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<\/a><\/p>\nMEGACON Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center is always a great time for Tyler Coburn and his sister.<\/p>\n
Coburn said, \u201cYou can do whatever you want and just talk to everybody. It\u2019s such a cool event.\u201d<\/p>\n
But after a long day of walking the convention floor in March, what he claims happened outside the convention center was not cool. Pedicabs lined up. He said one of the drivers quoted him $15 each for a ride to his car.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, $30 for me and my sister. I\u2019m like, \u2018Aright, let\u2019s go hop on. That\u2019s fine,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It was only at the end of the ride, he claims the driver informed him he owed $255 for what was about an eight minute ride. He estimates the distance was maybe a mile. Coburn showed Action 9 the receipt for VIP Pedicab with a total charge of $265 after he said the driver even pressured him into leaving a tip.<\/p>\n
Coburn told Action 9, \u201cWhat I should have done is walked away, but I\u2019m not that type of guy to just, you know, leave the guy hanging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Searching through public records, Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal learned the only driver registered with the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office to operate in the I-Drive District for VIP Pedicab Company LLC is Carlos Mejia Gonzalez, who goes by Carlos Mejia.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time, he\u2019s been accused of inflating the price at the end of a ride. In October last year in Jacksonville, following the Jaguars game against the Chiefs, a father and son claim Mejia Gonzalez quoted them $20 a person, then at the end of the ride informed them the charge was $250.<\/p>\n
When they refused to pay, records show they claim Mejia Gonzalez pushed the father in his lower back, stole his cell phone and tried to run away, then bit the son on the arm when he stepped in to stop him.<\/p>\n
Carlos Mejia Gonzalez was arrested for robbery and battery.<\/p>\n
WFTV Legal Analyst Bill Sheaffer said, \u201cThis is not only a local problem. This is an international problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheaffer explained he had a pedicab driver in France inflate the price for him at the end of the ride earlier this year. In Florida, he said he said changing the price like that would fall under the state\u2019s deceptive and unfair trade practices act because it misrepresents the price of the service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is, how are you going to prove it? And it\u2019s he said, she said,\u201d Sheaffer said.<\/p>\n
Sheaffer said unscrupulous drivers likely know this which is why that kind of thing can happen.<\/p>\n
An Orange County ordinance requires pedicab drivers and companies to be registered and they must clearly display the county decal number and the rate schedule on their cab. The ordinance specifically states, \u201cNo driver of any non-motorized vehicle-for-hire may charge a fee which is not so posted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Action 9 tried to track Carlos Mejia Gonzalez down at the VIP Pedicab business address in downtown Orlando, by phone and by email. He responded by email with the following message:<\/p>\n
Regarding the March 21st ride, the fare was clearly communicated and agreed upon before the ride began. I do not change pricing after a ride is completed. The payment, including any tip, was made voluntarily by the customer.<\/p>\n
I have not received any complaint directly from this individual, nor any dispute through the payment provider.<\/p>\n
With respect to the incident in Jacksonville, that matter is currently pending legal review. On advice of counsel, I am not able to comment on those allegations at this time. I will say that I look forward to the facts being fully reviewed through the proper process.<\/p>\n
Still, Tyler Coburn said he has disputed the charge with his bank and believes Mejia Gonzalez should refund his money.<\/p>\n
Jeff Deal asked, \u201cDo you think you would ever take a pedicab again?\u201d<\/p>\n
Coburn answered, \u201cNo, I will walk or find somewhere closer to park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before you ride make sure you check for the rate card that they\u2019re supposed to have displayed. You could also consider asking to pay upfront for the ride. If you find yourself in a similar situation and want to avoid conflict, it\u2019s better to pay by credit card than a debit card because you have more protections if you need to dispute the charge.<\/p>\n
MORE WFTV ACTION 9 STORIES<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla \u2014 \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do, so I paid the guy,\u201d said Tyler Coburn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[14189,44885,4117,100222,100223,100217,17966,25595,5013,100220,28,15297,43841,116,1630,44709,7175,634,8018,100219,100218,115,1300,100213,139,141,140,100221,30900,100214,1045,100215,100216],"class_list":{"0":"post-221203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-action","9":"tag-bill_schaeffer","10":"tag-brevard_county","11":"tag-carlos","12":"tag-carlos_mejia","13":"tag-carlos_mejia_gonzalez","14":"tag-channel_9_eyewitness_news","15":"tag-channel_9_news","16":"tag-chiefs","17":"tag-deceptive","18":"tag-florida","19":"tag-france","20":"tag-gonzalez","21":"tag-jacksonville","22":"tag-jaguars","23":"tag-jeff","24":"tag-jeff_deal","25":"tag-local","26":"tag-megacon","27":"tag-mejia","28":"tag-mejia_gonzalez","29":"tag-news","30":"tag-orange_county","31":"tag-orange_county_convention_center","32":"tag-orlando","33":"tag-orlando-headlines","34":"tag-orlando-news","35":"tag-trade_practices_act","36":"tag-tyler","37":"tag-tyler_coburn","38":"tag-video","39":"tag-vip_pedicab","40":"tag-vip_peticab_company_llc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}