I drove a Taxi for Universal for like 2 1/2 weeks. My car leaked ever fluid imagineable, the tires were going bald, my spare in the trunk was completely bald and had wires poking through the rubber, and it had over 275,000 miles on it and was a gas guzzler to boot. I let them know when I hired in that I would be signing out of my lease so I could go back to Michigan to visit with my family/brother who was just getting back from Afghanistan after serving with the U.S. Marines. I'm also a military veteran of the United States Air Force. During my time there I was required to pay them $78 per day every day 6 days a week, which I did and was never late. I was given 4 different school kid accounts that I was responsible for taking to and from school which I did for them, and we are paid or credited rather the following week for these rides so that money we make goes towards our $78/day $468/week.
While I was enroute to pick up some kids who weren't my normally scheduled kids to take to school my power steering went out in my cab. This posed a dangerous driving situation as I could barely turn the wheel making right hand turns having to veer into the left lane just to make the turn. I told the dispatcher that I needed to get my car fixed by one of our mechanics back at the garage, he yelled at me and said I have to pick these kids up because I'm the only one who's in the area and they're already late for school and he hung up, my C.B. Radio didn't work properly either which was also posed a major dilemna as I had to resort to use my cell phone to talk to them instead which made it dangerous to drive especially with my power steering out. I ended up picking the kids up anyways since my food and gas depended on it, but told the kids about my power steering being out and that they need to let their mother know that they are riding in an unsafe cab, unfit for providing safe and reliable service which is the cab companies motto.
I signed out of my lease after giving them my 7-day notice, and the office manager Rick Delgado gave me a copy of my reciept for the money that covered my lease for 3 days that week, and with the remaining balance owed to me on it. The only problem with that was he wrote down the wrong dates and had me paying for one day extra 11-24-11 which I didn't work because I turned my cab in on 11-23-11 the day before Thanksgiving. I also made another $44 on top of that for those 3 days I drove kids to school my last 3 days of work. So basically there has been a problem ever since I left with the money owed to me.
I've left numerous messages with a girl named Melissa who told me she has nothing to do with cutting the checks, she can just tell me what I should have coming back to me... Well I was never told what I should have coming back to me due to bad reception, I had to call her back. I haven't heard from any of them, I've left numerous messages for Yuri Shapiro and he hasn't returned a single phone call back to me. I went in to their office on Monday 01-16-12 and ran into the owner Gordon Simic and explained to him what was going on, and he told me just like everyone else has that he doesn't handle that and that Yuri Shapiro does, so they took down all of my information for the 3'rd or 4'th time and told me they would talk to Yuri and have him call me the next day to come in and pick up my check. I never recieved a phone call the next day from them. I just went back in there today and told Tanjaa the girl who works behind the glass in the office that I need to speak with Melissa and make sure I'm getting the right amount of money that is owed to me, since the last time I talked to her she told me she could tell me that as long as I provided my old ID#3617 for the cab I drove cab #109 and she changed her tune and told Tanjaa to tell me she already told me that she has nothing to do with the checks, and I need to speak with Yuri.
I told them fine I'll wait here for Yuri, and Tanjaa told me I can't wait there on the premicise because it is private property and to go out and wait in my car, and if I had a problem with that then I can call the police or get a lawyer or do whatever I think I need to do. I waited (for an hour) until after 10:30 in my car for Yuri to show up, it never happened. The whole time while waiting across the street I witnessed multiple luxury sedan's part of the limo service pull up the driver's would get out put a black bag or a briefcase in the back seat, or they would get a black case out of the trunk and bring it into the office and Tanjaa would come outside and crawl into the backseat on her hands and knees and get out putting things in her pockets... It just seemed very shady... I believe this company is a front for a much bigger operation... I'm just trying to get money owed to me trying to make an honest living, I really could've used that money for Christmas gifts for my family, thanks to them I didn't have much of one.
I've witnessed too many people that work for this company talked down to, threatened, basically downright bullied and they use scare tactics to get money from their employees on a daily basis and have court hearings daily for people that owe them money for various reasons according to them. It's funny how when the shoe's on the other foot and they owe someone else money I don't see them in court paying people off.
I also had my military dog tags taken from this vehicle after I turned it back in to them as they were hanging from my rear view mirror... I realized this once I got home and called them back to get them, and they told me that they already replaced me with another driver and he has the car now, and said there was nothing in there. So it was either Rick Delgado or one of the mechanics who took them, and those are irreplaceable and priceless as it was one of my few personnal belongings left from my military service, and now they're also gone along with the money owed to me as well as any kind of explanation or answer to any of this unprofessionalism that I've had the displeasure to associate myself with.
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