
In ending, I had to call back Norshore yet once again and they offer no apology
just say they will contact the driver and tell him to come back!
15 minutes later this bad man returns and has the nerve to tell me
he didn’t see me flailing my arms out there.
And yes, I’m still feeling grumpy about all this because personally, I
deserved better.
So, I know I’m a little early. and Halloween will be here before Christmas.
But still. Bah Humbug to you Norshore Cab!
And, may the Grinch steal all of your Christmas Bonuses!
Nuff Said…

Norshore has deteriorated to the point that after 20 years as a customer I now refuse to use them. There are long waits if you call and the recording keeps telling you to use the app, but the app just doesn’t work. You will sit there forever waiting for a cab to be assigned, and their drivers accept assignments while they are still driving a prior customer, making the estimated wait time highly understated. The wait at Ohare can be 45 minutes or more. Most of their cabs are dirty and smelly. American Taxi is a good alternative to Norshore and at least their app works. Evanston should really revoke Norshore’s franchise and give it to another company.

Norshore is the reason Über thrives today.
The drivers are some of the rudest people I’ve ever met, the vehicles are smelly/​dirty, the drivers barely know how to drive, and every single time I’ve used a card to pay they complain. I have been cursed at for trying to use a card, claiming that I am «f*****g robbing» the guy.
I have used Norshore probably 50 times or so because of how close it is to my work, and have never once had a positive experience. I hope this business fails.

They never showed up! I had booked a taxi the night before. That morning I called to confirm. They said they would be there on time (7:15) at 7:20 I called and they said 1 minute away. At 7:25 I called an they said he’s pulling in. At 7:30 they assured me he is on the way. I called for another taxi that showed up in 10 minutes and Northshore still wasn’t there. They never called to appologize either. TERRIBLE!
Good thing I gave myelf time to get to the airport or I would have missed my flight because of them.

This is not a hard job. Pick me up and take me to the designation on time. I needed a taxi to ohare so I called norshore. They took the reservation but never showed up. I called and was told that a satellite confirmed the driver was only minutes away. That must be the same satellite looking for the Malaysian air plane. Then I got a call from the driver saying he was nearby and identified a locale in Glenview; I live in east wilmette. I drove to ohare.
If you could not have driven yourself, the reason you call a cab, don’t call norshore. Call über or 303
Norshore called me and said «a letter will go in the drivers file; oh my.
The lesson here is, request the cab to be at your house an hour before and łet them chill.
Or, if you’ve been out drinking, eating tacos and beans, have a stomach flu and are going to erupt from every orifice then call norshore and they will be late; then get in and open the gates from hell.
Then say, «put a letter in my file».

Used the service to catch a flight from Midway on ¹⁄₁₂. Cab driver insisted that his credit card machine was broken and couldn’t pay with card, even though the machine accepted my card. It was an uncomfortable situation that he took advantage of. So where does that leave us? If we hypothetically didn’t have ANY cash, we would have had to just not pay the cab, right?
I don’t recommend ANYONE to use this service. I’ve had better airport transportation service from another local cab company that has 3 digits in their name.

Nice cab driver, but the cab smells absolutely disgusting — the smell of cigarets is overwhelming!!!

I was quoted a flat rate to the train station and when I got in the cab, the driver immediately started running the meter. Then he drove slowly so the rate would be even higher. We were heading to Union Station but he had no idea that there was a marathon so after driving 20 minutes South, he had to turn around and drive back the other way since all of the exits were closed. He then insisted that I was going to pay the full rate since it wasn’t his fault there was a marathon. I had to call the company while I was in the cab with him and he starts yelling at them that he is not driving me for the flat rate. They told him that he had to honor the flat rate. The company was on speaker phone, at which point I asked if I could pay him the flat rate as compensation and could they discuss it later, as my train was not leaving in 30 minutes. He then calls the owner of the company, all while driving me, to complain and the owner agreed to take care of him. He had no idea what streets are closed, however, by some miracle, he is able to drop me within a block from the train station, after over an hour of driving in circles. He dropped me 15 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave, a block away from the train station. And, since he didn’t know what was closed off, I had to pass through the marathon runners to get to the station!
I got on the train 5 minutes before it was scheduled to depart. I called to speak to a manager but was told that I could leave a message, because there were no managers on Sunday.
Never use this company. I was a woman alone with my 2 children in this cab and the whole experience was terrifying.
Moreover, when I arrived in Chicago a few days earlier, I took the Norshore cab to my hotel. There were no major incidents, however, he lied about the flat rate amount.

I missed by bus at the Linden station and called Norshore for a cab to go to Northbrook.
Service was prompt and excellent

Same owner as 303 taxi. When you call for car and they tell you 10 minutes, plan to wait a half hour, if they even show up at all.
A private Car service is twice as much as this 3^rd world organization, but well worth it. No more aggravation and BS excuses. I am losing these phone #‘s permanently.
Just thought of using Über. No more 303/​Norshore Cab.

Courteous dispatch. Useless drivers in stanky brokedown hoopty vehicles. Drivers lack basic navigational skills. Avoid.

I used to always use this company and used them today, coincidently, but no more. A little later I was crossing the street as one of their cabs was turning right (in a residential neighborhood). I had plenty of time to cross as he was down the road a bit but apparently he didn’t think so. He guns it and not only that but then swerves to the left side of the street narrowly missing me by an inch! It’s not even a one way! I’m never using this company again. I don’t even care if it’s a one time bad experience it’s a pretty scary experience to almost get run down in front of my house!

I took a Norshore Cab to O’Hare International airport (ORD) from Evanston (flat rate: $ 35). My driver was nice enough at first, but I had to ask him to turn around because I had forgotten my phone at home, and I’m fairly sure that he drove extra slowly and took a less efficient route thereafter, since he was suddenly charging me on the meter, rather than the flat rate. He also became really rude afterwards, and kept asking me how much I was going to pay him, even after I repeatedly reassured him that I’d pay the full meter fare.

Norshore Cab is by far the WORST TAXI COMPANY EVER! Too many bad experiences. Anywhere from not showing up, being late, lying to their dispatch saying they were onsite but customer was no show, arriving and picking up someone else, even though the order was called in with my name. I live in Evanston and the list goes on and on. If I could give them a ZERO star, I would! My number one choice is American Taxi!

THE WORST CAB DRIVER I HAVE EVER HAD. Cab 159 picking me up from Evanston. Got «lost» AKA ran up my meter after learning I only had a credit card. He has a GPS on his front window and the address was sent online ahead of time. What is normally a $ 7 cab ride to Rogers Park was $ 16. He refused to give me a receipt and dropped me off in AN ALLEY instead of my destination. I told him this was not my destination… and he told me to «get out.»
Even though there is an «e-​receipt» option I could not get a receipt. I will be asking for all of my money back tomorrow morning from the company. What a nightmare.

If you could give negative stars I would. This cab company is a JOKE. We needed a cab to take us 2.8 miles, and he ended up taking us 13 miles out of the way to THEN put the correct address in the GPS. Just because we are from out of town he thought he could play us. We REPEATEDLY asked him where he was going. I do not recommend using this service unless you want to get SCREWED!

Short Version: 1 star for convenience and a very sweet dispatch girl who tried to help. Absolutely no stars for anything else though.
Long Version :
I am a frequent cab rider. I regularly oversleep, and, if it’s dark out or I’m drunk, I am intimidated by the trains. (This is a somewhat new development. Apparently, turning almost-​30 makes you a pansy.) So I know a thing or two about good service in cabs.
Norshore had always been a low level dissonant hum in the background symphony of my head until today. My experiences have included encounters with a cab driver who wanted to discuss capitalism at length when I was so barely awake it wasn’t even funny, listening to a cabbie argue loudly with his mother (yeah) about some familial issue, and just general strange interactions that left me with a bad taste in my mouth (and occasionally, in my soul). But in general, it’s been a consistent service that I could rely on to get me from Howard to my office in Skokie without a headache. Quirky cab service is a staple of the Chicago non-​driver lifestyle. I’m used to it.
This morning, however, the low dissonance turned into a full on cacophony of awful. I was running late (thanks, #22 Clark bus), and hopped into a convenient Norshore cab at the Howard station. There’s always a little line of them, so I think I’ve gotten one several times a month for the past year or so. Hopped into the cab, and it’s a driver who’s driven me before, and even remembers where I’m going, which is pretty great. Ride itself is uneventful, driver was safe.
When we get to my office, I pull out my credit card and apologize for not carrying cash, which I usually do for these short cab trips. (It was about $ 10.) I know how much Chicago cabbies hate using credit cards, and I both understand the frustration on their end and don’t appreciate getting a ten minute lecture every time I take out a credit card. He huffed and looked at the meter, then back at me, and says «You don’t have $ 10 cash?» and I said «No, I’m really sorry, just my debit» and he huffs more. Asks if I will go to an ATM. I apologize again and say no. Finally, he starts poking at the credit card machine and says «The machine is down» repeatedly. Mind you, he is clinging to my card like I’m going to jump out of the cab and cackle wildly at the whopping $ 10 charge I’ve weaseled out of if he gives it back to me.
Finally, he gets the manual card swipe machine, and takes the carbon of my card. He meticulously writes down the date, then demands to know how much of a tip I will give him. So I tell him, and he hands it back to me, then says «You need to write your number in case it doesn’t work.» Cool, no problem, but I assure him it will be fine. I get out of the cab, after telling him to have a nice day and being grunted at in response.
Not twenty minutes later, my phone rings with an unfamiliar number. It goes to voicemail, and I check it a few minutes after that. The message begins with a description of how «the machine» is still not working but my card has been declined. Which is, in and of itself, pretty weird. How can a card be declined if you can’t even run it? Beyond that, I just got paid and, as a 20-​something with poor check balancing skills, I check my online balance more or less every 8 – 12 minutes. I’m like the Red Line of bank balances. So I kinda roll my eyes and prepare to call him back and ask him to try it later, since it sounds like his machine is acting up.
This is where it gets straight up effing creepy. He then proceeds to angrily accuse me of trying to cheat him, then demands that I call him back by the end of the day, saying he «knows what he’ll do» if I don’t call him back.
After shaking for a minute, I call his dispatch and speak to a lovely woman. I explain the situation to her and say, very explicitly, «I don’t want to cheat this guy out of his money, but I do not appreciate being threatened over a $ 10 fare.» She is incredibly apologetic, agrees that that is not acceptable, then puts me on hold for a minute. She comes back, says he’s been suspended for the day and will be called in to speak with a general manager. She tells me that their credit card processing system was down that morning and that he (the driver) should have known that, and shouldn’t be calling me directly about it if there’s a problem. She apologizes again and says that she will have a general manager call me back.
**Review Edit**
It’s been almost two weeks and no one has called me back. Stopped by the cab stop by the Howard station and he’s still picking people up. I’m just not going to take Norshore cabs going forward, no matter how convenient. More motivation to wake up on time, I guess.

I took a cab from my hotel in Evanston to Midway airport for a flat rate of $ 55. I tipped $ 10 on top of that, bringing the total to $ 65. I got off the plane to discover that my bank account was overdrawn because the cab driver had charged me $ 650 for the ride! I called the company right away and they said they would refund the entire ride since, according to them, the driver overcharged me on the flat fee to the airport. They never asked me which airport I went to (there are 2 in Chicago).
Later, the company called back to say that since they discovered I was going to Midway, the driver had charged me the right flat fee and they would, in fact, be charging me the $ 65. This seems like VERY poor customer service to me. It was their mistake (both times) and, while they got paid right away, my bank account was tied up for an entire day until I could get this sorted out.
Had they kept their word and refunded the entire fee (which was their idea in the first place, not mine), I would be giving them 4 more stars.
If I’m ever in Evanston again, I will be avoiding this cab company.