WATCH ABOVE: Montreal teen Madison Gilmer-Grenier experienced an unusual situation in a taxi that left her confused, and a little worried. Felicia Parrillo reports.
BEACONSFIELD – Madison Gilmer-Grenier didn’t think twice about calling a taxi as she headed home from a night out last Friday night.
The 19-year-old and a friend called Diamond Taxi around 1 a.m. to take her back to the West Island.
On her way home, she asked the driver if he accepted debit or credit cards, but he said his machine was broken and offered to drive her to a bank.
“I called my dad and he said no,” she said.
“That’s not a good idea and that’s not how it should be.”
So, she asked the driver to take her home instead.
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When they arrived, her father came out and noticed a sign on the cabbie’s car that said debit and credit cards are accepted.
“The taxi driver said ‘my machine wasn’t working back then, but now it’s working.'”
Gilmer-Grenier said she trusted the cab driver to take her home safely.
“We just wanted to get home without a worry,” she said.
Dominique Roy, President and Director General of Diamond Taxi told Global News the company installed machines in all its cabs in 2009.
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Since then, it has become mandatory for all drivers to accept electronic payment.
“But since it’s technology, it happens sometimes that the machine isn’t working,” he said.
“It doesn’t happen very often, but it could.”
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Roy explained that if a machine ever does break while the driver is on the road, Diamond Taxi can always process the payment by speaking to the customer on the phone.
According to company policy, under no circumstances should a driver bring passengers to a bank to withdraw cash.
“If a driver does do that, he will be brought to the disciplinary committee and have to explain his behavior,” Roy told Global News.
“We don’t tolerate that.”
Just last week, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre announced several new changes to the taxi industry, including equipping all cabs with cameras by the end of 2016 and making it mandatory for all taxis to accept debit and credit cards.
“Any isolated incident should not define the industry,” Coderre told Global News.
For Gilmer-Grenier, she said from now on, she’ll always make sure taxis accept cards before getting in.
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