Express Cabs & Couriers Ltd, Maidstone, Kent Reviews 52

They are the worst cab company ever . Arrogant and appalling customer services.
I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone not even a snail .
I called the company and the initial call handler was extrêmely rude .
I Will be looking for a different cab company is MAIDSTONE Kent and if I can’t find , I will be reporting the company to the MP

Pre booked pickup several months in advance from Holiday Inn Sittingbourne to a wedding in the woods (the Dreys) about 5 miles away. Driver arrived promptly at 18:00, and communication was good, but, on arrival, was charged £30.90 for a 10 minute drive. Cash only. When challenged over price, I was informed he had to come from MAIDSTONE to pick me up from Sittingbourne and was charged accordingly. I made the point it was not my issue to pay for a cab relocation but was told it was company policy. Exceptional high charge. On the upside, I contacted customer services and they initially argued the charge was on the website when booking. I said I'd booked over phone, and didn't recall a price or charging policy being discussed. I was refunded £15 by way of good will gesture. and to me £15 is about the right price for that journey. Be careful when booking, if you're outside Maidstone! Go elsewhere. Else good customer service after the complaint over charging was received.

Pre-boot a taxi to pick up and pick up return at 11:00 p.m. It was pouring with rain heavy bit to a lovely wedding great day and then the taxi never turned up as pre-booked 3 weeks ahead after spending 15 minutes of contingency trying to ring the office what didn't seem to want to answer the phone We got through and the lady said oh we've been very busy it's been really busy because of the wet so we said yes we know we're stood out in it for 40 minutes and our tax is done here We pre-booked it for 11:00 and it's now nearly 11:35 so she said yeah she said we've been so busy but that should get involved in our pre-book taxi so she said the next available taxi finish and a job she'll send it to us Well it finally arrived We were saturated as we only had summer clothes things on shirts and trousers no jacket no umbrella no nothing cuz we didn't expect to be stood in the rain 40 minutes and no sign of the taxi I would not use them again and not reliable if I was going to go pick up a train and then had to chase it after 40 minutes of it not arriving I would have probably missed the last train over to London So very poor service, I also like refund online and over nothing for them no apology no nothing Very poor service .beware unbelievable

Be careful with this driver at express cabs !!!
I ordered a taxi at 09:34 am this morning 28-Apr-2023 to arrive at 10:10 am from: ME16 0ZH heading to Trinity Vet Centre ME16 9NZ.
ROB SEAT ALHAMBRA GREY CX66 PPU, arrived at 9:55 am. He called and said that he will wait and he wont charge me for the waiting time as its his responsibility to arrive early. However, he asked for £5.00, so I paid in cash.
I called EXPRESS CABS again AT 10:29 AM 28-APR-2023, booked another taxi for my way back home he charged me £3.40 although he took a different and longer rout.
I called ROB SEAT ALHAMBRA GREY CX66 PPU again asking him why he charged me extra? he said because he was waiting for me. I said but I requested the taxi at 10:10 am and you arrived early!!! he said still!!.
This is absolutely unacceptable and unprofessional.
This kind of behaviour is damaging EXPRESS CABS reputation. I am a regular customer, never faced such a scam.

Avoid - late, expensive, rude
Turned up an hour late for Heathrow pickup - Good Friday, zero traffic - driver Paul made excuses, got rude - then pulled over and demanded immediate payment or we get out on the side of the road. Main office told us no one in management available to discuss so pay or it was a criminal offense - threatening. First time using - will never use again. Only recourse is an online form on company website that will apparently be reviewed by management. Avoid - dreadful feedback on this site, Yell etc. wish I’d seen before booking. Go elsewhere - it honestly won’t be worse. Driver then belted down the motorway over 80. Couldn’t wait to get out of the car.

Absolutely shocking
Due to pick us up from Gatwick 2.45 am we arrived in arrivals waiting for taxi
3am called taxi firm
Said on its way and said taxi had to be diverted off motorway due to motorway shut! Now this was planned works as hubby works on the roads so drivers would have known this !!! No excuse

3.30 am called again by now my son is Almost asleep off on floor outside … to be told he is five mins away

3.50 called again so now 1.05 mins late ….. taxi man turns up at 4am - he has just dropped a party off at departures and was on way to us !!!! Clearly doing a double run to save money …… but not on when taxis is 1.15 late on picking up a booking

Absolutely shocking
The operator clearly lied
Taxi Was 1.15 mins late
Shocking and very unprofessional
Will never use again
No apology at all

Absolute rubbish - booked to collect me at London Stansted. Operator said the tax was on its way three times and then it should be there. Finally spoke to the driver who said he had another booking and had been at the airport 30 mins .......... Which he clearly had not been since I was there ! Would not book again as had to pay for another hotel to stay the night in Stansted after already paying one in Maidstone that night.

Used for early morning airport trip and return! Excellent! Will definitely use again!

I prebooked a trip from Maidstone to Canterbury via the Express Cabs app. The payment went though stripe and all seemed to be okay. On the day of the trip the driver told me I needed to pay £50 as the payment had not gone though the app. I have had to contact my credit card company to resolve this.

Furthermore I kept getting alerts every 15 minutes by one of the drivers (Freddy) saying the trip had been completed. This went on until I uninstalled the app.

The impression I have been given is the app is broken. Cab Drivers have expressed there frustration with people being able to use it properly and long distance trips some people request.

Update - I emailed Express to say I had been double charged. They said they would refund me but this never happened so I opened up a dispute with my credit card company (and won.) a dispute charges the company who impacted the charge so hopefully it will be a lesson to Express not to double charge in the future.

Update: since this review me and my partner have used Express to book a few taxies here’s some things you may stumble across and ways to fix them.

1. The taxi driver may claim they don’t have a card machine on them and they want to reroute your trip to an ATM. Express Dispatchers always claim they make sure drivers had a payment terminal however if this does happen refuse to pay by cash, call the dispatch and ask to pay over the phone.

2. If you pay by the app Express will charge a percentage of 20% per transaction during the holding phase however this is returned back to you once the trip has ended. This is a new policy that even the dispatch isn’t happy with.

3. I would avoid airport transfers with express. In September we had a good experience of a driver getting us to Luton however he was late to picking up a customer who was being picked up from Gatwick due to road works. When we returned back from the UK i switched on my phone and found the taxi company had sent 4 phone calls. I went thru security as quickly as possible and we got our bags as quickly as we could. The taxi driver was waiting in the pick up/drop off zone and he was very angry. We was 7 minutes over the free parking period and I was more than happy to pay this fee but he got angry even more because he didn’t get to do it during the free parking period. Our flight was late by a few minutes. He had a massive rant at us in the car and it destroyed a good holiday. I did phone dispatch who said they would talk to the driver but I’m not sure if we will be using express in the future for airport transfers. The rude, aggressive driver at 3am wasn’t needed. I was willing to pay the fees and as a long term customer I’ve always paid up express. The driver did threaten he was a few minutes from leaving. If he had done this I would of issued a charge back because we had told the taxi our flight was late, the taxi driver was meant to track our flight and understand the situation in the airport isn’t fast. I’m not sure what we did to upset the driver but he wasn’t happy. We was paying customers and all we wanted to do is go from A to B without drama which express didn’t do.

4. If your in a place without mobile coverage the driver may request alternative payment even if you have prebooked a taxi. If this happens call dispatch and ask for a refund. Ask the driver for a receipt.

5. On the 4th November I went on a trip from Maidstone to The Blackhorse Inn. The taxi was quoted as £10.60. The driver arrived 20 minutes late. I noticed on my bill a tip has been added by him of an additional £10.60. The cab company claims I added that very specific tip. I didn’t the driver did. This is disgusting behaviour and from now on I’m using a rival. When I confronted the company they tried to talk baby to me about how to tip on the app which I’ve done many times before but would never do for such a late service. Inexcusable in my opinion. Avoid!

My friend pre booked and pre paid for the trip, and the driver was asked to stop on the way to pick me up (it was literally on the same road, no route change at all) and upon arrival at our destination he demanded I pay extra because he "had to stop when I got in", saying this is "standard practice" and the charge is because it was a "busy evening" dispite it taking all of 20 seconds for him to stop and me jump in. When I questioned why the extra charge for the same trip which my friend already paid for, he began raising his voice and getting angry. Will not use Express Cabs again and recommend anyone else doesn't either.