Go Easy – Whats happening

Okay its been a long holiday on the blog world. I guess I need to come back. But is there anything to write about these days? Raja took half the news world with 2G scam. Some leading journalist (not very leading now) took the other half. ha isn’t it funny that initially media wrote as ‘SOME LEADING JOURNALISTS’ and then slowly moved to Some journalists of leading media house …… 🙂

And these halfs were encircled by wikileaks. I guess this gave the other two some relief.

Lets move on (like all Indians) to what’s troubling the common man like you and me.  The other day I needed a Railway station transfer . Now Meru cabs (which I heavily relied on for the past 3 years) started charging a convenience charge of Rs 50(I still use Rs because I don’t have the Rupee sign on my office 2010 yet) for their convenience.  I guess they charge it so that discount frenzy Indians would stop calling their call centre (we don’t like paying an extra Rupee anywhere but would pay to play a 30 Rs game at a mall for 10 times (which would last hardly 3 mins each).

Anyways back to the point, so they started charging because they don’t want everyone to call them. But wait a min doesn’t their business work that way? People should call them right? Yes, so they request everyone to use their website book cabs. Like any other Indian ,to save that Rs 50 (which I would easily give to a Traffic constable if he stop me and say I have a Kerala registration vehicle) I booked the cab online on Monday. I needed the cab for Tuesday. The confirmation read “You cab has been confirmed for Tuesday 1900). Cool I thought. The excitement did not last long. On Monday I got a call at 1830 from a guy who claimed to be a Meru cab driver.

“But I booked the cab for Tuesday” I said

“You booked for 1900…. “ He said

I called the CC and told them of the mix up.

“Sir we only accept bookings made 24 hrs before” they said.

“Your website accepted the booking” I said.

Luckily they did not charge me for the cancellation. I wrote a letter to the email id mentioned in their website asking them not to accept online booking made more than 24 hours in advance. They acknowledged.

I had 24 hours and I called Easy Cabs (as I did not want to take the risk with Meru again). They confirmed the booking.

Tue 18:30 –The sms they promised did not arrive.

18:40

I called the CC. He said the cab is on its way.

“Give me the driver number”  I asked.

“I don’t have that information” He said.

“Give me the vehicle number” I asked.

“I don’t have that information” he said.

“How else would you know that  the car is on its way?”  I asked.

“You will get an sms in 2 mins Sir” he said. “Hold on I will talk to the dispatcher now”

Too Too Too Song which also had some self praises in it.

18:48

I am still on hold.

“Sir, the cab is on its way” he said

“Hey you told me the sms would reach in 2 mins. You put me on hold for 5 mins. Can you just let me know if the cab is available or not. I have my entire family including a kid and we need to get to the railway station by 2100.” I said.

“Sir the cab is on its way” he said.

Click.

19:15

I called a local cab guy who came in 15 mins. On my way I got the sms that Easy cab executive was talking about it read

“Sorry for the inconvenience there were no cabs plying in your area and your booking has been cancelled”

The question is, if the confirmation they give when you book is not a confirmation but only a HOPE they would probably have to rename it to HOPE SMS.

It should read “We hope that we have made the booking. We certainly hope to send you cab hopefully by the chosen time. We hope that you call us again”

In their language I confirm that I will use Easy cabs again.