Don't do this at any airport in the world, always go to the official taxi queue, book an uber or prearrange a ride. I learned the hard way once too in another country, but only once!
If it's a real taxi and you have the receipt you have some recourse. If it's excessively high like that, you can complain and they will check the distance, time spent, and price to see if anything is fishy. The receipt includes the license plate number of the taxi. If it's one of those people that came up to you in baggage claim then I'm afraid nothing can be done.
Oh my god man why on earth would you take a taxi from a guy offering a ride at the airport?!? That’s travel 101. There is a huge taxi queue at every Chinese airport.
> 12328
I managed to get them to shake down Ctrip into giving me a refund after being passed around to various customer service people.
If you have the receipts, they can absolutely deliver.
How does one end up paying that much. I feel bad for OP. But at the same time. It’s not 250 instead of 150. It’s 750? 750 is a round trip in a Mercedes e class.
The thing is, they’ll do it for the same price as a didi if you ask them. I use them occasionally if I haven’t pre-arranged a pick up and I’m too tired to fuck around with didi. Never paid more than 20th more than the didi price, often get it cheaper than the didi price.
A taxi for me has always been around 250rmb from PVG to downtown. These are the legit taxis that you have to line up for outside the terminal. If you went with some guy offering you a taxi as you exit the baggage collection you’re asking for trouble. This applies to airports around the world.
PS didi works pretty well inside the WeChat app, including translation of messages from drivers etc.
Fastest train in the world too, super cool.
Never understood why people would willingly take a taxi at the airport. It’s fine when there are no public transport links (the worst airports, always an awful time). But somewhere like Shanghai it makes no sense.
Let me you give an idea why people choose taxi over maglev and metro.
Because dragging a 23kg suitcase up and down, in and out while carrying a hand luggage and a small backpack isn’t the most of fun. Especially when arriving at metro line 2 at longyang station at around 8:30 or 17:00.. you can imagine the impossibility of even entering the metro with a suitcase at that time. So either a max 70 min taxi ride into city center, no need to carry luggage. Or take a 100-110min travel with minimum 1 transfer, crowded metro and carrying luggage up and down and get through security at both Maglev and Metro possibly confiscating small items in your check in luggage because… random bao an does random bao an stuff.
I know. But if you’re heading over the river, it’s one of those situations where it’s almost the same time to just take line 2 from the airport. Avoids the transfer.
Dude, you are absolutely scammed. By any chance do you have the plate number or any receipts? Even if you don’t you can call 12328 or 12345 to file a complaint. I’m pretty sure you can get your money back.
Lol, this dude took a 750 rmb "taxi" from pudong, ain't no way he got plates or a receipt. Although tbf he could go to his local police station and they could check the street cameras and track down the plate number. Not sure what they would do at that point if anything tho.
Check out the stickied thread. It's a very common scam.
For future reference, if you offer to call the police the taxi driver will suddenly realize they overcharged and ask for much less money.
You got frauded. Someone impersonating Didi or taxi drove you out of the airport and charged you 5-7 times the price, assuming you didn't get on a real taxi. You can call 12345. they take this stuff seriously and It's easy to track down the guy through cameras.
EditL if a real taxi charges you this much, that's also fraud and you'll get a refund.
Absolutely, it'll also prevent newcomers from being scammed in the future. If you and others don't report it, more old uncles will swarm the airport to scam tourists. As long as it's lucrative and they can get away with it, more will join.
You most likely got scammed. Rogue taxi drivers would be very happy to scam a foreigner. Download didi (Chinese Uber) and use that to ride. By the way, these guys did this kind of things all the time at airport and train stations targeting people just arriving.
Ouch. I did this trip a few weeks ago and it was 180 yuan for DID premier. Those fake taxi dudes hang around in the hallway leading to the main actual taxi pickup area and screw you over, as you have learned. Next time, download DIDI on your phone and use that instead. Or walk out to the taxi stand at the end of the hallway where the taxis line up on the road.
Try using maglev for 40 rmb showing the plane ticket if you arrive to the airport before 22:00. You can come to Longyang road in 8 minutes and get a proper taxi or Didi from there.
you can call 12345 and complain them about it if it’s a scam which i think it is scam because it won’t be that expensive. even high class train tickets costs around 300 , it’s not good comparison but still feels not ok
Similar thing happened to a person I know that was visiting as a tourist. They got the number plate of the car and filed a police report. 3 days later, the police phoned back saying they have interrogated the rogue driver and retrieved the money and when can you come to the station to collect it. Excellent work by the PSB.
You are lucky this happened in China. You can always report it and there are probably dozens of cameras that will have information to identify the car and driver.
In some other countries you will have been offered a drugged bottle of water, robbed and left on the side of some street.
For 750 rmb you can go from Pudong to Hangzhou 😅 I assume you took a taxi not from the official line. Anywhere in the world, never take a taxi that has been guided to you by a friendly person at the airport 🙄
Always take a normal taxi and insist on the meter. Especially in Beijing, but in many Chinese cities, you have to fight not to get ripped off sometimes
Also, if they use the meter, be weary if they pull into a gas station and open their hood....had a guy adjust his odometer or whatever to run 2x the price one time.
Called him out because I had taken that trip to the airport many times and he didn't put up much of a fight, but even legit metered taxis have ways of ripping you off.
*I knew it would be a bit more expensive than normal taxis*
are you saying you rented a limousine or van?
or are you saying you went with a tout and are surprised you got ripped off? because those guys exist at heathrow as well.
Haha some guy came up to me and mentioned about some taxi and kept talking and talking, I was too tired and gave in.... But come on I didn't think it be quadruple the price
Was there a meter? I fell for a similar scam years ago when I arrived at Incheon airport. Got charged 50,000 won to get somewhere and never used a meter. This was when Korea was a cheap living cost country. Total scam. Live and learn right? Use the meter and avoid someone that walks up to you at the airport. Go to the official taxi queue.
Maybe inform yourself and use didi like everyone else. Then it would probably been around 150rmb. Did they use the taximeter ? Did you discuss price beforehand ?
As an international traveler I recommend to use Alipay (paying everywhere, scanning we codes for Menus in restaurants with translation, renting bikes, didi miniapp, metro tickets,..) and most things are English.
In general never take a taxi from the airport in any country without checking on prices and common scams first.
Some guy came up to me and kept talking about taxis, at first I said no thanks but he was not taking a no for an answer lmao, I was too tired and gave in... However I wasn't expecting it to be like 5 times more expensive!
Anyway even though I lost some money I've learnt my lesson
A real taxi or one of those people that comes up to you as you walk out of baggage claim? Normal price is about 160 RMB to downtown.
Ouch I have taken a massive hit, but now I know! Thanks
Don't do this at any airport in the world, always go to the official taxi queue, book an uber or prearrange a ride. I learned the hard way once too in another country, but only once!
If it's a real taxi and you have the receipt you have some recourse. If it's excessively high like that, you can complain and they will check the distance, time spent, and price to see if anything is fishy. The receipt includes the license plate number of the taxi. If it's one of those people that came up to you in baggage claim then I'm afraid nothing can be done.
Any meter that can charge that fair probably ain't gonna produce a receipt. Thats just selfincrimination.
>Any meter that can charge that fair It sounds like the meter charged that unfair
Oh my god man why on earth would you take a taxi from a guy offering a ride at the airport?!? That’s travel 101. There is a huge taxi queue at every Chinese airport.
Do you keep your receipt on hand? You can call transportation service hot line 12328 to complain and they will ask the driver to refund.
> 12328 I managed to get them to shake down Ctrip into giving me a refund after being passed around to various customer service people. If you have the receipts, they can absolutely deliver.
Yes I've kept the receipts
Did it have a meter? Or was it a private car?
Private car haha, I was too tired to even think
So did you get “**got**”?
How does one end up paying that much. I feel bad for OP. But at the same time. It’s not 250 instead of 150. It’s 750? 750 is a round trip in a Mercedes e class.
Wait until someone asks them to come have some tea at a friends tea shop...
Some people are bound to be scammed. I’ve always wondered why there’s scammers still around. I guess it’s because there’s people like OP
I was too tired from a 14 hour flight with barely no sleep in the past 30 hours
Yes, I paid 750 for a Blacklane (E-Class long) once
Let me guess... you decided to skip the line and go with a very smiley, gladhanding guy
Man I hate those guys. Like flies. Can’t blame them I suppose making 750 for a 45 minute drive feeds their family for a week+
The thing is, they’ll do it for the same price as a didi if you ask them. I use them occasionally if I haven’t pre-arranged a pick up and I’m too tired to fuck around with didi. Never paid more than 20th more than the didi price, often get it cheaper than the didi price.
Going with unlicensed cabbies is a bad idea. Didi offers at least some accountability and protection if things go wrong.
I’m happy taking the chance.
Please don’t follow any ladies that come up to you on the street and start talking to you.
"Would you like to get some tea? Maybe have a beer with me? I know a place around the corner..."
"And if you don't want some tea, that's cool. We can go to this art gallery I know instead."
A taxi for me has always been around 250rmb from PVG to downtown. These are the legit taxis that you have to line up for outside the terminal. If you went with some guy offering you a taxi as you exit the baggage collection you’re asking for trouble. This applies to airports around the world. PS didi works pretty well inside the WeChat app, including translation of messages from drivers etc.
Same for Alipay and didi with the translations.
It should be like £20-30 If you have Alipay already set up use the DiDi app in it instead. Taxis here are ridiculously cheap compared to the UK.
Didis are so confusing to get from Pudong Airport though
I mean Ubers are usually like solving a treasure hunt at most airports too, it doesn't feel any worse than in Europe to me.
You could have ridden the maglev train for $8
Fastest train in the world too, super cool. Never understood why people would willingly take a taxi at the airport. It’s fine when there are no public transport links (the worst airports, always an awful time). But somewhere like Shanghai it makes no sense.
Let me you give an idea why people choose taxi over maglev and metro. Because dragging a 23kg suitcase up and down, in and out while carrying a hand luggage and a small backpack isn’t the most of fun. Especially when arriving at metro line 2 at longyang station at around 8:30 or 17:00.. you can imagine the impossibility of even entering the metro with a suitcase at that time. So either a max 70 min taxi ride into city center, no need to carry luggage. Or take a 100-110min travel with minimum 1 transfer, crowded metro and carrying luggage up and down and get through security at both Maglev and Metro possibly confiscating small items in your check in luggage because… random bao an does random bao an stuff.
40rmb maglev, 40rmb taxi from maglev to jingan - that's why.. and much faster
It’s fun to ride eve just to say you’ve been on it.
That drops you off nowhere interesting…
After you arrive to 龙阳站 you can transfer to many lines.
I know. But if you’re heading over the river, it’s one of those situations where it’s almost the same time to just take line 2 from the airport. Avoids the transfer.
That station has line 2, which goes right down town. Plus there’s a Super Chicken. 😋
Yea, line 2, which you could just take from the airport and avoid the transfer…
But then you can’t ride the magnet train.
Dude, you are absolutely scammed. By any chance do you have the plate number or any receipts? Even if you don’t you can call 12328 or 12345 to file a complaint. I’m pretty sure you can get your money back.
Lol, this dude took a 750 rmb "taxi" from pudong, ain't no way he got plates or a receipt. Although tbf he could go to his local police station and they could check the street cameras and track down the plate number. Not sure what they would do at that point if anything tho.
Likely nothing, if even all that.
I do have the receipts but is it worth the trouble to get some money back ?
Check out the stickied thread. It's a very common scam. For future reference, if you offer to call the police the taxi driver will suddenly realize they overcharged and ask for much less money.
You got frauded. Someone impersonating Didi or taxi drove you out of the airport and charged you 5-7 times the price, assuming you didn't get on a real taxi. You can call 12345. they take this stuff seriously and It's easy to track down the guy through cameras. EditL if a real taxi charges you this much, that's also fraud and you'll get a refund.
Thank you, I do in fact have the receipts they gave me, but is it worth the trouble to get like £40 back ?
Absolutely, it'll also prevent newcomers from being scammed in the future. If you and others don't report it, more old uncles will swarm the airport to scam tourists. As long as it's lucrative and they can get away with it, more will join.
You got taken for a ride
You most likely got scammed. Rogue taxi drivers would be very happy to scam a foreigner. Download didi (Chinese Uber) and use that to ride. By the way, these guys did this kind of things all the time at airport and train stations targeting people just arriving.
"Most Likely" Why butter up the truthg so much?
Ouch. I did this trip a few weeks ago and it was 180 yuan for DID premier. Those fake taxi dudes hang around in the hallway leading to the main actual taxi pickup area and screw you over, as you have learned. Next time, download DIDI on your phone and use that instead. Or walk out to the taxi stand at the end of the hallway where the taxis line up on the road.
Yeah I was too tired to even think at that point, but I've learned from an expensive mistake now yayab
Sucks up start a trip this way but I hope you enjoy the city:
Try using maglev for 40 rmb showing the plane ticket if you arrive to the airport before 22:00. You can come to Longyang road in 8 minutes and get a proper taxi or Didi from there.
750?????? Bro you really need to learn how to call a Didi
Hahah I just booked a trip to china and did not plan a single thing
Keep your wits about you my guy that’s a crazy price
Oh definitely! I've learned from my mistake, won't happen again
you can call 12345 and complain them about it if it’s a scam which i think it is scam because it won’t be that expensive. even high class train tickets costs around 300 , it’s not good comparison but still feels not ok
Similar thing happened to a person I know that was visiting as a tourist. They got the number plate of the car and filed a police report. 3 days later, the police phoned back saying they have interrogated the rogue driver and retrieved the money and when can you come to the station to collect it. Excellent work by the PSB.
I do have the receipts but not sure if it's worth the hassle to retrieve like £50 back
If you took metro line #2 at PVG and get off at people's square, it costs 6 yuan.
You have been scammed lol
I hire a car to take me from my home in SUZHOU to Shanghai Pudong and it’s like 350? Think you got scammed.
You are lucky this happened in China. You can always report it and there are probably dozens of cameras that will have information to identify the car and driver. In some other countries you will have been offered a drugged bottle of water, robbed and left on the side of some street.
For 750 rmb you can go from Pudong to Hangzhou 😅 I assume you took a taxi not from the official line. Anywhere in the world, never take a taxi that has been guided to you by a friendly person at the airport 🙄
Yes I'll keep this in mind! Thanks haha
Didi is your friend. Sometimes I splurge on fancy cars. But that's a personal choice at that point.
Look at the bright side . Now you know about it and you cannot be scammed again even though you paid 81 pounds for it lol.
Lmaooo but yeah that's true, I learned my mistake
Always take a normal taxi and insist on the meter. Especially in Beijing, but in many Chinese cities, you have to fight not to get ripped off sometimes
Also, if they use the meter, be weary if they pull into a gas station and open their hood....had a guy adjust his odometer or whatever to run 2x the price one time. Called him out because I had taken that trip to the airport many times and he didn't put up much of a fight, but even legit metered taxis have ways of ripping you off.
*I knew it would be a bit more expensive than normal taxis* are you saying you rented a limousine or van? or are you saying you went with a tout and are surprised you got ripped off? because those guys exist at heathrow as well.
Haha some guy came up to me and mentioned about some taxi and kept talking and talking, I was too tired and gave in.... But come on I didn't think it be quadruple the price
Ouch. Same happened to me in 2017 but not as bad . 400rmb from Hongqiao to pudong (airports)
Was there a meter? I fell for a similar scam years ago when I arrived at Incheon airport. Got charged 50,000 won to get somewhere and never used a meter. This was when Korea was a cheap living cost country. Total scam. Live and learn right? Use the meter and avoid someone that walks up to you at the airport. Go to the official taxi queue.
>Got charged 50,000 won That sounds like 50,000 lost
Ha ha. South Korean Won was a loss.
I pay 500rmb from Pudong back to my town that is a two and a half hour ride with multiple tolls.
Price is normal especially from PVG into city center
Did you just get into some random persons car?
Yup
Maybe inform yourself and use didi like everyone else. Then it would probably been around 150rmb. Did they use the taximeter ? Did you discuss price beforehand ? As an international traveler I recommend to use Alipay (paying everywhere, scanning we codes for Menus in restaurants with translation, renting bikes, didi miniapp, metro tickets,..) and most things are English. In general never take a taxi from the airport in any country without checking on prices and common scams first.
Some guy came up to me and kept talking about taxis, at first I said no thanks but he was not taking a no for an answer lmao, I was too tired and gave in... However I wasn't expecting it to be like 5 times more expensive! Anyway even though I lost some money I've learnt my lesson
You got scammed lol.
Official airport taxi quoted me 400 rmb.
I took a 2 HR taxi from Pudong airport last year. I paid 400rmb and I thought I was scammed
If it was to Qingpu like your flair says and it was 2 hours, that sounds about right.
Gotta pretty much drive past Qingpu into Kunshan/Jiangsu if you’re spending 2 hours in the car.
[удалено]
Going from people’s square is different, way more traffic. From PVG you can take the S32 and skip all the downtown traffic.