Universal Taxi Dispatch Reviews 32

Horrible!!!! Actually zero stars! The driver said credit card machine was broke inside the taxi. Giving him our credit card to call in the payment of $70, he added an unauthorized 22% tip after being given a $15 cash tip. We were not given a receipt so as soon as I got into our house I called the company and asked what amount was put on the credit card and was told $70 yet our statement showed we were charged $85.20. Calling the company, they refuse to contact me after leaving many, many messages; I am being ignored even though they are at fault. Do not do business with this company because they are dishonest!!! No one deserves to be treated dishonestly. And since we were not given a receipt the credit card company says there is not much they can do.

Well, guess what this is the worst scamming taxi company in the world I work for this company for three weeks and it’s so so sorry. Dirty dirty scamming people they need to put a stop to this. You need to be on heavily drugs to drive for them because no one with come sense Will drive for them I hope it gets shut down there’s only one person there that is good and that will the rest is sorry, inhumane the likes to get paid chump change

Honestly, I spent and drove 3 weeks with this company, I could say, they just use drivers by renting their junk cars Bad customer service, bad dispatching, it is the place where you can get high pressure or depression if you wanna be sick.

THIS TAXI COMPANY DOES NOT CARRY AUTO INSURANCE one of their driver rear ended my brand new 2025 vehicle they have no insurance there was $15,000 in damage. I don't know why or how they are allowed to keep doing business.
GLG

The owner is Yuri Shapiro a Russian guy the GM his name is Anthony, Dispatch Nicholas. They give u a 20-year-old car with 400,000 Miles and charge you $75 per day plus Gas, when u complain they threaten you to suspend your Driver's license. They cheat you on prices and the school trips, steal tips on your credit card and they kept my last paycheck which I'm taking them to court. I'm so surprised by the School District using them as their driver for the kids, No Safety issues are checked, my 2007 Toyota had a bad Catalic Converter due to 400,000 miles and the kids complained of bad odor. Every time I called and told them about the issue, they say make an appointment with the Garage, and they never called me back to get it fixed. I can't believe the parents allow their kids to ride on these old cabs, all drivers are new, due to so many drivers quitting, my name is Tom Burke Cab number 115.

I used Universal Taxi Dispatch services on three occasions over two days.

At THE END of two of those rides, I was informed that credit-card devices in each of those two cars were not-functioning/out-of-order. Quite disturbing ! Especially because I was carrying very little cash.

How is that possible? Why even have credit card devices in the cars if they don't work?

Do NOT do business with Universal Taxi Dispatch also known as Niles Flash Cab. This is one of the most unscrupulous places of business out there. If you could call it a business. It’s more of an illegal operation. They are officially under criminal investigations as well as civil violations by the following: the State of Illinois Attorney General’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service, Illinois Commerce Commission, the Secretary Of State, the Cook County State’s Attorneys Office, et. al. Seek out their Better Business Bureau report. Their BBB rating is a D-. Read their reviews on the Yelp website. All negative. This company posts fake positive reviews on Google Reviews to outweigh the negative. This company was suspended by the City of Elmhurst to do any business in the City of Elmhurst Illinois for a period of time. Search online Elmhurst and Universal Taxi. The company transports children to schools yet they have been in trouble before for not having drivers to have school bus driver endorsements on their driver’s licenses. Search that online. Now let’s talk about the ownership and the company at large. The ownership has upset so many of the consumer public that they have installed heavy doors, locks, security systems, and surveillance cameras throughout their property because they’re afraid of redemption. The company requires a $1.00 per credit card transaction when Visa and Mastercard regulations state the maximum charge is 3%. That means if the ride is $10, the maximum credit card transaction charge is 30c . Additionally, the ownership takes 10% of all credit card transactions from the drivers and calls it a commission to Netspend yet Netspend refutes this claim. So the ownership is really keeping the 10% for themselves. Even worse, the company requires the drivers to pay $75 per day everyday to the ownership. Regardless of whether or not the driver is sick, goes on vacation, gets married, attends a funeral, it doesn’t matter. If the driver was available for rides awaiting trip notifications but dispatch only sent $75 in rides, that means the driver made $0. Essentially, drivers can be working for free. If the drivers wish to resign, the company threatens to notify the Secretary of State and asks them to suspend the driver’s license. The ownership lies to their own staff about his name. When he calls drivers in the field, he changes his name on a regular basis. Yet you hear the same voice.The owner treats his drivers with such disrespect talking down to them condescendingly that the company has to constantly hire and rehire over and over again due to the revolving door. Now let’s talk about the vehicles. The ownership provides vehicles to a majority portion of their drivers where the vehicles have over 480,000 miles on the odometer. 480,000 miles. The vehicles have stutter stepped, shook, rattled, and broken down in the middle of high speed traffic on expressways. The same vehicles have required to get towed away by a tow truck as a result. All while customers are in the passenger seat. The driver training actually includes what to do when the vehicle breaks down and needs to get towed. They shouldn't have to discuss tow trucks if the vehicles were in good working order. When these incidents are brought up to the ownership, the ownership blame the drivers. The ownership provides some vehicles without working headlights that can turn on in darkness so the vehicles are unsafe to drive at night. It is law that headlights must operate during hours of darkness. When the drivers attempt to bring in the vehicles to have the vehicles repaired, the ownership’s son says you must make an appointment which’s multiple days out. To put it bluntly, the vehicles are unsafe for transportation. Your personal safety is of the upmost importance. So use it as your own risk. Aesthetically, the vehicles have torn seats in the interior and they have rust on the exterior. Do NOT use or do business with Universal Taxi Dispatch also known as Niles Flash Cab. Just order an Uber or Lyft. You have been warned.

DO NOT WORK HERE!!!! WORST COMPANY THEY LIKE TO THREATEN DRIVERS TO STAY LONGER TO PAY THEIR FEE OF $75 IF YOU WANT TO QUITE. THEY TELL YOU THEY WILL SUSPEND YOUR LICENSE WHICH IS COMPLETELY FALSE THEY CANT DO THAT. THEY TELL YOU THIS TO MAKE YOU FEEL OBLIGATED TO PAY A WEEK IN ADVANCE OR WORK MORE DAY FOR THEM SO THEY CAN MAKE THEIR MONEY. THEY CANNOT FORCE YOU TO PAY IN ADVANCE NOR MAKE YOU WORK MORE DAYS THEY USE THIS TACTIC OF FEAR OF CANCELLING YOUR LICENSE WHICH THEY HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO DO. IT JUST ALL TALK. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT DRIVERS PUTTING THEM IN UNSAFE VEHICLES. BEST ADVICE IS DONT WORK HERE. AVOID AT ALL COST

Driver was driving erratic 8 1/2 months pregnant and 3 children in car. I was verbally attacked by driver. almost 2 accidents and he wouldn't let us out. Ive left several messages for a return phone call its been 2 weeks. do not trust them. Very dangerous!!
october 2023

They treat employees like DOGS they give you cars that put your life in risk.The tire felt like it was gonna come off!!they get mad and yell at you if you go to their office without making an appointment for the car to get checked out. They wanna charge a fee for everything 50$ if they see your car dirty 900$ if you wanna QUIT you spend 50$ on gas a day and if you cancel on a ride they charge a 50$ fee to.They also threaten you that they can put a stop on your license if you don't pay..
You DONT make the 140 150 a day and if u do wanna make that you would have to work 12 to 14 hours and still pay the 75 $ fee.also if you get off early they call you and make you go back to work .they'll even make you drive from Nile's to the city of Chicago for a 3$ ride or sometimes even cancel on you. They won't call you for hours so you gotta drive around and waste your gas until they call you for a ride vou basicallv iust work for the 75$ fee they don't care about you making enough for yourself. Instead of you making money you lose money it's not worth working there WORST JOB IVE EVER HAD!!!

I worked for this company for around a year after getting let go during covid lockdown. Honestly they helped me get through a very tough time... I have always been a natural born hustler so this kind of work was perfect for me. Make your own hours, work whenever you want. Training was thorough and the staff really do try to help you make as much as you can. People in this industry I realized don't realize that this is a JOB! Just because you have freedom of schedule doesn't mean you should not be putting in full hours. That is the problem I saw with every driver that I talked to. As long as you put the regular hours in you would at any 9-5 job and treat it seriously you can make a really good living! Among that the dispatch staff is extremely helpful when you are just starting. Nothing but praise for them only reason I left was to go back to my original job.

If you're looking for an exciting job in Chicago, Universal Taxi is the way to go. They've set up an amazing system that ensures you always have riders in your car. The city's energy fuels your days, and with the option to set your hours, you can find that sweet spot between work and life.

These morons lie worse than a rug, they are NEVER on time, which is bad for any Taxi service. They are rude, NEVER can stand to.hear the truth. How is this company still in business???? On time is what Taxi service should be about

My child has alternate transportation to get to and from school. They use universal taxi. My son has been late to school more times then I can count, I have heard a ton of reasons including drivers getting lost, or just heavy traffic. Would a company whose job it us to get people to their destination not have an up to date navigation system that would prevent them from getting lost, or warn of traffic conditions so that they should leave earlier. My son told me one of the students waited almost an hour for his taxi to arrive after school one day. My son rides with one other kid who he does not get along with, despite many attempts and many promises by universal, nothing was ever done to help this situation. We talked to them on many occasions and they assured us one of the students would ride up front to provide a barrier between the two and help this dispute not escalate physically. Despite being told this would happen on many occasions it never did, eventually my son is going to retaliate, and he is going to be disciplined even though thus situation could have been prevented. In summary this company can not be counted on to find their way to their destinations, get their customers to their destinations on time or even listen or accommodate to simple customer request.

I would like to report a problem. your driver Joseph Sharp is rude and was yelling out my mother, he was forcing her to pay cash while the costumer service is trying to figure out the payment that we already made online. We have a witness front desk at sunrise who saw the incident too. Drivers like that should not be tolerated!

IHAD THE PLEASURE OF RIDING FOR A WEEK, THE DRIVERS WERE VERY VERY NICE AND PROFESSIONAL, WITH GREAT CONVERSATIONS. AT THIS TIME OF YEAR IT WAS GREATLY APPRECIATED. Would recommend to anyone.

I scheduled a pick up at 5AM to the airport called at 4:55 they said they did not have me on the board. I had a confirmation number, but they didn't care told me that it would be a half hour to get a cab there. I explained that I had to catch a plane he could not care less. So I called after 20 minutes and they said the cab was in a accident,. Wasn't sure when they could get there. They were very rude never said they were sorry or anything. Called a Uber and just made my flight with a few minutes to spare. Will never use Universal Taxi again!! Horrible experience !!

Scheduled a taxi for the morning of my flight. Get up and get ready, cabs supposed to be here in 5 minutes. App says he's across town.... call the hotline. They say he's the closest one and offer to cancel the ride. I say obviously not I still need a ride to the airport and they say he'll be there in 20 minutes, after the call ends. So he's going to be 20+ minutes late. Luckily I scheduled it a little earlier than I needed to but this place is so unprofessional and no better than just scheduling a Lyft. I was hoping they'd be more reliable, but clearly not.

Great service, arrived quickly, great driver.

I use them every day and have never had any problems. Very honest