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India is a beautiful country to go sightseeing and to embark on a shopping spree. It has, however, its share of bad apples which many tourists notoriously describe as “devilish” and “cunning”: most taxi cab drivers who are on the hot trail for your dollars, euros or local rupees. Check out the list of schemes you must be wary off when taking a taxi from one shopping destination to another. • FLAT RATE. In a grand effort to extract the most money from you, some drivers will tell you that their taxi meters are defective and damaged. They will then ask you to pay a flat rate instead. You will end up paying five or ten times more than what is actually due. The usual red flag occurs when an overfriendly driver initiates small talks with you and attempts to befriend you to attempt to lure you to agreeing to the deal. • GRAND TOUR. Once you chance upon boarding a cab whose driver meekly agrees to go by the meter, you are not yet on the safe side. Drivers who give you grand tours are usually the silent type. They won't attempt to negotiate with you or demand from you flat rates. Their means of extracting money from you is more subtle. They will take the longest route as possible to your destination, complete with various twists, turns and circles, so that you'll end up footing a more expensive tab. • NO CHANGE. This excuse is the most common modus operandi among drivers. Indeed most will take you to your destination in the fastest route possible, or some will follow the tactics of the grand tour driver mentioned above. At the end of the ride, these drivers will tell you that they cannot offer you any change because they have none. If you hand them your 100-rupee bill or a 10-dollar bill, be prepared to lose the whole sum. Always pay the exact amount to avoid this situation. • RIGGED METER. Drivers of cabs with rigged meters are cunningly confident and do not blatantly display the warning behaviors of the first three. In fact, by not speaking a word with you, they are oftentimes the ones who get away with their devilish deed – unscathed and unrebuked. The meter is rigged so that the counter operates at a faster rate than what is normal. The result is a higher fare amount that's registered on the meter's counter. Do not be horrified by these taxi scam stories as there are other transportation options for your choosing: a rickshaw (which will require some negotiation again between you and the driver), a minibus (which can be incredibly cheap and will cost you around 5 dollars) or a train (which will cost you between 10 and 50 dollars, depending on which class you are seated). The latter two are perhaps the better options: you pay flat fees for tickets and you get to interact with your fellow passengers and fellow tourists.
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