New York City taxi driver swipes passenger’s iPod — and gets away with it

@snitch

You need to read the article closer. She didn’t jump in the cab with no money, she had a perfectly valid credit card with adequate credit. The card didn’t come back declined. The credit card company approved the charge. She called the cc company which confirmed approval. The cab driver’s machine was malfunctioning.

The scenario that you describe about developing countries and forgetting to notify credit card companies is not this case. And while respecting locals (and everyone else) is a good thing, you pulled that from thin air. Are you suggesting that presenting a valid credit card in NY which by law requires all cabs to having function credit card terminals is disrespectful?

It seems to me that the advocates of cash are crazy. As a tourist, you can easily pay $4-5.00 for each ATM withdrawel between your bank and the withdrawing bank. But if you take out large sums, you risk getting that stolen. By converse, use a credit card, NO EXTRA FEES.

I agree that the advocates of cash here are off-base. Using plastic is usually faster, safer, and more accountable. You lose the card, you don’t lose your money. If something goes wrong, you’ve got the credit card company on your side getting you the money back. And you don’t have to worry about carrying around change, finding an ATM, or keeping track of how much you have on you at the moment.

That said, New York is far behind the rest of the world when it comes to credit card acceptance. As a local, I always keep cash with me for the inevitable “problems” some merchants have taking them.

HAHA your daughter got pwned…she sounds like a wuss that should have stood up to the cabby.Maybe next time she wont be such a baby.

The girl’s a lot nicer than I would be, if put in the same situation. Here, she’s got his personal phone number, and may have some other information on him as well (depending on how observant she was during all this) like his license number, or cab ID number. I’d blog about this, and give out anything I had about the guy, then let anyone who wanted to call up the driver and politely ask him about the iPod deal with him and wash my hands of the situation. That’s just me though.

As it is, the reason the mom probably wrote this was because the daughter was either too mad or too sad to write it. If the girl had written it, she probably would’ve sounded a lot angrier, included a few derogatory comments about the driver personally, and no one would’ve taken it seriously and it’d never get posted anywhere unless she had an accompanying YouTube video making a fool of herself for everyone to laugh at.

@Katie –

It is often stealing when someone willingly gives you something. If cop comes to you and says “I will put drugs on you and arrest you for possession unless you give me $100,” and you comply, the cop stole from you. If you go to a bank and pretend to be someone else and take money from their account, and the misled teller willingly gives it to you, it is stealing.

Here, the iPod was stolen because the cabbie (1) either lied about being able (or unable) to accept credit cards to induce her to get in the cab without cash, (2) used his lie to put her in an uncomfortable situation, where he was able to unjustly threaten her with jail in a strange (and apparently corrupt) city, and (3) then demanded something from her worth far more than what he could reasonably ask for.

@Yuri – you pretend to know what happened, even though you weren’t there. Get over yourself and stop trying to defend this theft.

LETS MAKE IT CLEAR! NEVER USE YELLOW CABS….AWFUL PPL…AWFUL SERVICE… THEY ALMOST KILLED ME THE OTHER DAY…. USE THE SUBWAY:WHAT CAN BE BETTER THEN THE GOOD OL TRAIN TO SEE “THE CITY” AND ITS PEOPLE FROM A MORE “INSIDE” PERSPECTIVE!

She was wrong.

She should have called the police while in the car. They would have forced the cab driver to call up the dispatch and read the credit card #’s to them so they could make the charge on their end.

The cabby was just taking advantage. If the credit card reader wasn’t working the cab driver is supposed to notify the passenger before they get into the car.

When you have a conflict like this, call the police. End of story. Call yourself, don’t let the merchant “call for you”.

This is also a popular scam for mechanics as well. When it’s mostly labor and minimal parts they will say your CC isn’t going through hoping you will be in a similar situation.

Yes she was the victim of a scam. Sad.

WTF? It’s $2 on the subway to Jamaica and $5 for the air train to JFK… and VERY easy to find your way there and pay with credit card… but the question is, who visits anywhere including NYC without a reserve of cash and/or travel checks in case credit card machines don’t work (*always* a valid problem anywhere in the world)? I can see this happening anywhere, not just New York for someone contracting a service and being unable to pay. I was expected to pay a fine in Austria when a language barrier created a problem over renting a bicycle, and I paid without incident because it was *my* fault.

I love how it’s back in vogue to hate New York again. Newsflash, if you’re an idiot, we don’t like you either. Dish washing anyone for their meal?

@Elisa, The cab driver advertised that he took credit cards, and then didn’t. Then he refused to let her go to an ATM. He said he would take her iPod or send her to jail. What did the poor girl do wrong to deserve that treatment? All you’re saying is that she should expect everyone around her to be liars or evildoers? That’s not a healthy way to live.

@Sam Mech –

You think that using credit cards in an “age of identity theft” is stupid and would prefer using cash in seedy areas?

That’s silly, and you shouldn’t give advice like that if you don’t know about the issue. Using a credit card is the safest form of payment. You are not responsible for any unauthorized charges or identity theft. Your bank has fraud detection experts tracking card usage. If there is a dispute with the merchant, your bank will negotiate on your behalf and get your money back. It leaves a paper trail if you need to find the merchant later.

With cash, you can easily get mugged or lose it and you have no recourse. If you’re overcharged or given back the wrong amount of change, you’re SOL unless you are able to demand it back from the cabbie.

Joe Farrell,

You’re off base. From what I’ve read here and elsewhere, she DID offer to go get cash. The cabbie and PA officers refused. She offered to even be escorted by the cops, but still the cabbie refused. The cabbie didn’t want her to get cash. As I understand it, he didn’t wait around. He just got her iPod and drove off.

I don’t live in a world of absolute rules. The cabbie advertised that he took credit cards. If he wasn’t able to take them, wouldn’t it have been reasonable for him to warn the passenger BEFORE driving her on a $50 fare? This is especially so since the cabbie is required to take credit cards and you’re required to warn passengers when your machine is out of order. These arent’ obscure technical rules that don’t really matter. They are clear, important rules that really make a difference for almost every customer. If the cabbie had followed one simple legal rule or at least followed common sense, the passenger would have been able to grab another cab and this whole mess would be avoided. There’s no need to be hypertechnical where the reasonable rule and common sense come out the same way.

The story suggests that the cab might just have been out of the reception area on his credit card machine. If that’s the case, there’s a common sense solution which is also the legally required one. He should have gone around the block to a place where there was reception. Nothing hypertechnical or unreasonable about that.

And, as I understand it, she offered to go get cash. The cabbie refused. Common human decency would suggest that, if the cabbie breaks the rules and falsely advertises his payment types, he should at least be reasonable enough to let a passenger go to the ATM to cover for the cabbie’s errors. She couldn’t though, because he drove off.

And why should the passenger give a $20 tip to a cabbie who lied to her, broke the rules, operated a cab with defective equipment, coerced her, harassed her, intimidated her, and threatened her? Why do his mistakes and crimes justify a bigger tip?

I’m a New Yorker, so I know to carry around a lot of cash. But the thing is, in most parts of the world cash is dead. Very few reasonable people outside of NYC still use cash. So tourists would reasonably expect that the greatest city in the world would be able to take credit cards just as well as Bumblef**k, Missoruh. And they might not want to carry wads of cash around in a strange and unknown city with a reputation for rough streets.

Why should she have to assume that the cabbie was falsely advertising his payment methods? Only in NYC do credit card machines get “broken.”

Chris – [quote] As I understand it, he didn’t wait around. He just got her iPod and drove off. [/quote]

From where did you get that fact? It is NOWHERE in the facts provided by Chris Elliott in the original post, nor in ANY of the replies from her ‘Aunt.’

That fact is made up and is the basis upon which you make the rest of your argument. It is entirely specious.

Was a reasonable course of conduct that he wait for cash – yeah. Should the cops. given ‘common human decency’ let her get cash? Yep. But the world unfortunately, especially in NYC, fails to revolve around common human decency.

However, given your post, it does revolve around people making up facts to support their arguments. Chris, I am ONLY willing to reach a conclusion based on the facts presented to me. And NOWHERE does ANYONE EVER SAY that the cabbie just ‘drove off.’

I was born and raised in NYC. Sounds like what we have here is a failure to communicate. . .

While reading all of the comments on this article, I was trying to figure out why people were so passionate about this case and I decided to re-read the original letter to Mr. Elliott. There seem to be two issues intertwined here. First, the cabbie clearly did not follow the rules set forth by the TLC regarding credit card payments, which can be found on the TLC website. While she should have been given the opportunity to use another credit card or pay with cash, this situation was mishandled by the cabbie and PA cops and was rightly investigated by the TLC. That they decided that the matter now lay between the cabbie and Miss Lenhart is disappointing, but the cabbie was under no obligation to let Miss Lenhart leave the cab when her credit card did not work in his machine (the cc company stated that there did seem to be a problem with his machine, which means that he wasn’t lying to try and get out of accepting payment) without some form of remuneration.

However, the issue that seems to be fueling most people’s responses is how her family is presenting this situation to the media and the public. Words like “humiliated” and “petrified” were used to describe Miss Lenhart’s reactions and “disgusted” and “absolutely outraged” were used by her family. These are very strong words that indicate extreme reactions to an unfortunate situation. Though her family stated that she experienced no problems on the trip save this one, they have very publicly disparaged and sworn off an entire city and are trying to convince others to do the same! Of course this is going to bring out some very strong emotions in people who love New York and want to encourage tourism to the city.

If Miss Lenhart decides to take the issue to small claims court, then hopefully she will be able to pay the cabbie his $50 and get her iPod back (unless Chris left some major part of Ms. Lenhart’s story out, I do not see that she offered to send the cabbie his $50 now, only that she was demanding her daughter’s iPod be returned). However, the bigger lesson here for any traveller is that one needs to always be prepared for something to go wrong and have a back-up plan in place (trying more than one credit card may have made the difference in this case). There is definitely a difference in the way that people on the West Coast and people on the East Coast communicate (I have lived on both) and maybe some people are just not cut out for visits to the Big Apple (this is not directed at Miss Lenhart, but at her overreacting family).

Wow. Thanks Lynne Lenhart for wasting five minutes of my life. Let your daughter grow up and deal with her own problems. Furthermore, get over it. Assuming her iPod was actually worth $140 then you are out $90. Is this really worth this much drama? Going to small claims is hardly worth the trouble and you’ll spend far more then $90 before you step foot in court.

I had a similar situation in Phoenix. The cab had a sign on the window that if the driver refused a valid credit card, the ride was free. It was a $70 cab ride, and I wanted to pay with my corporate card to avoid reimbursement of cash. The driver turned off the car, and turned off the meter, and demanded payment in cash, as he claimed he could not process the transaction without the meter on. He was then waiving my card in the air, asking the hotel staff if an ATM was located inside (and ATM wouldn’t have worked– cash withdrawals are prohibited on the card). I do travel with an reasonable sum of cash. I paid the fare, with no tip because of his behavior. While cash is a quick way to do business (and to avoid reporting your income to the IRS), carrying it around in larger quantities than you cab ride home is inconvenient and risky.

The Credit card company lied to your daughter about the machine not working. As for your daughter not carrying cash is a very stupid idea. I’ve always had credit card problems when on vacation expect it. As for payment sorry but what is the cabbie to do? Take a $50 dollar hit which is unjustified on his part? And Gas loss and time? He provided a service then you pay him. As for the port Authority what do you want them to do? They came when a customer wasn’t paying their fair. So blaming them for doing their doing their job is pointless and unfair to them. Did she even try to bargain about getting her ipod back in the future? Did she get the rep from the bank his name?
The bank just likes to pass the blame. Credit card machines work even better at the airport this coming from experience.

To those who believe in always carrying spare cash, I used to subscribe to the philosophy until was was robbed in Paris and lost 150E. And really, why carry cash in the US when there is an Atm on every corner, every grovery store, every 24 hr mini-mart, every bank. Seems so silly. Also, I can only assume that those who advocate cash never went to college, or at least not one far away from home, as they have clearly forgotten what its like to be a poor college student.

@Joe

What’s unfortunate is that real police didn’t get involved instead of PA cops. Real cops (assuming they’re not as dishonoest as the cab driver) know that these are civil matters and at best would have ordered the girl to give her id to the cabbie to copy the name and address. You can’t detain someone because they can’t pay. You can detain things if you have a lien (e.g cars at a garage, luggage at a hotel, etc.), but never people. Debtor prison and slavery have been aboished for a long time.

To the other armchair attorneys, as a business litigation attorney, I can state definitively that: if the girl was so inclined, and could prove her case, she would be be entitled to several thousands of dollar in damages. . False imprisonment and extortion would be easily proven. The punitive damages would only increase is she would prove that the cabbie’s malfunctioning equipment precipitated this entire debacle.

@others

Who believe in the cab driver’s honesty. Why wouldn’t he return the IPOD upon receipf of the fare and shipping charges. Perhaps because he realizes that he got $140 IPOD for a $50 fare. how dishonest is that?

Carver – not an armchair lawyer here- I’m admitted to the bar in 2 states, numerous federal districts, 2 courts of appeal and the US Supreme Court.

Police can arrest people who take services that they cannot pay for – its not ‘debtors prison,’ its call theft of services and is a crime in New York.

The cabbie wanted to get paid – for WHATEVER reason the cc machine did not work. She had no other way to pay him. No matter who called the PA cops once they arrived there are no facts here from which unlawful detention can be established. Carver – go back to law school – I’d defend this with a jury – and even a jury in Mississippi would not give you ‘thousands.’

You need to prove so much – that the card processed correctly, that the machine was broken, that the card ‘would have worked,’ none of which are remotely possible and that the young woman felt detained against her will by the cabbie and not the apparent authority of the Port Authority Police. I litigate, I’m not a ‘business lawyer,’ whatever that is.

I often use credit cards to pay for taxis when I travel for work. Cash is much more a pain to get reimbursed whereas a credit card is billed directly to my employer. I always tell the driver I’m paying with a card when I get into the car.

I cannot count how many times the card machine “doesn’t work” when I arrive at my destination. I always respond in the same way. I stand firm that I will only be paying by credit card. If the driver refuses to accept it or claims he cannot process it, I explain that is not my problem. I offer the card again. Every denial results in a reduction in tip. I proceed to leave the car. If threatened, I offer the card again, and again. You cannot be arrested for trying to pay for services rendered. In almost every situation like this, the machine “miraculously” starts to work. By this point, there is no tip. None is deserved. Occasionally, I get a free cab ride, through no fault or illegality of my own because my offer to pay was rejected. Its all about standing firm and knowing your rights.

By the way, all these “cash” people are just bullies. And ignorant.

QUOTE: On January 16th, 2009 at 2:55 pm Melissa said “New York taxi drivers are a hard-working group of people and, for the most part, honest. They provide a service and expect to be paid for it. Most of them do not own their cabs nor do they own (nor do they have control over) the credit card machines inside. In fact, they protested the installation of these machines but the TLC forced them into the cabs against their will. ” END QUOTE

This is true, but it simply does not matter. In the end, the company/cabbies have credit card machines in the car; which tells the consumer that he/she will be able to pay with a functioning card at the end of their trip.

If that system does not work, the passenger needs to be informed before the start of the trip, or it will be the cabbies problem. It does not matter (nor is it the customers problem) if the cabbie doesn’t like the machine or was forced into it. I’m sick of these types of arguments. Who cares what the cabbie likes or doesn’t like? It’s still a business and the customer is king. If the cabbies don’t like the machines, they should stop working there and find another job, start a union for protection, or buy their own gypsy cab. Simple as that.

Once something is part of your job, it’s part of your job. The employees can always complain to their employer, but they certainly can’t complain to their customers.

That’s like a doctors office receptionist complaining to a customer about having to take insurance as a payment because it takes longer and possibly could be rejected. If the company offers it, the customer can use it – it simply does not matter what each of the employees think.

@ Carver

I’m a cab driver here in Chicago and guess what? Cops have and will arrest people for not paying their fair PERIOD. Your a moron, And a thief. When you have the meter on it is proof of services. I’ve won way too many cases against morons like you.

@Allison

If my Credit card machine doesn’t work because of updating data by banks. You can’t just leave and get a free ride. I have had people arrested for doing the exact thing you claim to do.