We rented a beautiful, elegant, white Lincoln limo with a black top to take my daughter and several friends for a Sweet Sixteen celebration to a wonderful restaurant in Atlanta.
I explained to Bill, the owner, that we had gone through a very rough patch. My brother was kind enough to pay. I wanted my daughter to feel like a Princess getting in that lovely, stretch limo because this was something I could do for her after so much sadness and tragedy. This was very, very important to my family, and I remain grateful to my kind brother.
The night of her Sweet Sixteen, instead of the elegant limo we rented, a white Hummer limo pulled up. My daughter was extremely disappointed, as was I. Hummers, to us, are not attractive. This was for a Sweet Sixteen. Some may love them. We saw a black one one day and my daughter commented on its unattractiveness. When I told her it was a Hummer limo, she expressed gratitude that we had not rented one for her. I agreed.
I apologized to her. I was really upset but didn't want to ruin her birthday. She said, and I quote, "Its ok. I guess I don't have to look at the outside." The inside of the Hummer was similar. That's not the tone or the words she should have EVER had to say that night.
I waited a bit, and called A Formal Image. I'm not 100% sure, but believe I spoke to Faith, who was pleasant enough until she realized I was not delighted with the Hummer. Faith kept hammering home that the Hummer was a free upgrade, since the person who had the limo we had been promised and had paid for, did not relinquish the vehicle. No one called us. Faith was, hands down, the rudest person I have EVER dealt with. She talked over me, not letting me get a word in. She said, unbelievably, that I was the ONLY person to EVER complain about an upgrade. The problem is, she was shouting and talking over me, so I could not explain that it wasn't about the upgrade to an apparently more expensive vehicle. Hummer limos, to us, anyway, look like stretch military vehicles. I'm sure a bunch of guys going to a bachelor party, or people going to some office function would think they were great. But these were young girls going out for the first time without a chaperone, and wanted that fairytale limo.
I was not permitted to get this out without this woman shrieking at me that my daughter was having a great time (as if she knew), and I should basically knock it off. I could barely get a word in edgewise. Then, she literally hung up on me.
That we didn't get that limo that I made sure to ask Bill more than once about because it was important to us, was one thing. My daughter did have a lovely night, because that was the most important thing. She was disappointed, though, and should not have been. She and her friends LOVED the picture of what we rented. However, it was important that no one make her celebration about the limo, and we didn't. But she should never have had to have her face fall when that Hummer pulled up. I mentioned it to my brother, whose reaction upon learning she was sent a Hummer limo was "Awful." I left it with him. He paid, so he's the one who would decide how he'd handle it, or if he did. He called my daughter. She told me later that she didn't want to upset him because he tried hard to please her. Its how she is. We discussed that the inside was fine. But you should not "settle" when you just paid $440. Not only should you get what you pay for, but the customer service you receive should be as classy, dignified and top drawer as the vehicles you rent. This woman's utterly horrendous manner kept getting me angrier, because she kept screaming over me. At one point, I just kept saying, "You're not letting me speak," over and over. She never let up. I believe that because my brother paid, she felt she could do and say what she pleased. And she did.
An unfortunate situation was made SO much worse by being treated this way. If she thought I was being over-sensitive, that's her opinion. She's entitled to it. But she was not entitled to treat me the way she did. I was allowed to be upset that this part of a really special night a kid who had been through the ringer and deserved every wonderful thing on this one night didn't get. That was not understood in the least by this awful woman.
I blame myself. Not having rented a limo before, I did not do the kind of digging about complaints I should have.
Stay away from these people. You may not get the vehicle you ordered, and, if you have the unholy temerity to be irate about it, you will get, not a sincere apology, and a discussion about whether SOMETHING could be done because you're a customer who just arranged to drop a ton on renting a limo but a screaming shrew who shrieks that you should be grateful, and then HANGS UP. read more
