Envirocab

The absolute worst cabbie I’ve ever had. He wouldn’t listen to me when I wanted to load my own bags (probably because he would get extra for lifting them) and when I told him my bag was broke and to use the other handle, he used a plastic bit that was attached to the bag (not made for lifting) and when I asked him to stop because he would break it, he said «So what? It’s already broken.» I then told him to give me my bag back because there was no way in hell I was getting in the car with this man, and then he wouldn’t let me touch my bag to get it out saying I would damage his car. He didn’t care about further damaging my bag, but I could not get my own property out of his car. He got it out and slammed it on the ground.
I believe this would not have occurred if I had been a man, but because I am a woman, this man thought he had the authority to act like this.
No respect for personal belongings, no respect for women. And yes, this is only one driver, but if this is who Envirocab employees, I will NEVER EVER get in one again.

Called the dispatch for a cab the night before. Said no problem. Cab never showed up, ended up missing my flight (was a series of mistakes, such as waiting a bit thinking the cab might show up, then calling EnviroCab thinking they could make it right, then waiting on hold with EnviroCab for almost 10 minutes, then waiting another 10 minutes for the cab, then finally learning my GD lesson and calling Red Top).
These guys are strictly amateurs. They do not have the drivers. They have crummy dispatch, no verification, no way to check on your service. Cost me $ 310 to book another flight.
Thanks EnviroCab!

Envirocab is my preferred cab company. I like that all of their cabs are hybrids and that they further offset their carbon footprint by buying offset credits (obviously I have no way of proving that they actually do this, but I choose to believe them). I know the impact might be relatively minimal, but at least it’s SOMETHING, you know?
I try not to review cab companies based on single drivers since they can always be hit or miss. I judge cab companies based on my overall experience and take into account my experience with dispatch and their customer service as well as individual cab rides. I have absolutely had bad rides with Envirocab, but they’ve always taken my complaints/​feedback professionally when I’ve called them to mention it. Overall, I’ve had more good rides than bad rides and that says a lot considering the number of rides I’ve taken with them.
I always book my cabs at least a few hours in advance (I typically go to the airport or train station early in the morning on Mondays) and yes, sometimes they are late, but dispatch is normally fairly helpful. And, when they occasionally don’t have a cab in the area, they don’t try to give you the runaround about it. Is it annoying to be told that no one is coming? Yes, sure. But at least they TELL you.
In fact, this morning they called right at my scheduled pickup time to let me know that they didn’t have any cabs in the area, so they actually called a different cab company and ordered a cab for me. Now that’s legitimate service.
Their dispatch is courteous and professional. They totally did not need to call a different cab company for me this morning — they could have just called and been like «no one is coming, sucks to be you» or not even called at all. But they did call, and they did try to get me another cab, which I give them major props for. That’s putting service before profit, which makes me want to give them more business.

For the most part, I’ve had decent experiences with Envirocab. I find that they’re quicker to get to my location than Red Top or even sometimes quicker than Über. I use them occasionally when needed. Most of the cabbies are pretty friendly. Never had a terrible experience with them, but there have been a couple of times when the route they took me was questionable and I called them out on it. They don’t like being corrected… Either way, I still prefer them to Red Top any day.

They have the WORST customer service out of all the cab drivers in the past 4 years I have been here. Their drivers have been rude every time and I have been in uncomfortable situations with them getting in petty fights with other cab drivers. They have tried to take me the longer routes despite me telling them how to get to my destination. I have NEVER had a problem with über or red top– try one of them first before enviro.

Will try to avoid them in the future. Most are good, but the few bad apples make me not want to ride with them ever again. Just had a cab driver take the longest possible route to get me to my destination, then refuse to accept a credit card. I relented and gave him directions to the ATM nearby, and caught him rifling through my backpack as we were going through the drive-​through ATM and I was withdrawing cash to pay him. My mistake. Never again.

No call, no show. Like seriously how do you expect to run a cab service like that?

None of their drivers wear deodorant and I am gagging in the backseat on their b.o. and cigarette stench. It doesn’t seem as though any of the drivers are familiar with the area either. No more Envirocab for me!

Called a cab on Saturday afternoon to take me and some friends from Arlington to a festival in DC. The cab arrived promptly mid-​day Saturday, but after that the ride went downhill. We told him the address and he plugged it into the GPS, but still asked us for directions as if he had no idea where to go even with the GPS.
When paying the meter froze after swiping my card. He unplugged the whole unit and we waited for it to restart. He said he needed to swipe my card again. I saw the receipt print a reasonable fare so I added tip and signed it. I checked my account to watch for a double charge, but nothing posted until later that day or the next.
I was SHOCKED to see a charge that was 10x our original fare (a few hundred dollars difference) on my card. I called EnviroCab twice before being connected to a manager on Monday Morning who could assist. He was very apologetic and offered to refund the entire fare. I told him I understood mistakes happen, but was pretty concerned that the driver could just manually enter in the fare into the meter — carelessly I might add. I gave him the information and he found our receipt imediately. He told me the refund would take a day or two to put the money back in my account.
Update 4÷11÷14: I’m updating my review to say the refund finally posted to my account today (Friday). I have been fairly inconvenienced by this whole process, but also learned a tough lesson too.

I’ve taken Envirocab three times.
1) The cab was 45 min late and could not find the taxi stand at the Pentagon.
2) The cab driver complained that they had to drive 10 miles to come to Arlington, and I only wanted a ride 1.3 miles away. I had to hear him yak the whole ride over about it. I’m sorry that it was inconvenient for that cab driver, but I told the dispatcher ahead of time where I wanted to go. Despite the inconvenience, this driver was completely unprofessional.
3) The cab driver called while I was in the bathroom. When I called back they started yelling at me about having to wait five minutes. So that makes it a second time that they sent an unprofessional cab driver. I get that the cab driver was frustrated and it costs them time and money when the customer doesn’t show up but they have no right to yell at a customer. The driver could have very politely said, I’m sorry ma’am, I arrived on time and I had to leave because you didn’t respond on time.” At that time I would have conceded as it was my fault for not answering the phone on time. I called the dispatcher to complain and asked them to take my complaint down, All the dispatcher said was, ÖK.” What kind of company is this? No wonder they have very few stars.
I’m all for saving the environment but I would rather give my money to a cab driver and company who deserve it.

Ordered car service from this company three times to go to DCA. Late all three times. The last time it was nearly 20 minutes. We called the company to cancel and hired a taxi.
What’s the point to arranging a car beforehand if the basic quality of punctuality is completely unreliable. If your time or your event is important, find another company.

Is there a negative star? I called this company at 8am for a pick-​up at 10am. I waited and decided to call just to make sure someone was on his/​her way. The dispatcher informed me that they were trying to locate a driver… huh???
After several more calls (all initiated by myself) and an hours worth of waiting more, they finally admitted they were having «problems» with dispatch and that I should just call another company if I didn’t want to wait another 30 mins!
I say save ur time and call another company.

Good company. Recommend

I am royally ticked off. I made a reservation yesterday to be picked up today at 4:30 AM and when I called at 4:40 I was told they were still «looking for a cab» Not only had I made the reservation 24 hours ahead of time, but they did not even have the decency to call and tell me that they had not found a cab.
I will not be using this company again… no matter how good it is for the environment!

I needed a cab to the airport and wanted to be green so I called Enviro cab. I was told 10 – 15 minutes for pick up. It took 40. And, the car was not a hybrid but a gas guzzler from another company. I will never use this company again. So disappointing but at least I made my flight!
Since the cab that actually picked me up was Red Top, I decided to use them instead. Now, when I need a cab, I book using Red Top’s mobile app. I’ve had many, many good experiences with Red Top. They are prompt whether I need a cab ASAP or when I schedule time.

One rule for cab companies with me: BE ON TIME!
We called for a reservation and confirmed it and they were still late. Luckily we gave ourselves enough time to overcome the late cab.

Well I had to get to the airport for 430 so I called the night before and scheduled a pick up for 4. Here it is, 430 and I’m still at my house, the cab never came and they aren’t answering the phone. Luckily red top could pick me up in 15 :-(very disappointing.

My experiences have consistently been great!
On my most recent trip, the driver was again 5 minutes early (I pre-​booked the night before). The ride was smooth. The driver was courteous. The car was clean, The process was easy.
I have had no problems with this company. I have had lots of issues with other cab companies.
Update 2÷8÷14 — they were early again and I had no issues. The reviews on here scare me when I know I have a flight to catch but I have yet to have any issues with Envirocab. I always call the night before my flight.

I wish I could give this «company» 0 stars. We have used them 3 times. First time they were 10 minutes late. Second time they were 30 minutes late. Third time they didn’t show up.
Now, if I had called moments before I needed a taxi, then this may have been understandable given the traffic in DC. But on all 3 pickups, I called 2 days in advance to reserve a time, then i called the night before to confirm, then I called an hour before in the morning to confirm and then they simply didn’t do what they are supposed to do… which is pickup the customer on time.
I tried to call management but they always have an excuse and their dispatch operation is nothing short of a joke.
Then, during the past week, my wife went to a cab stand and there were 2 envirocabs… she got into one and told the driver her destination, he kicked her out (which is illegal). Then she got into the second cab, and the driver tried to do the same… but she threatened to report him and get his license revoked… so he took her to her destination, and then asked for a tip, which is real nice.
Terrible company. Will never use again.

Losing another customer.
I was excited when Envirocab started business in the area because they 1) had really clean cabs and 2) seemed to be abundantly available and on time oh, and 3) they are «green». Well, green and clean is about all they have going for them these days.
I had suffered more than a few hectic sprints to DCA in my own car when other Arlington cab companies (Red, Yellow, Blue Top, you name it) didn’t show for morning weekday pickups. So, I started using Envirocab for airport cab rides to trips into DC to basic late weekend night pickups.
What I noticed over the past year, is that it got harder and harder to reach a dispatcher, or that the wait to get a cab grew and grew. I suppose Envirocab has become a victim of its own success, or, really Envirocab didn’t know how to scale and has become yet another crappy, flaky Arlington cab company.
I read a number of reviews last Friday that were bemoaning similar points, but being an optimist, I figured, «how could a company screw up a mid-​day pickup on a Saturday?» I can understand weekend nights being tough, or 3:30 AM on a Wednesday being a little difficult to get a cab, but a reasonable, optimistic person would think that if you set up a cab ride three hours before you need it and it isn’t a peak time, you should be good to go, right?
Wrong.
I scheduled a cab for a ride to DCA for 11:30, and I even built in an extra half hour of buffer time because I can’t trust Arlington cab companies anymore. At 11:35, I called to see where the cab was. «Oh, we can’t find any drivers in your area, it should be 20 – 30 min if we can find one. Please call XXX-​XXX-​XXXX to schedule a cab as backup and we will call you if we can be at your location before noon.» IF you can find a driver, and you want me to call another cab company to set up backup? And I called you three hours ago and you couldn’t bother to call me and tell me that you were short on drivers that day and to expect a delay? F-​that. Totally unacceptable. Now, my optimism felt like naivety. So much for giving Envirocab another shot.
I called Red Top and Yellow Top — Red Top got me a cab in 5 minutes (yes, I was lucky), so I cancelled the outstanding rides and got to DCA.
Long story short — one star for Envirocab. I don’t care how few emissions you prevent, you don’t know how to serve your customers, you don’t know how to manage your logistics, and your gradual failure has been documented here on Unilocal.I’m going to stick to your gas-​guzzling, sometimes dirty cab-​driving competitors for now, they at least have lower failed pickups in my book.
Follow the advice in Jen M.‘s review and request a hybrid from Red Top if you really feel that strongly about green cabs, but take it from those of us with more recent reviews — Envirocab has dropped the ball. Don’t be a victim of optimism as I did — use a different company.