Brilliant taxi service - Meow

[sharp1972]

Used Meow for both ways no problem ...pleasant steady drive 1100 bht each way.

[spider0064]

Used twice last month, excellent service as usual.

inbound landed at 19:00 and was stepping into my hotel just after 21:00, last Saturday I was due to return checked in to make sure everything was ok as it was a bit wet that day, picked up and arrived 90 minutes later.

Have used for the past year now with no problems and will continue to do so, well recommended.

[striderman]

used meow service twice recently. everything great both ways. no problems as usual

[Derpina]

Thanks for the tip, messaged her. Would be a more convenient way for me to get to pattaya since I arrive at DMK.

[Candy77]

2 hours ago, Derpina said:

Thanks for the tip, messaged her. Would be a more convenient way for me to get to pattaya since I arrive at DMK.

Can you please let me know what’s the rates are like. I’m also arriving at DMK. I have used Pattaya Central before and they’re charging 1700 all in. If it’s competitive I’ll go with Meow. Pattaya Central though isn’t bad either. Very punctual and reliable. But Meow is pretty strongly recommended by BMs here so want to try her once.

Edited June 8, 2018 by Candy77

[Garzan]

8 hours ago, Candy77 said:

Can you please let me know what’s the rates are like. I’m also arriving at DMK. I have used Pattaya Central before and they’re charging 1700 all in. If it’s competitive I’ll go with Meow. Pattaya Central though isn’t bad either. Very punctual and reliable. But Meow is pretty strongly recommended by BMs here so want to try her once.

Unless it's changed recently, it should be in the neighborhood of 1300b including tolls from DMK to Pattaya. I use Thai Smile so I go through BKK domestic instead of DMK domestic and that's 1100b to Pattaya.

[Candy77]

2 hours ago, Garzan said:

Unless it's changed recently, it should be in the neighborhood of 1300b including tolls from DMK to Pattaya. I use Thai Smile so I go through BKK domestic instead of DMK domestic and that's 1100b to Pattaya.

1300 will be a sweet deal indeed

[insider]

Just a quick review on my last driver with meow. I booked her to take me from my hotel to Bkk airport, cost was 1100 baht.

Driver turned up 20 minutes early, he was a youngish fella who drove at 120 to 130, with just one hand on the wheel, the whole way there. I got there much earlier than anticipated as a result.

[tsec]

16 minutes ago, insider said:

Driver turned up 20 minutes early, he was a youngish fella who drove at 120 to 130, with just one hand on the wheel, the whole way there. I got there much earlier than anticipated as a result.

Sounds like the same guy who drove me TO the airport two weeks ago

[rainman333]

18 minutes ago, insider said:

Just a quick review on my last driver with meow. I booked her to take me from my hotel to Bkk airport, cost was 1100 baht.

Driver turned up 20 minutes early, he was a youngish fella who drove at 120 to 130, with just one hand on the wheel, the whole way there. I got there much earlier than anticipated as a result.

i got the same guy too i think, was he wearing glasses?  he drove crazy fast and i thought he was going to crash at times.

I stopped using Meow because of this. My life or being paralyzed from an accident isn't worth saving 200 to 300 bht

Edited June 14, 2018 by rainman333

[insider]

2 minutes ago, rainman333 said:

i got the same guy too i think, was he wearing glasses?  he drove crazy fast and i thought he was going to crash at times.

I stopped using Meow because of this. My life or being paralyzed from an accident isn't worth saving 200 to 300 bht

Guy did have glasses, i think they were sunglasses, tho I can't be certain.

Funny thing was I booked the bell bus from BKK to my hotel this time around instead of Meow as I was arriving early (7.30 am) and the hotel was not allowing early room access and the experience was way better. I got to stroll nonchalantly through customs, go to the basement and change money at a better rate than at Pattaya even, then eat a decent meal at the food court and by then it was time to get on a nice air conditioned bus with excellent reclining seats to Pattaya terminal and from there straight onto a minibus and I was dropped of first (of 4 passengers) at my hotel after a very short drive.

[tsec]

17 minutes ago, rainman333 said:

i got the same guy too i think, was he wearing glasses? 

My guy had glasses. To be honest I was a tad concerned at times, but this was the first time I had experienced a taxi ride like this in 8 journeys between Patts and BKK.

[Garzan]

3 hours ago, rainman333 said:

i got the same guy too i think, was he wearing glasses?  he drove crazy fast and i thought he was going to crash at times.

I stopped using Meow because of this. My life or being paralyzed from an accident isn't worth saving 200 to 300 bht

Did you send feedback to Meow to tell her about the driver, or just quit her service because of one bad apple?

[GorGuy RIP]

16 minutes ago, Garzan said:

Did you send feedback to Meow to tell her about the driver, or just quit her service because of one bad apple?

Sometimes all it takes is one bad apple to lose several customers.

I do 1 strike and you are out, non of this 3 strikes thing where you leave yourself open to a repeat of what happened before.

As to feedback, well there are many taxi services out there, very simple, just to use another company instead of trying to change the world.

This does not make the customer wrong in not feeding back their experience to a "boss" or owner of the business, totally up to the customer if they can be bothered to go through that process or simply use another company.

 

[rainman333]

27 minutes ago, Garzan said:

Did you send feedback to Meow to tell her about the driver, or just quit her service because of one bad apple?

I've used Meow over 20+ times over the years, I can honestly say half of her drivers are really bad. Meow herself is good driver, but I got tired of playing russian roulette with her service.  I did not send her feedback on that driver but have in the past with other drivers

 

[Garzan]

2 minutes ago, rainman333 said:

I've used Meow over 20+ times over the years, I can honestly say half of her drivers are really bad. Meow herself is good driver, but I got tired of playing russian roulette with her service.  I did not send her feedback on that driver but have in the past with other drivers

 

2

Where and how you spend your money is of course up to you. I've been using Meow for all my trips for the last 5+ years, and while I've had a few questionable drivers, they've been rare. BUT, I also always give her feedback, good or bad on each taxi ride. It only takes seconds on Line. I was adding to my booking requests, "No racecar drivers, no Facebook while driving" but I haven't needed to do that lately. :-) 

I guess for me it comes down to my not wanting to be selfish. If I get a rotten driver, sure, it's easy enough to switch to another service, and maybe get a rotten driver there, or maybe not. However, if I don't like the service from (a/any) vendor and I say nothing, there is little to no chance of the situation getting corrected for the next customer. If I get a crappy driver, I'd prefer for you (and anyone else) not to have that crappy driver next week. If I just move along and say nothing, there's every possibility that the next customer will have the same bad service. And if I want to be reasonably certain of getting good service, I and all my fellow customers need to help the business owner weed out those bad apples.

The alternative is to put up with 'luck of the draw'. Sometimes you get crappy drivers, sometimes you don't. Playing Russian Roulette with vendors does nothing to fix that.   

[Garzan]

14 hours ago, rainman333 said:

I stopped using Meow because of this. My life or being paralyzed from an accident isn't worth saving 200 to 300 bht

1

Not to pick on you in particular, but I am using your post as a jumping off point. :-) 

So, while I specifically DID NOT mention the name or details of this forum, while making my own reservations with Meow for next month I did mention that on an Internet discussion group I'm in, there was a guy (no name) who stopped booking because of a poor driver. I relayed 'too fast' and 'driving one-handed in an unsafe manner'. Meow thanked me for letting her know, and she'll try to identify the driver (from a very vague description) and see what she can do. She says that she does talk with them all about not driving too fast, for however much good that does. 

Without a way to pinpoint that particular driver though, there's no way for her to stop subcontracting with him. 

[benny31]

14 hours ago, rainman333 said:

I can honestly say half of her drivers are really bad. Meow herself is good driver, but I got tired of playing russian roulette with her service.

 

I totally agree with m8

 

[Encora]

I support Garzan in his view.

I agree it is not so much which taxi business as it it their dedication to enforce safety standards.

As some may know, I use “another taxi firm” because of her strictness on safe driving habits for her drivers. One complaint, a driver gets a warning, another one and she is out.

i can accept that there are some unsafe drivers, but if I know my feedback will be acted on, I am happy to stick with my provider.

if Meouw would maybe act on multiple complains about the same driver in a similar way, I’d be happy to use her service. I know it can be hard to enforce rules, but it can be done.

a further move for her could be to specifically invite all passengers to give feedback about their experience in terms of driver  safety. If the drivers know about this, it can help, too.

[striderman]

i've done this same job in england in the past and meow is aware of that. i've been using meow probably for over 10 years now, and if it's not her doing the pick up i always send her an sms afterwards with ref to the car and competence of the driver.

[Islanddave]

On 15/6/2018 at 02:26, insider said:

Guy did have glasses, i think they were sunglasses, tho I can't be certain.

Funny thing was I booked the bell bus from BKK to my hotel this time around instead of Meow as I was arriving early (7.30 am) and the hotel was not allowing early room access and the experience was way better. I got to stroll nonchalantly through customs, go to the basement and change money at a better rate than at Pattaya even, then eat a decent meal at the food court and by then it was time to get on a nice air conditioned bus with excellent reclining seats to Pattaya terminal and from there straight onto a minibus and I was dropped of first (of 4 passengers) at my hotel after a very short drive.

Hi insider

I'll be using the swampy to pattaya bus service too due to early morning arrival.

Could you help me by letting me know where to get off in pattaya and how to get to the March hotel.

Done 2 previous trips by bus but all at sea as far as where to get off. Bus makes 3 stops in pattaya I think and I previously got off at the second stop assuming I'd be somewhere equidistant to my hotel.

TIA

[biggles]

Agoda shows the March hotel as on soi16 off Pattaya Klang (central) road so you should tell the bus conductor to let you off at the Klang stop on Sukhumvit. 

You can walk a ross sukhumvit road to the top of Klang and get a baht bus down to soi 16, which is just past soi BuakOw. Now the hotel is quite a long way down soi 16 according to the map so not very convenient for public transport so you have a long walk or get a motorbike taxi

Personally, I would get the Bell bus from the airport if you dont want to pay 1100 baht for a taxi. Bell take you to pattaya north bus station then load passengers into mini vans to ride to their hotel, much less hassle. 

[KittenKong]

As a lifelong believer in the principle of "if you want a job done properly, do it yourself" I rarely take taxis here and generally drive my own car. If my own car is impractical I just take the Jomtien bus which is very convenient for me. However the fairly high price of parking at the airport for a recent trip, combined with very inconvenient take-off times and a lot of luggage, made me book with Mr T.

At 1100B (recently increased), including all tolls and charges, I was entirely satisfied. My only complaint (if you can call it that) was that the driver drove at only 100kph all the way back, with many vehicles passing us. I would have driven at 120kph. No big deal though.

[insider]

14 hours ago, Islanddave said:

Hi insider

I'll be using the swampy to pattaya bus service too due to early morning arrival.

Could you help me by letting me know where to get off in pattaya and how to get to the March Hotel.

Done 2 previous trips by bus but all at sea as far as where to get off. Bus makes 3 stops in pattaya I think and I previously got off at the second stop assuming I'd be somewhere equidistant to my hotel.

TIA

The only bus service I have used (just the once) was the Bell bus service https://ticket.belltravelservice.com/customer/Webhome This service is slightly dearer than the standard bus service, HOWEVER, you make that back by not having to hire a taxi from one of the 3 stops the standard service stops at to get from the dropping off point  to your hotel. As a fellow BM noted March is down an alley of Klang (which is a very long road) near 2nd road and so if using standard bus you get off on Klang and look for a taxi, which will take the price above what you pay for Bell's services.

With Bell bus service you get to pay online, choose your seat (very comfy reclining seats) print out your ticket and you tell them your hotel while booking and when you get to Pattaya you are immediately put into a minibus and taken to your hotel this is all part of the original cost. It's an absolute bargain.

I was really happy with the Bell service, with the taxi booking I felt I had to rush whereas I had an hour and a half between landing and the bus departing time which meant I strolled to customs, went to the basement and exchanged money at a better rate than in Pattaya, had a decent meal and then went for my bus, waited a few minutes and boarded (15 mins before departure) and dozed in my comfy, spacious reclined seat most of the way to Pattaya.

I hope you enjoy March hotel, I know I did, good price for a good quality room, plenty of massage girls nearby that will do room service, a tasty chicken place on the lane that opens early evening which is really cheap, a quick walk to soi's 6,7,8 . You may occasionally have an issue with loudly bargaining Indians spoiling your relaxation if getting on premises massages as Indians favour this area so do what I did and bring them to your room and get extras not offered on premises.

Edited June 20, 2018 by insider

[Islanddave]

A big thank you for the detailed reply insider.