just returned from Madrid. Had taken taxi from Atocha to Puerta del Sol. Was given the royal run around all over town on pretext that marathon was running the next morning. At end of long trip that was obviously a rip off he refused to give receipt. We did get some info on him, but how do we report him? Thanks for the help and be careful.
Jim

Sorry to hear about that! I have found the best strategy is to ask for an estimate of how much the fare will be to my destination before getting in the cab. Every time I have done that, the fare has been within a euro or two of the estimate. Plus, if it's more than I want to spend, I can opt for the metro or the bus, if at all possible.

I have had cab drivers try to pull similar tricks on me in the U.S., too. In the town I grew up in, in Indiana no less!

Good luck!

Thanks for feedback did as you said and he change route and story as he went. Understand not a Spain or Madrid thing. But stories like tis created the fixed fare system in many cities

Well, I didn't add to my story that one taxi driver in Madrid was quite insulted that we would ask for an estimate of the fare from the Airport to our Hostal. I am not a native speaker, but my Spanish is pretty good and I think I made it pretty clear that I was only looking for an approximate price. A little case of "the taxi driver doth protest too much" perhaps?

Anyway, good luck filing a complaint! You are right about the standardized fares. Are you near a Spanish Consulate? They may be able to help you, too.

At the TI booth in the airport, you can get a brochure on the approximate cost of a taxi to various parts of Madrid. With it in hand, and an inquiry as to the estimated cost, you are less likely to get ripped off. My non-Spanish speaking friends just used this technique and were successful in all of their airport trips.

I believe that most taxi drivers are not crooks, but still, when I have the choice, I use the Metro!!!

It was partially my fault for being a dumb ass.

We stayed at a nice new hotel, the AC Coslada in Coslada, pretty close to the Barajas new T4 IF YOU KNOW the way.

Because of lost luggage issues, we had to make 2 previous runs to the airport to retrieve luggage for a party of 4.

The cost from the Hotel to the Airport was always more due to the morons cabbie trying the bypass "La bolsa de taxis", Taxi Stop or Cab queue as some of you call it. They did everything but take me directly there in order to bypass the "bolsa de taxis"
Anyway, cost run from 18-22 Euros, depending.

Here's the fiasco,,, on my last night in Madrid, we picked the last of 4 missing suitcases, went to take a cab back to the hotel and what should have been a 15 minute ride at the fares above ended in a nightmare.

It was my travelling buddy and I, our wifes stayed in the hotel. I was the only one who spoke Spanish.

The taxista wasn't sure from the begining how to get there so he asked us for suggestions, we had by now a vague idea,,, not exactly the knowledge to give accurate directions and made clear to him. (Hint #1 I shoulda bailed out).

By the time the meter reached 20 something euros he stopped at a gas station for directions, then again at 22 Euros, at 26 Euros he stopped the meter altogether, stopped and asked a couple of regular drivers.

Let me tell you that this cabbie was really lost, no doubt about that. After one hour of driving around by 1:00 am of circling all over Coslada we saw the hotel from some kind of overpass, it would be walking distance by an undeveloped construction area, that means through dirt and no lights, so he tried to get road access to the hotel and basically wasnt able to get us there.

One hour and a half later with the meter off and stopped at 26 Euros Dr. Jekyl emerges and Mr Hyde left never to be seen again.

The guy starts to yell at us, how we ruined his night, and that we will see when it's time to pay.
I told him that I saw when he stopped the meter, that I knew how much the fair was from my previous trips the day before and that I wasnt gonna pay more just because he said so or because he failed to deliver service.

He hits the brakes, backs into a darken construction entrance site or something and starts to yell in a menacing way. Our suitcase was in the trunk of the cab so I was reluctant to tell my friend let's just abandon ship despite being in that cab now for 1 and a half hours or cicling nowhere.

I told Dr.Jenkyl/Hyde whatever, that we were in the middle of nowhere, that he stopped in a very isolated nonresidential place and that if he did not proceed to our destination I'd have to call the police,,, well, that didn't help, he pulled out alright, started to chain smoke and yelled indirect threats like "if I wanted to dump you here it would have been with all your bones broken" "Si os fuera a abandonar aqui seria con todos los huesos rotos" and similar very menacing remarks. I have never, EVER had such a ****ed up customer service experience!!!

At this point I was ready to fight or flight, I actually started to fear for our safety, I nodded my companion to follow my lead, he knew what was going on but not to the full extent, he never understood the threats made by the cabbie, glad 'cause he's a big guy and wouldn't have been as diplomatic as I was.

We made it back to the overpass where you can actually see the Hotel, pulled over, dumped the suitcase and said that we could walk the rest,,, by this time I was frigging glad to walk it, we all agreed on getting off the cab of death.

We paid 26 for the fare plus 4.50 for Airport surcharge whatever, ZERO tip and we started to walk off and over a short metal freeway divider type of fence, onto the dirt towards the hotel, just a little over 5 minutes walk in pitch dark past 2:00am by now...

As we were walking away, upset for not getting a tip "for threatening our lifes" I imagine,,, he yelled more "stuff" at me.

Im not a violent man but I saw blood that night in that cab, I really did. There was something profoundly wrong with that man.

I failed to get a plate and report it to the police, this was less than 48 hrs from our arrival to Madrid and we had to be in Atocha @ 8:00 for a train to Sevilla.

More embarrasing yet is that this was my friend's first experience to Spain, fresly arrived from the US, we got 3 crooked cabbies, one with a death wish not necessarily for himself

I never fully translated the verbal threat to him up to this day.

The next day we got picked up by my Madrilenos cousins and they were irrate over it!!! You should have called us!!! They said! But I hate to impose and freeload on them.

Anyway, lesson learned big time.
I will never allow myself to get carried that far and deep into a predictment again!!!

Watch your backs, there's a real looney cabbie out there!

Sorry to read your story. The institution you have to report to is the Madrid Municipality. Their Website is very informative and with an, I think, good English version. You will find it at http://www.munimadrid.es

There, there is an official 'Suggestions or complaints' form that, in Spanish, can be reached at http://www.munimadrid.es/SWPWebInter/contactar/index.htm I have used it a couple times and they always responded. However, clicking in the same link I used to reach the form (the 'Contactar' link upright in the homepage), but in the English version (the 'Contact Us' link) it takes to a different, reduced form, with just three fields: name, email and comments&suggestions.

If your command of Spanish is good, I would recommend to use the Spanish form. Else, try with the English one that will probably have the same effect.

We had a similarly bad experience in Madrid in 2004. Airport to our hotel in the city, taxi driver demanded 45 euros even though we had only paid 20 euros on an earlier trip and thought that was a bit steep. When we questioned him and refused to pay he got back into his cab and threatened to take off with our luggage in the boot.What hope have you got?

They'd be more honest if they had their names and faces displayed for the passengers the way they are displayed in the US.

Actually, in Madrid it is compulsory to carry a badge in a visible place inside the car (near the taximeter or sticked to the front window, usually) with an official card containing the license number, and the name and a photo of the driver. The card has a different color whether the driver is the license owner or just an employee.

But I honestly don't think that it makes any difference. All taxis have their license number printed on both sides and the rear of the car and that has to suffice to identify it in case of a complaint.