The driver waited, the customer says they did not
A driver arrives for a pre-booked pickup at a hotel. The passenger does not come out. The driver rings the office, the office rings the passenger, there is no answer. After the time your policy allows, the driver is released and the job is marked as a no-show. Or the passenger appears much later, and waiting time is added.
A week later, the account customer's travel booker emails: their guest says the car was not there, or was late, and they will not pay the no-show charge. The office goes looking. The driver remembers the job but not the times. The dispatch system has some of it. The call to the passenger was made from someone's mobile. Faced with an argument it cannot win quickly, the office credits the charge.
Why the evidence is never in one place
Everything needed to settle the question exists. It just exists in several systems, and nobody puts it together until there is a dispute.
- Arrival time and position are in the dispatch system's GPS data, which may only be kept for a limited period.
- Calls to the passenger were made from the office phone, a driver's own phone or not at all.
- Texts sent by the dispatch system, such as 'your driver has arrived', may not be stored with the job.
- Your policy on how long a driver waits, and what you charge, is applied differently by different controllers.
- The booking might have the wrong pickup point, such as the hotel's side entrance, which is not recorded anywhere.
Written-off charges and awkward conversations
| When evidence is missing | When evidence is ready |
|---|---|
| Charge credited to avoid an argument | Charge supported or credited on the facts |
| Office spends time searching several systems | Summary produced from the job record |
| Driver feels unsupported | Driver's wait is recorded and paid fairly |
| Account customer loses confidence | Account customer sees a clear timeline |
There is a fairness point too. Sometimes the customer is right: the driver went to the wrong entrance or arrived late. A clear record helps you credit those quickly and fix the cause.
A no-show and waiting record built for every job
What we build collects the evidence as the job happens, not after the complaint.
- When a driver marks arrival, the time and GPS position are captured from your dispatch system and saved with the job, beyond the dispatch system's normal retention if needed.
- Arrival texts and calls to the passenger are sent and made through a service such as Twilio, so each one is logged with its time and outcome.
- Your waiting and no-show rules are set once, such as the free waiting period and the charge after it, with different rules for airports and accounts if you have them.
- When a job ends as a no-show or with chargeable waiting, the charge is calculated from the rules and the recorded times.
- A one-page summary is produced for each such job: booking details, pickup point, arrival time and position on a map, messages and calls, and the charge.
- When a dispute comes in, the office sends the summary or decides to credit the charge, and the outcome is recorded against the job.
- A monthly report shows no-shows and disputes by account and by pickup location, which often points to a hotel entrance or a station exit where drivers and passengers keep missing each other.
Disputes settled in minutes
When a travel booker questions a charge, the office opens the job and sends a clear timeline. Most disputes end there. Where the record shows the driver was at the wrong entrance or arrived late, the office credits it quickly and adds a pickup note to that location.
Drivers see their waiting time recorded and paid consistently, which matters to self-employed drivers who lose earnings every minute they wait.
Your waiting policy is applied the same way every time, so customers are treated alike and the charges are easier to explain.
Sound familiar?
- Disputed no-show charges are usually credited.
- Finding a job's GPS record takes a long time.
- Calls to passengers are made from personal phones.
- Different controllers apply waiting charges differently.
- The same pickup points cause missed passengers again and again.