Horrible experience with Airport Direct. See below for email I sent after having no luck by phone.
I originally made a booking online and despite submitting my card details and receiving on-screen confirmation, on further investigation it emerged that no booking had been received. This rang alarm bells and it appears that your online payment system is not secure - translating data into an email rather than completing the transaction correctly online. While both my partner and I had reservations about the security of this, we then both made the booking over the telephone with Jade. I booked my taxi to pick me up from my flight, which arrived at 0510 at Terminal 3 on Sunday morning. Jade specifically instructed that the driver would be holding a board with my name on it and would meet me outside Costa Coffee in Terminal 3 arrivals.
On arrival at Heathrow, I spent some time looking for this Costa Coffee, only to find that there isn't one. I also searched for a driver with a sign showing my name, but found no-one. By this time it was 0552 - 40 minutes after my flight had landed. After asking airport staff, I was told the only Costa outlet was upstairs in departures, so I started to make my way there. On the way I rang your office and was told that the driver would be waiting outside AMT Coffee in arrivals, not Costa after all. Having made my way back to arrivals, there was still no driver waiting, no board with my name on. I then called your office again and was told that the driver was still 10 minutes away. When I questioned why the driver was running nearly an hour late, I was given no satisfactory response but told to wait where I was.
After I came off the phone I received a call from an unknown mobile number, who hung up when I answered. I was then approached by a man who told me he was my driver, and had obviously been standing watching me to see if I picked up the phone. His appearance immediately made me uncomfortable - he had nothing that identified him as being affiliated with your company, he had no sign with my name on, and was dressed in torn jeans, trainers and a grubby woolly jumper. This was certainly not what I expected, especially having used your service before and having been met by a smart, professional driver. When I asked him why he was so late he seemed confused, saying that he had only received the job 10 minutes before. This seems to imply that there had been another error on your part, and the driver was sent at the last minute when you realised your mistake. I phoned your office again, and they verified that this driver was genuine by asking me for his I.D. number. By this point I was exhausted by all the problems that had been caused, and decided to go with the driver.
His behaviour from this point on was unprofessional to say the least. He walked off some distance in front of me, making no offer to help with my luggage. After following him through the car park, he took me to a dirty saloon car and opened the boot to load my bags in. I could see that the car was filthy, with empty drinks bottles and carrier bags littering the floor of the boot. At this point I decided that I did not feel comfortable or safe getting into this car with this driver, so removed my bags and told him that I would rather travel with a different company. He told me "It's not the company, it's just me" and when I left he ran after me and tried to get me to stay. By this time I was extremely upset, and went back into the airport to book with another company.
I then started receiving a stream of text messages from the driver. I have attached screenshots of these messages in order to convey the tone accurately. I started to feel worried that he would follow me into the airport, and I am still very aware that he has my mobile number and my home address. I want to emphasise that he did not do anything categorically wrong - but his attitude and appearance was completely unprofessional, not to mention that a customer should not be texted in such a personal manner. I want Airport Direct to be fully aware of the impression that this gives.
All in all, this was a very distressing experience, and meant I did not leave the airport until 0640 - an hour and a half after my flight had landed. I don't expect any outcomes from reporting this, but I feel that it's important for you to be aware of what happened, and I would appreciate acknowledgement. My family are regular customers of yours, but have decided not to use your service in the future following my experience on Sunday. read more