Janna’s 1-star review:
Yelp will not let you rate a business below one star, so allow me to explain that, in this case, 1 is equal to -326.5. Why? This is the total number of dollars I would have lost thanks to Yellow Cab if a flight I was trying to catch had not been delayed. I would subtract even more if I could quantify the possibility of having missed my stepmother's 65th birthday celebration.
This is the only time I have taken a cab to the airport. I had booked a Friday early evening flight, and that evening happened to coincide with both Critical Mass and the beginning of Pride weekend. I figured that hiring a professional to drive me through the likely clusterf#%k was my best option, and that if I arranged to be picked up a full hour before I would normally leave, I'd be safe.
I had once been told by a Yellow Cab operator that the only circumstance in which they take advance reservations is for airport trips. Armed with this information, I called a couple hours beforehand and made the arrangement. Fast forward to the designated time. Ten minutes passed. I called to make sure the cab was on its way. The next 45 minutes or so are a bit fuzzy, but I did note that I called Yellow Cab nine times. Here's a rough outline of the conversations:
One: I am told that the cab is on its way.
Two: (10 minutes later) I am told that the cab is on the way.
Three: Reservation? What reservation? There's no reservation here. OK, now there's a cab on the way.
Four: There's a cab on the way.
Five: Ma'am (aside - I hate being called "ma'am"), we don't have any control over the cab drivers. If someone flags them down, the driver might pick them up instead.
Six: (after being transferred to a supervisor) La la la la la lame on-hold music... la la la la la CLICK. Disconnected.
Seven: There's a cab on the way.
Eight: OK, yeah, I told them you're going to miss your flight, the driver will be there right away.
Nine: There's a cab on the way.
At this late hour, I was pretty much out of viable non-cab options. I called a couple other companies, but they were all slammed due to the 10 zillion extra people in town. Finally, after 45 minutes, a Yellow Cab guy showed up. He was nice, and also drove like a maniac when I told him what was up.
I did make it on the flight in the end, but only because it was delayed. I spent the few minutes I had in the gate area composing a Yelp review on my iPhone. I deleted it because it had unladylike content, but it went something like this: These LYING MOTHERF#%ERS DO NOT GIVE A SH!T ABOUT ANYTHING ASIDE FROM GETTING YOU OFF THE PHONE. Yeah, that was the ladylike part.