How to Find Missing Items on a Taxi

How to Find Missing Items on a Taxi

As one of those Jakartans who relies on public transportation, I use taxi quite often here. Even though I’ve heard number of bad stories on how awful some taxi drivers treating their passengers -and some criminal stories as well, taxi is just the most reliable and safest transportation mode so far. Doesn’t mean that I don’t use other transportation at all tho, I use ojek, commuter line train, etc. but I just use taxi more often. Been using various taxi services for years has taught me on choosing which taxi to stop, what to do/not do and how to prevent yourself from unwanted experience like losing your belongings on the taxi.

Kalau supir taksinya ganteng gini, seru ya

But no matter how alerted you are, shit happens sometimes. In my case, I left my laptop on the taxi. But, we’ll get to it later. I’ll tell you other story first.

Case 1
It was back then in 2012 when my dear friend, Kounila, came from Cambodia to attend a journalism workshop in Jakarta. We had dinner with fellow bloggers at fX Sudirman. I took Blue Bird taxi and accompanied her to Grand Mahakam hotel before I go home to my place. Around 30 mins later she called me to inform that she lost her wallet somewhere. I thought she accidentally dropped her small wallet at the mall. But there was no chance to go back to the mall and search as it was already midnight.

She was quite sure that she accidentally dropped it inside the taxi. None of us remembered either the taxi number or the driver’s name. But then I called Blue Bird anyway and provided their Customer Service with these details: route (where you were picked up, destination), argo and my guess on the taxi’s number. I wasn’t sure that they would find her wallet.

But they finally found it in just less than 3 hours, past midnight. The driver was even willing to drive and deliver the wallet to Kounila’s hotel at 6 AM next morning. Kudos to Blue Bird.

Case 2
It happened several weeks ago on my way to RS Pusat Pertamina to visit my boss’ hubby. I went there from Plaza Indonesia along with my colleague. When we finally arrived at the hospital, I was on a middle of a phone conversation and busy to put a lipstick on my lips (a little touch up won’t hurt you, no?). So my colleague paid for the taxi and then we headed quickly to the hospital lobby, without looking back to find what’s left on the taxi floor.

Then it hit me… I left my Acer LAPTOP inside the taxi. And of course we didn’t see it because my laptop bag was black, same color with the taxi’s carpet.

I tried to be as calm as possible, called the Blue Bird Customer Service number and explained the situation. I provided them with these details: route, argo plus details of me and my colleague (two women with many carry hand-bags). Within 30 minutes, I received a call from their CS confirming they have found the taxi, then they sent him to go back to RSPP. How fast!

So don’t forget to put this as SOP when you use taxi service in Jakarta:

  1. Always check the taxi number (usually 6 digits combination of letters and numbers), remember it or share it to your trusted friends
  2. Remember details of your trip e.g. time when you’re picked up, from where, destination, arrival time and argo
  3. Remember details of the driver e.g. name and driver’s ID. It’s always located on the dashboard
  4. It’s good to have taxi’s customer service number saved on your phone as well, just in case you need to call them asap. For those in need:
    • Blue Bird Customer Service (Jakarta): (021) 797 1245
    • Express Taxi Customer Service (Jakarta): (021) 500 122

I never experienced losing stuffs on other taxis, but I think it applies anywhere. Got something to say? Put in on comments box below 😉

Credit:
“Supir taksi ganteng” image from Rurisiruri’s blog.

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