By this point in my life, I should have determined that technology, like everything else, is fallible. In fact, probably more so than most things.

As an app junky and frequent traveler, I was excited by the glowing recommendation given to me by a cab driver one morning:

picture-2

So I downloaded it, opened up a RideCharge account, and decided to give it a try the next time I had a non-vital (read: not late for an airplane) cab trip to reserve. The application works by finding the nearest cab to your location and sending your request directly to their dispatch computer. You then authorize payment via the app as well, which should immediately show up on the cabs computer system as soon as it goes through.

Everything went really great with the scheduling part: I opened the app, picked a cab service nearby, and they were at my door within 5 minutes. Plus, TaxiMagic (iTunes link) gave me live updates on screen, showing me the drivers name and cab number.

img_0002-1

But we reach the FAIL portion of the story when it came time to pay. After punching in the amount and hitting “Pay,” nothing happened. We sat there for 10 minutes as the payment tried to go through, but it never came up on his computer, nor did I receive any kind of confirmation on the app screen. Luckily the driver was a total sweetheart, and accepted the few dollars I had in my pocket (which I was going to use for the tip) for his trouble. Naturally, I felt like a total ass. The worst part was that there wasn’t even a number I could call or a support link that I could find within the app; at least, not one that was immediately apparent in my time of need.

img_0001

Another 10 minutes went by, and I decide to try paying again. The app told me that too much time had passed since my ride, and still wouldn’t give the cab company my money. It wasn’t for another 24 hours or so that I received an email receipt for my total. I guess I should feel lucky that they didn’t charge me for my multiple attempts at paying!

I guess there’s a pretty obvious moral to this story: technology is a wonderful thing, but always have a backup plan. I probably could also lay some of the blame on AT&T, which could have been part of the problem considering how terrible the 3G coverage is in San Francisco (ironic, I know). But either way, I won’t be using TaxiMagic again without some cold, hard cash on me, which kind of defeats the whole “convenient paying” aspect.

If you have any similar technology anecdotes to share, please leave them in the comments!

No related posts.