Sun Cab

This company has unsafe drivers. One driver just tried to run me off the road and he had kids the back. If they send car F814 decline it your life may depend it!

I was able to pick up a taxi from the stand at the Silver Spring metro station. The drive was good and friendly. Yay, a nice four star experience.

The return was crap and earns them one star. Here's the timeline at 3:00 on a Friday. All are facts.

I tried to order on Taxi Magic but the app stalled.

Then I called Sun Cab and ordered directly with a dispatcher. "If the driver isn't there in 15 minutes, give us a call."

After 15 minutes, I called to find out where my driver was. "Oh, we see two cancellations in our system." "No," I replied. "I spoke to a dispatcher." "Okay, we've been having some trouble with Taxi Magic but we're on the way. If the driver isn't there in 15 minutes, give us a call."

After 15 minutes (now a half hour), I called. "The driver is on the way. We're very backed up right now."

After another ten minutes, I called again. "He's on the way."

Now 55 minutes of waiting, I decided to cancel. I went to the Uber app on my phone and ordered. Within 30 seconds, I had a text message that a car was on the way and where the driver was coming from.

I called Sun back. "We've dispatched a taxi," he said. "No thanks. I want to cancel. I've gone elsewhere."

Within 30 seconds of hanging up, the Sun driver calls and says he's 15 minutes away. I told him to forget it. It had been nearly an hour.

So my suggestion to you is that if you have a taxi there, take it. But you probably want to go elsewhere if you're trying to book one. Try the Uber app. It's more expensive, but how much is your time worth?

Do not use Sun Cab if you need to be anywhere on time. I called a day in advance to arrange for a cab at 5:00 AM to take me to a hospital nearby for surgery. They assured me it would be at my house on time.
They never cam. After repeated calls I was told they would try to get a dispatcher, wait another 15 minutes, then keep calling back. I would have missed surgery if I had waited for them. Had to scramble to get a last minute ride. Made a stressful event much worse and no one at the company seemed to care at all. Worst cab company I've ever dealt with, especially because they lied about reservation and couldn't have cared less.

Summary: Fri Nov 9, 2012 -- very bad experience with Sun Cabs. Surly and rude service from the dispatcher. Danger, danger! Never again, even though the company uses hybrids! In comparison and in my experience over the years, Barwood has been far more consistent, friendly, and reliable for pick-ups from close-in MoCo.

Details:
4:19pm -- (to dispatcher) Q: requested immediate pick-up at a large apartment building in Silver Spring: A: "no problem -- he's coming right away, wait out at the curb!"
4:37pm -- Q: "how much longer?" A: "5 minutes."
4:44pm -- Q: "how much longer?" A: "Can't find you on GPS. Cabbie will call you."
4:50pm -- (to cabbie): Q: "how soon will you be here?" A: "driving into town from the airport -- 10 more minutes."
4:58pm -- (to dispatcher): Q: "what happened to my "immediate" request, and why did you accept the order if you couldn't deliver on it?" A: "Did you ask for a pick-up before now?" Q: "I'm going to report all of this on yelp." A: hung up
5:05pm -- taxi arrives, drives in wrong direction, and requires coaching for directions
5:35pm -- cabbie complains bitterly about accepting credit card for payment

@Silver Sping, MD

Called for a pick up at 12. I waited 10 mins, they say the driver is 3 miles away should be there in 5 mins. Then i waited 15 mins, they say the driver is 2 miles away 3 more mins... The driver didn't call me till 12:40. I had to say YOUR COMPANY SUCKS.

So I MISSED my appointment of a check up for my pet and had to rearrange the appointment. Thank god it's not an emergency.

SUN CAB. TERRIBLE SERVICE. UNRELIABLE.

It was 2 a.m. when I got off the Metro in Silver Spring and for some reason I felt uneasy walking the distance I had to go to reach my car. Poor planning on my part, yes, but things happen and I was trying to solve my problem.

The first cab (a Sun Cab) in line near the station refused a ride he felt was too short for his trouble, forced me to get out of his cab and laughed at my request (It was not that short.) He said "Go on foot. Go now," and then told me to go to the back of the line and ask the person who'd been waiting the least amount of time (also a Sun Cab.) That man sneered and nearly refused the ride as well, asked me if I'd been "to da club" and when I mentioned (after he continued to make sarcastic comments) that he'd clearly never had to worry about being a woman walking alone late at night he said "Yeah, but nothing bad has ever happened to you, right?"

Fail.

I can understand refusing a fare, I guess, but the verbal abuse was unnecessary. If you do me a favor at that hour, I'm likely to give you a tip that's worth your time. And seriously? Get another route if you've been waiting in line an hour, as the first chump whined that he had. Drive around. Sit by the Quarry House. Be an entrepreneur. Damned if I'd sit there and hope for a fare to Gaithersburg.

I'm tired of hostility when a simple yes or no will suffice, and I've learned my downtown Silver Spring cab lesson.

Called at 6:18 AM for a fare. They said they had sent the request and to call back if no cab shows up in 15 min. I wait 18, then call back. They say 5 more min. It was 20 more and a few irate calls later. I called Barwood Taxi in the meantime and they were honest - they had no cabs in the area and there would be a 45 min wait at least.

If you are a cab company, do not falsely advertise the wait time. Do not assume that someone is NOT in a rush just because they are not going to the airport (I actually was going to the airport and MISSED my 8:35 AM flight - if they were on time, I would have gotten to the airport by 7:30, an hour before my flight and avoided rush hour traffic).

I got the manager's number and will be complaining. Too bad I did not check Yelp before. I had used Sun Cab when they were available at a cab stand and I know that they do not take a high commission from their drivers, but the service seriously needs to improve before I use them again.

Some of the drivers I've had are nice enough except when they throw a bitch fit about paying with a credit card. One time this motherfucker actually wanted to stop at an ATM on the way to my work like I had time for that shit--which is the whole reason I called for a cab anyway--I was running late.

But the worst, worst experience (happened twice) is when I called for pick up at a grocery store and after 45 min called and the dispatcher said they were still working on getting me a cab! She said "after we put the call out its up to the drivers to accept the job" I told her you could have at least called to let me know so I wasn't waiting outside in the cold with groceries that could have gone bad.

She said she would put the call out again. I ended up calling Barwood who came within 10 or 15 minutes. It took about another 15 for me to get home. It was about 5 minutes after I came inside that I got a text from Sun Cab saying they were at the grocery store to pick me up.

Not only have they caused us to miss our flight, they were so late we will also not be able to fly standby because we couldn't make it before the flight we were originally on took off.

I called at 420am in Silver Spring, there is no reason why a cab should take an hour at that time. Should the dispatcher have said anything other than "it will be there shortly" the three times I called, I would have cancelled.

Never rely on this company if you are in a rush. They have cost me 100$ on top of the expensive cab ride to the airport!

Not only is Sun Cab chronically late, they have terrible customer service.

I called for pick up in Silver Spring and it was faster to hail a cab off the street. When the cab arrived, and I told him I did not need cab, he yelled at me.

This is the second time a Sun Cab driver yelled at me: the first was when I wanted to pay with a credit card.

I would rather pay extra for an Uber black car than take Sun Cab. Truly awful company and mean drivers.