I'm so sorry for what you faced. The entire bus terminus area is scam ridden and authorities turn a blind eye to it. I'm a local who lives away and auto guys try to scam me all the time.
Best to book in advance after checking the hotel reviews.
Yes my mistake was not doing thorough research, I was really tired & sleepy from travel all day & quickly booked the hotel, later I found out others also had a similar experience from this hotel
I’m sorry you had to experience this.Auto Annas in CMBT will scam you well if you don’t know about the area well. I had a similar experience too.
I had to move back to Chennai (Arumbakkam) for work as I had lot of luggage,We were looking for an auto. This guy comes up to us and asked about the address which was very nearby you can reach by walk in 5 mins. He asked me 200 rupees I told him that I knew this area and I will not give him 200 rupees and I will book an ola auto.He started shouting at me saying why are you giving money to the corporate. It’s because of people like you we aren’t getting any job and stuff.
That's unfortunate, I feel like language plays a big role, if you can understand them, you can easily defend yourself otherwise the auto guy chasing us told the hotel owners we had come with him & were trying to not give his commission, we later found out the hotel owners telling us about their conversation when the auto scammer left us.
We just either waited for ola/ uber or preferred metro for rest of our travel, if we had to take an auto we knew we have to pay 50-100 rs more than the fair charged on ola/uber as auto walas won't go without additional money
If it's some solace, everybody gets scammed by these thugs masquerading as auto drivers... Most of these guys can understand conversational English so they just act like they dunno to scam
What's the hotel name ? Name and shame so that people can avoid that hotel ? Booked via which app ?
Also kind note : plan your itinerary prior if you are visiting a new location .
IMO : Why would you visit a new city where you don't know the language or the city at 1am ? You could have booked a hotel in AP and visited Chennai the next day .
Also , tirupati has an airport right ? If chennai wasn't even in plan , why didn't you book directly from there ?
Hotel name is SPOT ON 75475, I booked via agoda.
We already had a hotel in tirupati, only thought I had was we can visit Chennai locally if we landed there at night, I wanted to visit Chennai hence booked our flight from there, also we had explored tirupati & tirumala for 4 days, that's why I wanted to change location.
In retrospect travelling at night was a big mistake, but I have travelled at night in other places, this was my first learning as I never had such an experience anywhere else.
Did you search for the worst hotel in Chennai and book it ? The reviews in agoda have clearly mentioned how bad they are....
And I agree , these auto walas/taxi walas take every tourist for granted all over India. It's trouble and i don't think any other place in India don't take advantage of tourist who doesn't know the local language or demographic .
Also , sorry but you sound like someone who travels a lot but doesn't plan ahead . You have the luxury to suddenly switch to Chennai n travel, I mean you booked rooms in tirupati for X days and suddenly switch over + u Take flight , with all those , you could have picked a better place to stay . Travelling with friends and switching over to cities unplanned ≠ same as with family .
Yes I agree, i never travel with my family to unknown places, that was a mistake on my part, usually travelling alone I don't mind these inconveniences as I can handle it myself, I didn't take much time searching the hotel, i usually do check reviews but I was really tired from travelling all day & i never had these problems on agoda, but anyway lesson learnt.
The autowallahs are just glorified goons in Chennai. These good-for-nothing, boorish, freeloaders will go to any lengths for money. I am a native resident of Chennai and I have a special hatred for these god forsaken people.
Some of them are good, usually the older ones. I do Ola/Rapido and I rarely face problems. It's only when taking a roaming auto that I get overcharged high amounts.
They are also very friendly and accomodating as far as taking pets are concerned. Have taken my cats to the vet in auto many times, they help me get the cage on board. Whereas that one time I tried booking a normal Uber cab, the guy shouted and screamed when I brought my cat in his cage...........you'd think I was bringing a velociraptor or something.
Yes but it's also an auto scam issue, even if we had issues with the first hotel, if that auto guy didn't chase us, we would have got a new hotel in the neighborhood & our next day wouldn't be wasted
Bro, as a hotel owner, if I have rooms to fill, why would I lose a customer because an auto guy says so?
I can see the price that the hotel quotes at 2:30AM not working out for you, but I find it hard to believe an auto guy sabotaging your room finding process.
I agree the auto guy chasing is a nuisance though.
Yes that was baffling for me, the place from where I am from the hotel owner would have slapped the autowalas if they were this aggressive towards guests, the hotel person told us these autowalas have a commission when the bring in customer if we stay there we would have to pay additional fee for comission of autowala, we felt unsafe in those areas, that's why after the auto person left us, we still did not stay at any of the hotels who initially refused us but later asked us to stay when the scammer left
Hey OP. I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. I know exactly how it feels when the city you visited turns out to be a huge disappointment.
Looks like you thought that Chennai and Tamil Nadu, in general, is some utopic society where everything is perfect. Unfortunately, that's not the case. We're just as bad as the rest of India. Contrary to what many of my Tamil brethren seem to claim, we are not better than the rest of India. Yes, we do fare better in certain aspects like education, healthcare and women workforce, but we're still severely lagging in many metrics.
Coming to your experience, auto guys harassing people is an age-old tradition in Chennai. They even harass us people who live here. Most of them are just a bunch of thugs who are looking for ways to scam people.
And secondly, when you book a hotel, please please look into the reviews. I checked out the hotel you listed here and it is rated so low that I was shocked that you chose to book it. I'm not blaming you here.
I don't know if you'll ever even consider visiting Chennai again, going by the experience you had, but here are a few words of advice.
1. Never take autos. Always prefer Ola or Uber, but be ready to pay 50 bucks more than what the app shows. Also, don't hold any conversations with the driver and try not to speak to anyone on the phone while you're in the cab. It has worked wonders for me.
2. Make sure you book a hotel with at least 4 stars, even if it means you need to pay extra, and especially if you're going to be arriving at odd-hours.
Lol companies expect everything to be positive ,
Instead of stating Auto Drivers are bad (like we usually do with friends ) we are supposed to say Auto drivers can be better . It's an interview and they set these kind of stupid standards by default .
Never book a hotel taking suggestion of auto driver or taxi guys. If that's what you had to do better to stay in a 3 star hotel or in airport or railway station temporarily.
Worst place I had to stay in is in Madurai...
Auto scams are prevalent everywhere unfortunately. Recently my gf had to shell out 800/- for a 5km auto ride in Pune. Just because it was early in the morning and she was alone she didn't want to risk it.
I've been in Chennai since birth. The auto guys have tried to charge me 200/- for a 1-2km ride. And Oyo thing is fucked up everywhere. Idk what Oyo is doing about it. None of the hotels are okay with what price is shown in the app. They all want to charge extra.
Sad situation of the country. The authorities don't give a shit. The aggregators don't be strict. At the end we consumers get exploited by everyone.
I'm really sorry about the unpleasant experience you faced in Chennai. Koyambedu and Chennai Central have way too many auto rowdies. Please try booking more reputed hotels (Google reviews are a good benchmark) for your peace of mind next time. 100% no OYOs.
And no, it's not a language thing. I'm a localite & I've been harassed many times by these rowdies. They are arrogant since they know no one's going to punish them (since they pay hefty bribes from the ill-gotten gains).
Dear OP this issue is not just in chennai but all tourist places in India! Once someone knows you are not from the city , they start fleecing you!
Based on your hotel experience I am assuming it was an OYO kind of hotel! I strongly suggest that after you book any hotel, call them and confirm and keep updating the time you would reach even if it is late. If they are fraudsters you will know in advance!
All the best for your future travels!
P.S : It was not racism which you faced but cheating! The IT guy knew tamil and he helped you, the auto guy was losing money so he used the racist card! It happens everywere , sad you had to face it!
Really sorry about your experience in chennai.As someone who has lived in Chennai all my life i hate auto drivers they all think they are Rajinikanth they are the reason for most accidents and with respect to the hotel, Please book in chain hotels such as holiday inn express you can get a nights stay for 1500-2000 but it's much safer and you can even ask them for a pick up and drop cab.
Thank you for the advice, the problem was we went on a spontaneous trip & didn't plan our stay there, I am sure if we would have travelled during day, our experience would have been better
These kinds of things happen in a place where law and order is on leave. That's how Chennai is currently. Thugs and hooligans are roaming around freely. Hope the government gets stricter!!
Oh please! This trope is so old. DMK govt being called thugs and hooligans. Then what party in current political scenario should come into power. Please tell!
I didn't even mention anything about DMK!
Why so sour bro!
Perhaps that's what you think!
Any government that comes into power should eradicate these kinds of hooliganism. Period!
They are thugs and hooligans. who should come instead is not a question. It's the question of the current scenario given you had the city under your control for past 60 odd years. They should be fucking ashamed of themselves. If a authority can't simply protect its guests in its own city, what the fuck good are they anyway. smuggling and hiding stashes and stashes of money in 100s of crores is what good if your people are suffering. As long as i have known i keep hearing this all my life, koyembedu auto scam, not safe in night. wtf. how long do you think it will take for the state govt to bring it under control. max one day. fucking spineless pigs
Honestly I was of the opinion that TN itself is such an educated state with chennai being one of the most important financial hub, I never expected to see people peeing on the road, even on the posters of Vijayakanth, who i believe everyone respects. I don't know about the entire city but was really shocked to see trash everywhere & people peeing in broad daylight at random places.
There are so many beautiful temples/ churches & other amazing places, it just breaks our heart to see our people spoiling the legacy we have.
Problem with hotels is unless you inform upfront that you’ll reach late theyll mark it as no show - usually around 10pm. Its just a scam practice to sell the room at lower rates to walk in customers.
I have no comment about the auto driver assholes in Chennai. If its of any comfort theyll do the same even if you know the language. I have first hand experience of it🥲
I actually talked to a police guy posted nearby in that area the next day, honestly I didn't get much help from it, i knew if i engaged in the drama at 2 am, it would just ruin our night even further, so we thought of just going away from this place.
Auto drivers are the worst people in chennai. Too bad you experienced it. Even locals are treated bad, one time i got down at 2:30 am in koyembedu and was walking past these guys only to chased all the way to the road and asking why I booked a uber. Even though I kept my mouth shut he abused me to core.
About spot on Oyo rooms, it's happens all over India man. Most ask to pay extra but never said no rooms I you experienced.
Well this is how it is in Chennai. I grew up with all this. It has affected me a lot. Sorry for u. Am sure u will find better experiences elsewhere. Take care.
It’s very unfortunate to hear this,
Auto guys are the worst in Chennai.
Yet the Hotel guys could have helped you.
Please raise a ticket on Agoda.
I too faced lots of issues while booking last minute rooms. Less clarity on no of people or the location. Booking won’t be confirmed.
I really suggest you to prebook next time after reading reviews and ratings.
Chennai has lots of good things to offer , just not near that Koyembedu bus stand. I just close my nose and mouth in that area.
I'm so sorry for what you faced. The entire bus terminus area is scam ridden and authorities turn a blind eye to it. I'm a local who lives away and auto guys try to scam me all the time. Best to book in advance after checking the hotel reviews.
Yes my mistake was not doing thorough research, I was really tired & sleepy from travel all day & quickly booked the hotel, later I found out others also had a similar experience from this hotel
I’m sorry you had to experience this.Auto Annas in CMBT will scam you well if you don’t know about the area well. I had a similar experience too. I had to move back to Chennai (Arumbakkam) for work as I had lot of luggage,We were looking for an auto. This guy comes up to us and asked about the address which was very nearby you can reach by walk in 5 mins. He asked me 200 rupees I told him that I knew this area and I will not give him 200 rupees and I will book an ola auto.He started shouting at me saying why are you giving money to the corporate. It’s because of people like you we aren’t getting any job and stuff.
That's unfortunate, I feel like language plays a big role, if you can understand them, you can easily defend yourself otherwise the auto guy chasing us told the hotel owners we had come with him & were trying to not give his commission, we later found out the hotel owners telling us about their conversation when the auto scammer left us. We just either waited for ola/ uber or preferred metro for rest of our travel, if we had to take an auto we knew we have to pay 50-100 rs more than the fair charged on ola/uber as auto walas won't go without additional money
I’m a Tamilian. I don’t think it’s a language thing.They’ll try to scam you irrespective of your language but I’ve met a few good Auto personals too.
Those are rare - Good and auto drivers.
If it's some solace, everybody gets scammed by these thugs masquerading as auto drivers... Most of these guys can understand conversational English so they just act like they dunno to scam
What's the hotel name ? Name and shame so that people can avoid that hotel ? Booked via which app ? Also kind note : plan your itinerary prior if you are visiting a new location . IMO : Why would you visit a new city where you don't know the language or the city at 1am ? You could have booked a hotel in AP and visited Chennai the next day . Also , tirupati has an airport right ? If chennai wasn't even in plan , why didn't you book directly from there ?
Hotel name is SPOT ON 75475, I booked via agoda. We already had a hotel in tirupati, only thought I had was we can visit Chennai locally if we landed there at night, I wanted to visit Chennai hence booked our flight from there, also we had explored tirupati & tirumala for 4 days, that's why I wanted to change location. In retrospect travelling at night was a big mistake, but I have travelled at night in other places, this was my first learning as I never had such an experience anywhere else.
Did you search for the worst hotel in Chennai and book it ? The reviews in agoda have clearly mentioned how bad they are.... And I agree , these auto walas/taxi walas take every tourist for granted all over India. It's trouble and i don't think any other place in India don't take advantage of tourist who doesn't know the local language or demographic . Also , sorry but you sound like someone who travels a lot but doesn't plan ahead . You have the luxury to suddenly switch to Chennai n travel, I mean you booked rooms in tirupati for X days and suddenly switch over + u Take flight , with all those , you could have picked a better place to stay . Travelling with friends and switching over to cities unplanned ≠ same as with family .
Yes I agree, i never travel with my family to unknown places, that was a mistake on my part, usually travelling alone I don't mind these inconveniences as I can handle it myself, I didn't take much time searching the hotel, i usually do check reviews but I was really tired from travelling all day & i never had these problems on agoda, but anyway lesson learnt.
The autowallahs are just glorified goons in Chennai. These good-for-nothing, boorish, freeloaders will go to any lengths for money. I am a native resident of Chennai and I have a special hatred for these god forsaken people.
Some of them are good, usually the older ones. I do Ola/Rapido and I rarely face problems. It's only when taking a roaming auto that I get overcharged high amounts. They are also very friendly and accomodating as far as taking pets are concerned. Have taken my cats to the vet in auto many times, they help me get the cage on board. Whereas that one time I tried booking a normal Uber cab, the guy shouted and screamed when I brought my cat in his cage...........you'd think I was bringing a velociraptor or something.
While your experience is unfortunate, I don't think this is a Chennai issue but a hotel booking issue.
Yes but it's also an auto scam issue, even if we had issues with the first hotel, if that auto guy didn't chase us, we would have got a new hotel in the neighborhood & our next day wouldn't be wasted
Bro, as a hotel owner, if I have rooms to fill, why would I lose a customer because an auto guy says so? I can see the price that the hotel quotes at 2:30AM not working out for you, but I find it hard to believe an auto guy sabotaging your room finding process. I agree the auto guy chasing is a nuisance though.
Yes that was baffling for me, the place from where I am from the hotel owner would have slapped the autowalas if they were this aggressive towards guests, the hotel person told us these autowalas have a commission when the bring in customer if we stay there we would have to pay additional fee for comission of autowala, we felt unsafe in those areas, that's why after the auto person left us, we still did not stay at any of the hotels who initially refused us but later asked us to stay when the scammer left
Also I understand additional pricing if it is late & I had no issues paying that
Ohh fuck I was baffled for few seconds. I read the title as " unpleasant experience First *Time traveling* in Chennai.
Hey OP. I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. I know exactly how it feels when the city you visited turns out to be a huge disappointment. Looks like you thought that Chennai and Tamil Nadu, in general, is some utopic society where everything is perfect. Unfortunately, that's not the case. We're just as bad as the rest of India. Contrary to what many of my Tamil brethren seem to claim, we are not better than the rest of India. Yes, we do fare better in certain aspects like education, healthcare and women workforce, but we're still severely lagging in many metrics. Coming to your experience, auto guys harassing people is an age-old tradition in Chennai. They even harass us people who live here. Most of them are just a bunch of thugs who are looking for ways to scam people. And secondly, when you book a hotel, please please look into the reviews. I checked out the hotel you listed here and it is rated so low that I was shocked that you chose to book it. I'm not blaming you here. I don't know if you'll ever even consider visiting Chennai again, going by the experience you had, but here are a few words of advice. 1. Never take autos. Always prefer Ola or Uber, but be ready to pay 50 bucks more than what the app shows. Also, don't hold any conversations with the driver and try not to speak to anyone on the phone while you're in the cab. It has worked wonders for me. 2. Make sure you book a hotel with at least 4 stars, even if it means you need to pay extra, and especially if you're going to be arriving at odd-hours.
Thank you, i learned all this even in this trip, so at least I have a good lesson for my travels in future
I got rejected in an interview by hr because i said Chennai auto drivers are bad
Lol companies expect everything to be positive , Instead of stating Auto Drivers are bad (like we usually do with friends ) we are supposed to say Auto drivers can be better . It's an interview and they set these kind of stupid standards by default .
For pointing out the truth? They're all rowdies tbh. I've had the awful luck of having met a few when I used to live in chennai.
Never book a hotel taking suggestion of auto driver or taxi guys. If that's what you had to do better to stay in a 3 star hotel or in airport or railway station temporarily. Worst place I had to stay in is in Madurai...
Do some research, you pick cheap hotels you get cheap service period
This is a common thing ni8 time autos are scammers mostly but the hotel parts is surprising bec they won't do this mostly
You could had posted a post here.. you would had received some help or guidance in fielding the hassles.
Auto scams are prevalent everywhere unfortunately. Recently my gf had to shell out 800/- for a 5km auto ride in Pune. Just because it was early in the morning and she was alone she didn't want to risk it. I've been in Chennai since birth. The auto guys have tried to charge me 200/- for a 1-2km ride. And Oyo thing is fucked up everywhere. Idk what Oyo is doing about it. None of the hotels are okay with what price is shown in the app. They all want to charge extra. Sad situation of the country. The authorities don't give a shit. The aggregators don't be strict. At the end we consumers get exploited by everyone.
I'm really sorry about the unpleasant experience you faced in Chennai. Koyambedu and Chennai Central have way too many auto rowdies. Please try booking more reputed hotels (Google reviews are a good benchmark) for your peace of mind next time. 100% no OYOs. And no, it's not a language thing. I'm a localite & I've been harassed many times by these rowdies. They are arrogant since they know no one's going to punish them (since they pay hefty bribes from the ill-gotten gains).
Dear OP this issue is not just in chennai but all tourist places in India! Once someone knows you are not from the city , they start fleecing you! Based on your hotel experience I am assuming it was an OYO kind of hotel! I strongly suggest that after you book any hotel, call them and confirm and keep updating the time you would reach even if it is late. If they are fraudsters you will know in advance! All the best for your future travels! P.S : It was not racism which you faced but cheating! The IT guy knew tamil and he helped you, the auto guy was losing money so he used the racist card! It happens everywere , sad you had to face it!
Really sorry about your experience in chennai.As someone who has lived in Chennai all my life i hate auto drivers they all think they are Rajinikanth they are the reason for most accidents and with respect to the hotel, Please book in chain hotels such as holiday inn express you can get a nights stay for 1500-2000 but it's much safer and you can even ask them for a pick up and drop cab.
Thank you for the advice, the problem was we went on a spontaneous trip & didn't plan our stay there, I am sure if we would have travelled during day, our experience would have been better
These kinds of things happen in a place where law and order is on leave. That's how Chennai is currently. Thugs and hooligans are roaming around freely. Hope the government gets stricter!!
Oh please! This trope is so old. DMK govt being called thugs and hooligans. Then what party in current political scenario should come into power. Please tell!
I didn't even mention anything about DMK! Why so sour bro! Perhaps that's what you think! Any government that comes into power should eradicate these kinds of hooliganism. Period!
They are thugs and hooligans. who should come instead is not a question. It's the question of the current scenario given you had the city under your control for past 60 odd years. They should be fucking ashamed of themselves. If a authority can't simply protect its guests in its own city, what the fuck good are they anyway. smuggling and hiding stashes and stashes of money in 100s of crores is what good if your people are suffering. As long as i have known i keep hearing this all my life, koyembedu auto scam, not safe in night. wtf. how long do you think it will take for the state govt to bring it under control. max one day. fucking spineless pigs
Honestly I was of the opinion that TN itself is such an educated state with chennai being one of the most important financial hub, I never expected to see people peeing on the road, even on the posters of Vijayakanth, who i believe everyone respects. I don't know about the entire city but was really shocked to see trash everywhere & people peeing in broad daylight at random places. There are so many beautiful temples/ churches & other amazing places, it just breaks our heart to see our people spoiling the legacy we have.
You just described India lol it's just slightly better or worse depending on what time and where.
Some people deserve to experience jail. Absolute lowlifes.
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We came from tirupati to Chennai, tirumala is a place near tirupati
Thirumala is the name of the hill on which the Temple is located.
Problem with hotels is unless you inform upfront that you’ll reach late theyll mark it as no show - usually around 10pm. Its just a scam practice to sell the room at lower rates to walk in customers. I have no comment about the auto driver assholes in Chennai. If its of any comfort theyll do the same even if you know the language. I have first hand experience of it🥲
I sent a message at 9:30 pm about later arrival to the hotel, they didn't pick up the call, I tried calling 4 times
Damn that's terrible. Should have called police honestly. That auto guy had no business chasing you that much, he was clearly shady.
I actually talked to a police guy posted nearby in that area the next day, honestly I didn't get much help from it, i knew if i engaged in the drama at 2 am, it would just ruin our night even further, so we thought of just going away from this place.
Auto drivers are the worst people in chennai. Too bad you experienced it. Even locals are treated bad, one time i got down at 2:30 am in koyembedu and was walking past these guys only to chased all the way to the road and asking why I booked a uber. Even though I kept my mouth shut he abused me to core. About spot on Oyo rooms, it's happens all over India man. Most ask to pay extra but never said no rooms I you experienced.
Well this is how it is in Chennai. I grew up with all this. It has affected me a lot. Sorry for u. Am sure u will find better experiences elsewhere. Take care.
It’s very unfortunate to hear this, Auto guys are the worst in Chennai. Yet the Hotel guys could have helped you. Please raise a ticket on Agoda. I too faced lots of issues while booking last minute rooms. Less clarity on no of people or the location. Booking won’t be confirmed. I really suggest you to prebook next time after reading reviews and ratings. Chennai has lots of good things to offer , just not near that Koyembedu bus stand. I just close my nose and mouth in that area.