datacars.com Reviews 157

I was travelling to London last week so decided to book a number of rides through Data Cars. The first was a pick up from City Airport. My flight landed at 8.30am, which had been advised when making the booking. When I turned my phone on at about 8.45am I had a message from the driver saying he had left the airport. I called him and asking him to return and he said he would but I was charged for the privilage. My second booking was a return fare from my hotel in London to Wimbledon (a day I had been waiting for for 45 years). The previous evening I noticed that my return booking had disappeared of my bookings screen so I rebooked it. My booking was for 9.30am. He turned up at 10.10am. I was fuming but said nothing as I didn't want to be left with no way back from Wimbledon that evening. The day went well and my return journey was booked for 9pm. I had mentioned to the driver that day if he was the one collecting us. He advised it was someone else as he didn't work that late!!! I decided to check my booking at around 8.30pm. It had disappeared!!!! Again!!! I was frantic. I am not from the UK so I really didn't know how to get back to our hotel. I texted a friend of mine who rang them directly. They said they had tried contacting me at 4pm. They had NOT!!! As such, my 45 year wait was tarnished by the anxiety they have caused me. Stay well away from this bunch of cowboys. They are unreliable and pick and choose which jobs that suit. Shocking service!! Watchdog should do a story on this crowd. Crazy way of doing business. Needlesstosay I wont be booking with the ever again!!!

Booked two taxis days in advance for specific times and destinations on the day of the rail strike. Thought that booking in advance would avoid uncertainty and guarantee a car. Neither turned up, resulting in having to change travel plans. When I rang Data Cars they told me no drivers were available and that I would have to wait over an hour - possibly longer. Was told that for the return journey there were no Data Cars in the area (Royal Albert Hall), and that a car could be sent but it would take an hour or more to arrive, only for a Data Car to appear 5 minutes later to pick up another customer! Appalling service. Will never use this company again. Uber are far superior in terms of reliability and price.

Should be no stars. I've had several issues over time but this week was appalling. I pre-booked a car on Monday for Tuesday to attend a dental appointment. Received a confirmation text on Monday. On Tuesday as no driver text had been received and it was 10mins before I should be picked up I called them. The woman said no cars available, I explained I had booked but it didn't matter she said maybe a car in 25mins which meant I would miss my appointment. I told her this and her reply was 'well you should have allowed extra travel time' which actually I had. No apology- luckily the dentist were understanding so I wasn't charged. On Wednesday I ordered a car to Greenwich I get a text saying it had been assigned 10mins later I get a call from the driver asking me where I'm going and he said ok I'll be 5mins. Then I get another text saying a different driver is on his way. Turns out the first driver didn't want to go to Greenwich. The driver arrived and was going to go the long way round and I said no (as it it costs me more) so he took my route but was not happy. On a previous trip to Greenwich the driver turned to go the long route I said no but he took no notice of my request saying this was the way he was being sent by the satnav. There are some nice drivers but the majority don't care about the customer. Seems to me that the drivers are in charge. I want to support' local businesses' but apparently their call centre is in the Philippines!

Used to be good but really downhill recently. As a disabled person I rely on cab. Booked days in advance for a medical appointment. No show, no call, no text from Data car to inform me of a problem. When I called I was told no cab had been assigned to my booking, they were looking for one I was in a queue and it would be at least 45m, leaving no chance to get to the appointment on time or even 5 m late. What is the point of a booking in advance if Data car doesn't actually book you? Where is the customer service if they can't be bothered to inform you of a delay? Not to mention the poor manners of the person answering the phone....I had to call to cancel the appointment and months to wait for another available.

Sadly I can't give zero stars but this company is infuriating - I have tried and failed three times with these guys as I like to support local over Uber. But today was my last attempt to give them the benefit of the doubt. They have a completely dodgy system around payment with no card machines in the cab. They say they will send a link for payment before travel which they did and then they say it didn’t go through so you need to get cash. Which at 7am en route to Gatwick isn’t going to happen. I booked this for an elderly guest to get to the airport who was then stressed by the driver’s attitude when I challenged him about this cash situation. He was clearly spinning a story and I know because they’ve done this ‘your payment didn’t go through’ thing three times now. So never again. I’m going to seek out the correct consumer protection organisation company to report them too now as well because enough of rip offs like this already. Plus the driver was so unpleasant when I challenged him.

I have just looked at some of the other comments. "How do this company still exist"? My story, as short as I can tell it; A vehicle was booked through Data Cars to pick us up at 8:30am from Heathrow T5. At 9am we were still waiting. 9:15 we called and was informed the driver will be there in 10min. At 9:30 I received SMS from driver. I called and he informed me he is at T2, dropping off people which was arranged by Data Cars. I asked him why he did not pick us up as arranged by me. He said, and I Quote, "It was not his problem but the office's problem". As a normal person would do, I questioned him and he lost his temper and became irate. He told me he will be at T5 in 10/15 min. At 10am still no pick-up. I called the booking office and they told me they sent another car to pick us up and that the driver will be at T5 in 10 minutes. At 10:20, still nothing. I called again and they informed me a 3rd person was dispatched to pick us up and he is 10 min away. The driver arrived at 10:30am (2hrs later as scheduled)???

The driver was very friendly and apologised on behalf of the person who was supposed to pick us up. I decided to call the office from within the vehicle and informed them that I am not paying for the trip. I asked to speak with a manager and was informed they are "NOT ALLOWED" to call management. I informed the driver I was not going to pay and of course he was not happy but understood. He asked me if he could phone his manager at the Data Cars office. I obliged, and he called a person with the name of "Ghee". I decided to have a word with this person as rightly I was not happy with the service and wanted to know how they will make this right. This person "Ghee" informed me it was not his problem as they are only a "booking office" and I need to take it up with the driver who was supposed to pick us up. I did question him about that (at this stage after a long flight I was irate) and he became obnoxious, non-caring, had no customer skills and did not even make an effort to see how Data Cars can satisfy the customer. In one word; his attitude stunk!! He ran away from his responsibilities and put the blame on the driver. I do not know if he is just the office manager or the owner but people this company should not be used at all. This person, "Ghee" is rude and do not care about the customer and "pass the buck" to the drivers.

Unfortunately, there is no way to give ZERO stars. That is what Data Cars and Mr Ghee deserves.

If I could leave no stars I would. I booked a taxi this morning for me and my daughter to do a school drop off wait then take me on to the train station. I have a scheduled operation this morning so I allowed plenty of time for me to catch the train and make my op. The taxi arrived about 15 minutes late! Obviously didn't bother to leave on time to get to me as the traffic was not unusually busy this morning. As a result my daughter only just made it through the gates, I missed my train and am now praying I can still make my appointment and I'm hot and flustered and which is really not the frame of mind I should be in this morning. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

Terrible! Quoted me £105 and then charged £175 for no reason and gave no explanation for the hike in price. App deleted won’t use again

Only given a 1 star as you can not leave zero rating
Absolute appalling service will never be using again and will tell all friends and family to steer clear
Booked cab through the app stated 17 mins agreed and paid for It waited outside the restaurant then called data as cab not there to be told in would be 45 mins
Not impressed as all my friends had left explained I was waiting alone in an area I did not know by myself and could they explain why I was still waiting to be told the cab had been assigned to another job even though the app was telling the cab was 1 minute away asked them to explain to be told sorry but really busy i have used data cars for years but will NEVER use again
Luckily for me the restaurant order me a cab from AAA cabs who arrived within 5 mins
Have now deleted the app and phone number extremely angry as this turned a good night out with friends into being left by myself at 12:30midnight with no real explanation as to why the app says one thing not the control room says another!!!

Unreliable. Accepted a booking for very early but then didn’t put a driver on it until I phoned and chased it. Late and unhelpful.

Stay away from this services , bad drivers bad service hidden fees . I Prebooked a day before for £ 60 from Heathrow to lewisham and end up paying £85, I waited for 30 mins for the driver at Heathrow and they charged me for waiting for him because he was stack in traffic plus the parking charge , when I told the driver I shouldn’t pay for that he was very arrogant and defensive.STAY AWAY FROM THIS SERVICE

I had used this firm for over 10 years, but the experiences this year were horrible. In January my daughter had booked a car for a trip to the airport through their app, but the car didn't turn up, no notifcation from the firm. I thought this was a one-off, but no, it seems that they have changed how they operate and now they do not have their own drivers anymore but operate like a mini-Uber and try to match trips with any drivers - only that they do not have a wide enough network. I had booked a trip to the airport for 7 am pick-up, but when nobody turned up by 7.05 and I called the office, I was told that they had not yet found a driver. Even worse, for the return trip I had booked a pick-up at Stansted for 0.05. Again, no driver, no information. When I called the driver through the app, it turned out that he was still over 40 minutes away from the airport! I will never use this firm again.

Never again!
Threatened and harassed by the cab driver and a customer service who is completely useless.

I used Datacars many times in the past 5/6 years but I have to say that in the last few months their service went terribly down, and after today’s journey I think I will stop using them from now on.
I made a reservation for my mum and sister selecting “pay by card” and I saw the money being held on my bank account.
This morning though when my family got dropped off at the airport the driver requested to be paid by cash.
At this point I got on the phone with the driver who asked me to pay the amount on his bank account and tried to keep my family as “hostage” at the airport until the problem wasn’t sorted. I then closed the call with him and tried to get in touch with the customer service who wasn’t helpful either. Firstly they didn’t want to see the receipt of the payment as proof that those money were firstly held and then gone out of my bank account, but also they didn’t know how to sort the situation out meddleling between the client and the driver, and the person who answered my calls even suggested as well to send the money to a dodgy bank account.
They even didn’t do anything to stop the threatening calls coming from the driver who started saying he wanted to go to the police to stop my family from getting on the plane.

I’ve never felt so hopeless than today as I couldn’t do anything to show that I had the payment made or anyway that I genuinely wanted to sort the situation out, but also felt harassed by the driver who kept calling me threatening me and my family, passing as people who do not want to pay for the service.

At the end the payment was reverted so I could send a new one but all this it could have been sorted if the app would work better and also if the customer service would have a better dialogue with their drivers.

If I could I’d give less than one star.

AVOID! I pre booked a 6 seater for 7.15pm and an 8 seater for 12.15am, neither of them turned up on time. When we called the office we was told it would be a 40-45 minute wait for the 7.15pm one, when I asked why when we had pre booked, the lady said they was busy. The 12.15am we was told the man would ring us back about it, which he didn’t, when we called again it was a lady and she said there was no record of the booking and it will be an hour. Do not bother pre booking with data cars, they don’t turn up!

Absolutely terrible service. Took my money and left me stand late at night. When I rang the office; they just said the cab was on its way. Waited over an hour!!! No cab!!! Had to get another cab. No apology or refund!!!!

Fearful of using this firm because of bad reviews, we took a chance. The car ordered for 6:30 a m. arrived at 6:15 and the driver was happy to wait until 6:30. He helped load my luggage, was helpful with adjusting windows for my comfort. We arrived at Heathrow early and the driver offered and got me a trolley for my luggage.
When reading bad reviews, I was reminded to remember that people are quick to leave a bad review and often neglect to leave a good one.
I will not hesitate to use Datacars in future - nor will my London family! 😊

Terrible company. Late pick up to take me to the airport (nearly half an hour) and on the return journey it was 50 mins late - and no traffic to cause a delay. Avoid this company at all costs.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. I pre-booked a minicab to pay by card to Heathrow airport. The driver was absolutely lovely. 10 minutes later as I went through a busy security and check in, I was being bombarded with phone calls from data cars saying I haven't paid. I said I selected the card option when I booked. She proceeded to say I should have paid cash. If this was the case, why did the driver not inform me when I was IN the cab BEFORE I left?! I offered to pay by card over the phone there and then. She said this wasn't possible and wanted me to send the payment to a random bank account. I asked for this as an invoice so I knew it was official, she refused. I then received threats from the woman on the phone saying she was going to ban be from their services and contact local cab companies to blacklist me! She proceeded to hang up the phone on me. All whilst I was at the airport already quite stressed! I have NEVER in my life been treated so disgracefully when the fault was entirely due to a fault in THEIR system! Never use the firm, they should be investigated!

Never on time
Average is fifteen minutes late and no apologies or awareness
Changed my driver so not his fault -it’s a very poor service
The reason I moved away from Uber was this exact reason so I will be going back to Uber unfortunately as at least they communicate
I opened a business account this week but will be removing this account

Absolutely shocking service. Cab was booked for 5.45 well in advance, we called at 5.45 and was told 20 mins, 2 drivers were assigned and both disappeared, when we called back after 20 mins they said it would be another 20 mins. We cancelled and used an alternative but arrived late for my daughters birthday meal. Never again