Australia’s biggest cab company’s rule switch on complaining customers

Australia’s biggest taxi company overhauled its anti-fraud policy so it was easier to dismiss cab customers’ complaints and block refunds to overcharged passengers, despite the firm’s staff querying whether the change was fair and lawful.

The revelation is detailed in the Taxileaks trove of internal files from taxi giant A2B passed to this masthead and 60 Minutes. The files detail systematic fraud by drivers enabled by gaping holes in the products and payment systems supplied by A2B, which owns 13cabs, Silver Service and Cabcharge.

The latest revelation comes as the NSW Taxi Council has said the disclosures about A2B should prompt consideration of tougher penalties in that state amid complaints that Sydney Airport had become a hotspot for passengers being ripped off by drivers.

A2B not only owns the biggest cab brands in the nation but supplies the bulk of the country’s taxi payment terminals.

The A2B files show its staff were concerned when, in 2023, it instituted a new policy under which complaints from customers about overcharging or other misconduct would be “automatically rejected” if they were submitted more than 60 days after a taxi ride was taken.

The previous A2B policy gave passengers 90 days to complain about a driver defrauding or mistreating them.

‘Rejecting the disputes/claims merely on the basis of a 60-days timeline is considered unfair contact terms.’

Internal email from A2B compliance officer

Along with emails that reveal A2B managers complimenting a staff member for coming up with the policy change are internal documents that detail staff members voicing concern that the change would be unfair and may provoke an intervention from Australia’s corporate watchdog.

In one email, an A2B compliance officer, Desa Shankar, raised concerns that A2B’s new 60-day rule was similar to one brought in by PayPal under which refunds were refused for erroneous fees if customers failed to complain within 60 days.

Corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission successfully sued PayPal in the Federal Court in 2024, with a judge finding the 60-day rule was unfair.

At the time, ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said the judgment should serve as a reminder that unfair contract terms would not be tolerated.

“The recent ASIC proceedings against PayPal [have] rung a bell,” Shankar wrote to an A2B colleague about the company’s decision to begin rejecting complaints filed after 60 days.

“As per the [corporate laws] … rejecting the disputes/ claims merely on the basis of a 60-days timeline is considered unfair contract terms.

“I would like to understand if Cabcharge or our Eftpos terminal is considered a payment system as per the law and if any of these regulations apply to us!”

Other leaked A2B files show that over several months, the company rejected over 1675 complaints about taxi drivers using A2B systems, with the majority of rejected complaints relating to overcharging.

In a statement, A2B declined to comment as it was considering legal action against this masthead and 60 Minutes, but it has previously denied allegations its systems facilitate fraud.

An ASIC spokesman said the agency was aware of this masthead’s reporting and was making further inquiries.

The NSW government in November ramped up sanctions for fare-related crimes, introducing a two-strikes policy that disqualifies a person from driving a taxi or ride-share vehicle if they are found guilty twice.

Other reforms have been introduced to better regulate the industry in the past 18 months, including the raising of on-the-spot fines for first infringements from $300 to $1000 and the setting up of a dedicated complaints hotline. Police posing as passengers have also conducted covert operations in a bid to catch out dodgy drivers.

NSW Taxi Council chief executive Nick Abrahim said the group had been working with the NSW Point to Point Transport Commissioner, the industry regulator, on other ways to identify drivers who overcharged, refused fares or did not use meters.

Drivers can be prosecuted if alleged to have offended more than once, but the peak industry body believes even harsher fines for first transgressions would act as another deterrent.

“We need to look to increase those penalties even further,” Abrahim said. “I’m prepared to go as far as we need to, to send a message to those drivers who think they can come into this industry and do the wrong thing. The message to them is, ‘Your time is coming up.’

“Not only are the passengers fed up with this behaviour, industry is fed up with it. The majority of drivers that I talk to want this action. This is their livelihood. You’ve got these rogue drivers and we’re losing passengers as a result.”

Since the Taxileaks documents were published at the weekend, this masthead has heard from a large number of frustrated customers. Taxi driver behaviour at Sydney Airport has been a frequent source of anger.

Ross Galloway, a teacher, said he paid $99.06 for a trip from the airport to Hyde Park – roughly a seven-kilometre journey – in October last year after arriving from Bali.

“I’m pushing 70 so I’m technologically challenged, but I think I’ll have to get Uber,” he said. “I don’t want to get another taxi because I don’t know what I’ll get charged.”

Angela White, a custom publisher based in Byron Bay, said a short journey from the international airport to a hotel in the same suburb of Mascot, in August 2023, cost her about $65.

A regular traveller, the same ride set her back about $25 on subsequent occasions.

“The [staff] in the hotel, they were very familiar with it,” she said of driver scams. “I think it’s a disgrace.”

Nurse Clarke Allen had an undesirable experience of a different kind when a driver did not want to take him from the international terminal to nearby Arncliffe because of the short distance.

He said the driver wanted to eject him from the vehicle on the way, which led Allen to complain to the taxi company after the incident last April. “The company got back to me and apologised and said he was suspended pending some retraining. They said I was overcharged as well,” he said.

In the wake of the Taxileaks investigation, the Victorian government has announced a review of Cabcharge arrangements and driver accreditation.

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