Carrie Elizabeth Johnson, Black American Paralegal Student | InnovativeLegal, LLC. | Former Manchester Community College Culinary/Paralegal Student]
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| Black American | US Natural Born Citizen | I do not look Hispanic/Latino or Italian either! |
Blog Post Written By: Carrie Elizabeth Johnson, Paralegal Student
Carrie Elizabeth Johnson vs. Ace Transportation Taxi Service
Connecticut Department of
Transportation
Bureau of Public
Transportation, Regulatory and Compliance Unit
P.O. Box 317546, 2800
Berlin Turnpike Newington, Connecticut 06131-7546
Dear Bureau of Public
Transportation, Regulatory & Compliance Unit,
As
the recipient and reader of this formal complaint that was written and solely
constructed by Carrie Elizabeth Johnson to the Connecticut Department of
Transportation against Ace Transportation Taxi Services, I ask that the reader
keeps in mind that this is my first time living and experiencing life in the
State of Connecticut as well as first experience here on the east coast ever.
With that being said, I have no bias when writing this formal complaint,
considering I have never experienced any personal or professional encounters
with anyone on the east coast in-person prior to September 4, 2016. I was a
repeat weekly paying customer of Ace Transportation Taxi Services since March
16, 2021, leading up to the incident in which I am reporting that took place
back on May 25, 2021. This complaint details both the gender and racial
demographics of myself and the assumed male taxi driver with an “English”
accent to provide the reader a more accurate number of complaints self-reported
by Black American single mothers in Connecticut that involves a verbal
altercation between two individuals of the opposite sex in which the type of
service transaction involves the transporting of a black female complainant
locally. A verbal altercation can be defined as an incident that involves one
or several offenders who engage in verbal communication in which abusive,
profane, obscene, or threatening comments are made toward one or more than one.
In this complaint, I will express in detail a verbal altercation that occurred
between one of the Ace Transportation Taxi Services' white male drivers and
myself, a black American single mother.
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| Office Supplies I purchased on my own with my NYC unemployment! |
For the second time on March 15, 2021, I entered the
State of Connecticut's jurisdiction for the first time as a resident of the Town
of Manchester. March 16, 2021, was my first pick-up encounter from my local
Walmart in which I paid cash to the Ace Transportation Taxicab driver, before
establishing a more consistent pattern of utilizing the same cab company which
will reflect in my bank statements transaction history, as part of supporting
evidence with this formal written complaint. I self-identify as a heterosexual
black American female and assume that the cab driver that was transporting me
to my local weekly shopping trip to Pleasant Valley Road on the morning of May
25, 2021, was the same older white male driver which I called to complain
about a previous ride with him to the
Mail Room in which the driver was oversharing his vacation plans to drive
across country with his wife, that he was originally from London, England but
had been living in the United States for decades thriving in my country as a
driver and the driver in a jokingly manner admitted to me that he does
“stereotype” and called a white woman walking in broad daylight in the Town of
Manchester a “prostitute” because she was walking on a local residential street
by herself with no man presently walking alongside her closest to the street.
Please keep in mind that this is the Town of Manchester, Connecticut, and not
the Las Vegas Strip but I do remember the “English” accent of this taxicab driver.
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| Receipts of Office Supplies Purchase Here |
On
the morning of May 25, 2021, the driver Cliff called from the phone number
(860)XXX-XXXX in Taxicab #140 and took me over to the local Dollar Tree store,
located on Pleasant Valley Road. Apparently, I was taking too long waiting in
line to check out at the register that the cab driver came into the Dollar Tree
to see if I got lost. He clearly did not know that usually every Tuesday this
same cab company that he worked for would get a phone call from me since I had
just moved into the neighborhood and was purchasing household furnishings for
my daughter’s safe return to her sole parent household. My roundtrip both
started and ended at my apartment complex on May 25, 2021,
around 10: 40 a.m. I paid with my ATM/Debit card from memory the amount
due was around $49.40 but under $50.00 dollars and the taxicab driver asked if
it was okay to just round the balance up to make it $50.00, instead of the
exact amount of shown on his tablet. I said that was okay and the driver proceeded
to enter my billing information while I was getting my bags out of the vehicle.
Once it was processing the driver then proceeded to forge my signature and told
me that he does not let anyone touch his iPad. I did not raise my voice or
react in a harsh manner when requesting the driver provide me his full
credentials to complain about his use of profanity and his exact words were “My
name is fuck you” and speeding off, almost running over my foot in the apartment
complex. I went inside to call the cab company and took down from my cellphone
the number which the cab driver called me from at the beginning of my trip
to request a full refund for “forging my signature”, bad service, and use of
profanity to a repeat paying customer.
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| Receipts of Purchase Here |
After
several phone attempts, I got a hold of Art the dispatcher to discuss what had
transpired over the course of my trip in which I cannot identify the presumed
racial demographics of either dispatcher that I spoke with about the incident
that includes both Art (male) and Ashley (female) over the phone badly
defending their driver’s behavior and poor representation of the company’s taxi
service. I spoke with Art first,
explaining that what should have been expressed at the beginning of my trip was
if the driver, Cliff had another pick-up following my errands at the local
shops then he should have verbally communicated that to me so I could have made
use of the time shopping with a sense of “urgency” to be more considerate of
the driver’s next pick-up. Following my verbal complaint of the driver, Cliff
being impatient at the beginning of my trip I proceed to explain to the dispatcher,
Art over the phone about his driver drawing a “squiggly line” on his point-of-sale
iPad that was not my authorized signature and told me that he does not allow
anyone to touch his iPad. I believe that this was the same driver for which I
called the cab company to verbally complain about this driver, prior to my May
25th trip and the dispatcher knew exactly who I was speaking of back
then. For a lack of better words used on
my part, I might have stated to Art first that it was as if the taxicab driver
did not want my black hands touching his iPad. In my words used most
likely provoked Art, the dispatcher to say to me over the phone, “Don’t play
that race card with me”. Art’s follow-up
to defending his driver’s behavior in his words was “Ma’am it’s covid and some
of these people are trying to get fired”. Now my bank statements that I am
submitting along with my formal written complaint will not only reflect repeat
transaction history using the same cab company for the timeframe of March 2021
to May 2021 that clearly shows how much the stimulus covid money for those who
lost income during covid was not worth losing your job over in which this taxicab
driver claims to have been working at Ace Transportation Taxi Service for
several years in exchange for some monetary financial windfall that served as
temporary relief at that time. The taxicab driver did not have either written
or verbal consent from me to authorize the transaction by forging my signature
on his iPad. I requested a full refund over the phone with Art, who stated “Ma’am,
how are we going to get paid then”?
In
the background, I hear Ashley another dispatcher says, “Who is that? Is that
Carrie?” Speaking as if she had either known me for years when in fact, I have
never met her and had no prior experience either personally or professionally
with Ashley, prior to March 2021. Ashley
proceeds to get on the phone and restate how are they going to get paid for the
trip if we refund the money back to their ATM/Debit card. Ashley refused to give
me her and Art’s last names over the phone and hung up. I would assume that for
quality and training purposes all calls are monitored and recorded at most
companies, should the Connecticut Department of Transportation investigate this
complaint then they should start by reviewing the company’s phone records and
review the signature on the point-of-sale transaction receipt that does not
look anything like my handwriting. My Capital One Bank statement and digital
images of my phone history of both inbound and outbound call history with the
cab driver and dispatchers will serve as proof that this transaction did take
place, regardless of the outcome, and should remain on file if the department
receives similar complaints on this same cab company. Proof of my purchased
Greyhound one-way bus ticket to Hartford, Connecticut from New York George
Washington Bridge on November 29, 2019, was the source of funds from my last W-2
temporary job paycheck that serves as evidence of entering the jurisdiction of
Connecticut State lines. A copy of both
my rental application and previous lease agreement will be shared with the cab
company, Manchester Police Department, Connecticut Department of Transportation,
and the Connecticut Department of Consumer Affairs that clearly states in
writing on their procedural designated forms for specific complaints, such as
this one that all complaints submitted to the Connecticut Department of
Consumer Affairs will be made public. However, I do not give these governing
entities/governing authority figures permission to publicly display my rental
application information or lease agreement that I signed with the apartments complex which is my place of residence, and I do not conduct any
business there. It only serves as evidence that I did in fact live there at the
time of my pick-up and drop-off designated location en route.
Due
to the timeframe in which this formal written complaint is being submitted, I
do not anticipate Ace Transportation Taxi Service to honor my request for a
full refund of my $50.00 dollars to be returned to my ATM/Debit card but serves
as tracking of a number of serious issues that I have encountered while
attending a local community college here to finish up some pre-existing courses
for a previous California Community College that I have attended in the past so
that my associate's degree in paralegal studies can be released to me. With
limited taxicab companies that service this area, I want to remind you that your
company markets itself on its business cards as a prompt, courteous, safe, and dependable travel for medical, school, or local travel to all Connecticut
residents and all drivers should keep the car conversations at a minimum while
respecting someone’s daughter regardless of the age in the absence of a male
figure. I only mention “in the absence of a male figure” as a hypothetical because
this altercation probably would not have occurred in the way in which it did
had I been accompanied by a male presence in the same cab on my weekly shopping
trip. I hold no personal grudge but a negative memory in which I have been
using another local taxicab service since my altercation with your cab driver
and dispatchers. Should I need to use your taxicab services in the future if no
other cab companies are available, I hope that we can move forward from this
negative encounter to a more respectful interaction as a working consumer in
need of the transportation services that your company provides. Thank you in
advance and I appreciate your cooperation on this matter and wish you well.
Warm regards,
Complainant | Former MCC Culinary/Paralegal Student | Non-Attorney
Department of Transportation Investigation Results Here | Taxi Cab Performance Employee Evaluation Cannot be done on fake company reviews! Know your Duties & Responsibilities associated with your job even when your employer failed to provide that in writing.
Are you displeased with a local taxicab company's level of service? If so, for Connecticut residents only, please use the designated procedural forms for both the Connecticut Department of Consumer Affairs as well as the Connecticut Department of Transportation forms located here and here. I recommend keeping copies of any submitted complaints, evidence such as copies of receipts, and bank statements that reflect transaction history as a consumer in your personal home filing cabinets should you ever encounter a problem with a company that provides either a service or product or both. For a review of definitions, here is an old Connecticut Law Journal 2000 that defines "taxicab terms". Since Carrie Elizabeth Johnson's last use of Ace Transportation Taxi Service, she found A-1 Taxi to be fast dependable service.
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