About to be ripped off by a Turkish taxi!
I couldn’t believe my eyes that a mother with her young child could be seen as weak individuals and favourable opportunity to be tricked and ripped off.
Today surprisingly this happened: After having a long walk in the Grand Bazar in the European side of Türkiye, I and my 3 years old son went walking and stopped at a bus stop besides the main road.
I hired a taxi through Ubar application planning to have our lunch in a restaurant that takes a 10 minutes ride. The taxi car with a young Turkish guy arrived. He assisted with putting my baby’s stroller into the vehicle back storage area. Myself and my son sat in the passenger seats at the back. He came into the car and started asking me questions like: Where I want to go? How long distance that would take? And how much I would be charged?
I saw that the ride would take longer than I expected. So I changed my mind. I requested him to take me back to our residence place which would take 1 hour ride. Then he started explaining that the ride would take longer time and there would be more traffic on the way. In his talk he was adding extra charges from 1300 TL to 1800 TL and finally to 2000 TL. I was not 100% comfortable with the guy but because I was with my child and he looked tired and hungry, I agreed and requested him to drive.
Then he changed the conversation saying: His car can’t reach the Asian side of the country and that he would assign the ride to his friend taxi that parked behind his car at that very moment. I became even more suspicious at that time but I went along with the conversation. He kept asking me if I would pay the 2000 TL and I said yes.
Then he took my baby’s stroller and kept it in the storage area of the other taxi car. I hold my son’s hand and carried our things walking to other taxi car. Suddenly the two guys, (the taxi drivers) were standing in front of me asking me to pay the 2000 TL at that moment before even the ride began. I couldn’t believe what I heard and my throat tightened. Those guys perceived me as weak and vulnerable with my little son and wanted to take advantage of our situation.
With a shivering voice and tears in my eyes I rejected the ride and grabbed my son and went back to the bus stop stand insisting the taxi driver to give me back my baby’s stroller. The young guy kept convincing me to go with him using his phone translator. I refused. He went back to his car and didn’t get me back my baby’s stroller thinking that I would fall for that, get convinced and go with him.
But I stood there with my son and things. I surrendered the stroller at that moment and it was ok with me if he went with it. What bothered me most is: how come you perceive a mother with her child as an opportunity to take advantage off for your income generating work? What a dirty way of thinking and I was dearly disappointed and frustrated at that time.
Finally after so many attempts from his side, he gave up and returned back my baby’s stroller. At the bus stop, there was this Turkish old guy who saw the scenario happening. He approached me angry and sad and requested me to go with him. I hesitated at first. But when I saw his body language and that he really wanted to help, I accepted.
He assisted me to go to a bus and we arrived at a souq area. Then he wanted us to go walk on a long stairs. I refused. I didn’t understand what were his intentions. Then he said: metro no taxi. I realized at that point that he wanted us to go on a metro because it was cheaper and cost effective. So then I accepted.
We arrived at the metro point. He requested another passenger lady to accompany us in the metro until we arrive our destination.
That incident taught me the following lessons:
Always know the average price in the area and don’t accept when the price is higher than the average.
When you have a doubt in a person or a situation, don’t ignore your feelings. Believe in yourself and always follow your guts.
Accept to receive help when you find it. Its not always best to do everything yourself. When people around you are willing to help, allow it. At the end, you are a human being. You go through situations sometimes. And its ok to receive help from time to time.
What a situation that happened today. I still feel sorry and bad for what had happened. But end of the day, focus on the lessons and wisdom received from the situation.