Auckland CoOperative Taxi Society

Was promised taxi was on its way within 10 mins but ended up waiting a lot more. Telephoned again to find out eta, all they said was its on the way and they are very busy. Wow! I called an über taxi and it arrived within minutes.

My company has (had) a preferred supplier agreement with Auckland Co-​Op taxi’s and on the whole are generally pretty good, their market size gives them a preceived perception of being the most reputable company around.
Lately however their service has been absolutely shocking at best. This time last month, we needed to transport six staff from our office to our head office in the CBD from Newmarket, we have done this plenty of times without incident. This time however this driver assigned to us has a very low opinion of his customers.
He arrived twenty minutes late, blaming poor instructions given to him — I’m not sure how more clear can you get than outside XYZ in Newmarket — Broadway.
Right from the word go, he was overly aggressive to six staff (five females various ages 18 – 30) and a senior male. He took us on the most random route to get into the CBD, choices are getting on the motorway via Gillies Ave or driving through Parnell. We somehow managed to travel through Kyber Pass, K-​Road then down Ponsonby Road.
At the end of our Journey, we attempted to pay by credit card for which his terminal was not accepting our card. This made him reach next the level on his aggressiveness scale. Blaming our company? for his terminal not accepting payment, an alternative card was produced and refused, cash was offered but said he couldn’t give any change. He went step further and locked the doors centrally which started to freak out the other staff who started to panic at the situation they were in.
Once we told him to just keep the change he only then opened up the doors but refused to provide any receipt of any kind. More argument followed — at which point we decided our lives were worth more than this continuation of aggression.
A complaint was formally lodged — however not acknowledged until the fifth follow up phone call /​voicemail/​e-​mail was sent. This taxi cab driver has a history of complaints listed against him. I was told they are powerless to to act on anything until someone agrees to turn up to a tribunal hearing stating their case. One would think if there is repeat complaints of the same nature against the same driver this should be sufficient evidence to revoke his licencee agreement.
In a follow up phone call today I was told nothing would happen until the end of Jan, which is when their next round of tribunal hearings occur.
I am very hesitant to even recommend Auckland Co-​Op to anyone after this experience. Following this experienceI am seriously considering Corporate Cabs or Regency & although they are more expensive. I feel this is justified by being treated with the respect that all customers should expect.
–TheTownCritic–

We booked Co-​Op days in advance to take us to the Bruce Springsteen concert at Mt Smart and then collect us to take us home on 1 March. We received absolutely appalling service — in fact we got no service at all!!!
We waited over 1 ½ hours for the taxi to turn up. We spoke to the customer service guys and the supervisor 3 times. Each time they told us that our taxi was on it’s way, that there were no taxis free in the area and we were next in the que.
We gave up and rang Green Taxis who were with us in 10 minutes. Brilliant!
Co-​Op rang us when we were on our way and we told them that we had given up and called another company and were on our way to the venue, and advised that we were very unhappy and won’t ever be using them again — nor will my husband authorise the use of Co-​op for his staff — They use $ 4000 worth of taxis a month with Co-​op… Bummer they really got it wrong this time!
To add insult to injury, as we arrived at Mt Smart in our Green Taxi we got a call from the driver from Co-​Op saying he was in our driveway and where were we!!!
Communication people, is the key to any service industry! Co-​op you really need to look at your standards.
The only reason we had to use Co-​op is that who my husbands company asks us to use them for corporate events. It was a complete and utter shambles and we will not be using Co-​op ever again personally or professionally! They are unreliable and the booking system seems to be an absolute joke…

These guys are going downhill fast. System losing data, cabs not showing up. And like most Nz companies, ridiculously expensive. Third time I’ve ordered a cab on their automated system, waited around half an hour then rung to be told it had been cancelled, got lost or some other story. Drivers who are usually good, blame a new system that has been installed. Bring on UBER in NZ.

This is my taxi cab company of choice in central Auckland. They are available through pre booking which you can do on their landline by talking to a customer service representative, or you can just flag one down New York styles. Though they do seem to be grumpy at me when I prebook a couple of hours ahead as there are so many drivers in the city that a car at any one point would not be longer than 10 minutes away.
If your a girl and you are traveling on your own through the city it’s always good to be able to find cab drivers that are respectful and trustworthy. And you have this assurance with Co op.