Now the whole time (past year) I've lived in Kunming I've been pissed off with the taxis here but today just really wound me up so I had to moan somewhere!!!
Reading through previous threads about taxis I see people saying that they never have problems with taxis here, is it just me? Not one time has gone by when I've tried to get a taxi and had to wait while about usually four go by or pull up and refuse me!!! Today was just the best though, I was turned down by a minimum of ten taxis, each one saying oh bad journey or they on lunch now blah blah then driving 10 meters down the road to take someone else. Every time I'm with my chinese wife we get the taxi straight away but me on own is a whole new ball game :(
Surely its not just me, must be a general foreigner thing yeah? Oh and when finally taken the guy drops me down the other end of my long road saying if he carried on further it would cause him problems turning around to go back!!! Another typical problem I always have with them, lucky if I actually get dropped off at my place......

That will do, moaned enough :o)

I witnessed the same thing this afternoon near Cuihu, but with three young Chinese. The two girls and the guy just told their destination through the window and were getting ready to open the door and were surprised to see the driver rush no more than five metres firward to pick up someone else.

I know that Westerners in China like to think that things happen exclusively to them, but the same things happen to everyone else outside of that clique.

Your wife probably just knows better. Next time, just get in, put your things down, buckle your seatbelt, and then tell the driver where you are going.

It has been happening more and more to me too, when by myself. When I finally get a taxi I usually ask the driver why others drive past me, they usually say its because they are too nervous - they don't speak English and are scared of offending tourists! Pretty funny, but there it is.

Call the complaint line with the taxi driver's license plate and (as HFCAMPO noted) fill out the complaint form (all in Chinese - so get a friend/wife to help you out).

Make a big show of getting the driver's ID from their ID card in the windshield, so they know EXACTLY what you plan on doing. It's troublesome - but that's apparently the point - if it's too troublesome - most people won't bother and the taxi company doesn't particularly care anyway - BUT if you do the paperwork - they MUST respond appropriately (troublesome for THEM).

HOWEVER, better to use the taxi calling apps - they can't reject (and in the rare cases they do - do the form and make a big show of getting their taxi ID from their posted ID card - verify against their license plate (should be the same) - and return courtesy (or discourtesy in this case) in kind.

@yankee00 'Next time, just get in, put your things down, buckle your seatbelt, and then tell the driver where you are going'

Think I'll just go with this bit of advice next time lol

@blobbles always try my best chinese when getting cabs, they just don't want me full stop most of them lol

@laotou my wife warned me against this as I'd probably end up getting into some sort of trouble with the drivers :o)

Tried wearing a short(er) skirt? ;)

I honestly never have problems with taxis - however, I do see a lot of taxis, especially at night on Wenlinjie, who simply don't turn off the flag or light right away after they pick up passengers, so that when they pass you you may think they're empty when they're not.
However, unless you people are waiting really long periods of time before you get a taxi I really doubt if all this complaint stuff is worth the trouble.
What 'clique' are you referring to?

I should mention that I almost never take taxis other than late at night, maybe 3-4 times a week, as I like Kunming and taking taxis all the time obviously doesn't improve the air quality any - other times I take public transportation.

Alien, have you seen the clouds of heavy metal rich soot that pours out of buses' exhaust pipes? I estimate that they account for about 40-50% of the air pollution in Kunming. They are particularly bad as the pollution goes straight to street level and so into men women's and children's lungs. So take buses if you like, but don't pretend its good for Kunming air quality. Traffic - yes.