Like most young girls, you dream about your wedding day: your dress, the flowers, the music, and of course the limousine. On my wedding day, August 22, 2015, I used a company called Brother's Limousine in Milton, Ontario to transport the wedding party to the venue, a ten minute drive from my home. It is worthy to note that I had spoken with the owner several times, months in advance to discuss timing and multiple pick up locations, which included a shuttle from my home.
On the week of my wedding, both my fiancé and I each spoke with the owner to confirm our itinerary and pick up times. There would be one trip with the groomsmen and two trips from the bride's house to the venue (one with the wedding party and the second just with the bride and her father). This second trip was duly noted on my invoice with a separate charge.
On the day of my wedding the limo arrived earlier than scheduled. While waiting for everyone to finish getting ready, the driver came into my home and asked me to use the washroom. Clearly there was no confusion that I was STILL AT HOME and in need of a ride.
At 3:00pm the bridal party left in the limousine for the wedding venue which was to start at 4:00pm. Remember, our wedding venue of choice was a 10 minute drive away from my house, 15 minutes if we are being generous. At 3:30pm my Dad and I started to watch out the window, thinking to ourselves, wow there really must be some traffic. At 3:45pm I connected with our best man, at the venue, as I was getting quite anxious and asked him to contact our limo company to see what the delay was.
Our best man informed me that he had spoken with the owner who assured him that the driver was on his way. Relief! (Little did I know that he was on his way to another wedding) After an additional 10 more minutes, I started to panic as it does not take an hour to drive four blocks. I decided to call the limo company myself. To my surprise, the owner informed me that my driver was in Cambridge (25 minutes from my house in Milton) and had forgotten to return for me, the bride! Did he not realize that the girl in the white dress standing in the hallway directing him to the washroom was the bride! Hard to miss! The owner then suggested that another driver was about 15-20 minutes away if I wanted to WAIT....I was already late! So here I am in my Cinderella ball gown standing in the middle of my living room, knowing full well my Prince Charming is waiting only 10 minutes away. So my amazing Dad stuffed and I mean stuffed me and my dress into the back seat of his work van and drove me to get to my groom! Not quite what I had in mind for my wedding day. The limo ride with my Dad was supposed to be one of those memorable moments of the day. Just me and my Dad! Make's for a great story down the road but for me today was about only getting to my wedding on time.
Could it get any worse? Not hearing from the owner with at least an apology for what had happened, I decided to call. He simply offered me the driver's gratuity and $75.00 for the inconvenience. Inconvenience? This was my wedding day! When I reviewed my invoice from Brother's Limousine, I noticed that I was charged $55.00 for an extra stop, which would have been MY ride to the venue with my Dad, which clearly did not happen. I was getting a pathetic $20 for the inconvenience. Inconvenience! I was the bride not an inconvenience! TWENTY DOLLARS for forgetting the bride and making her late to her wedding? Seriously! After considerable thought I realized I was not happy with this decision and it was shear frustration that was taking over. With a little bit of time to collect my thoughts, I once again called the owner in my final attempt to have him re-evaluate his position but it became a bigger argument. Did I not realize that he had three weddings that day! He did not want to take responsibility for what had happened and blamed the driver, stating that the company needed to make money - make money from me? In my mind, his driver was his responsibility. I don't care if he had 100 weddings that day! After discussions back and forth, I felt I was getting nowhere, nor was I being compensated for being the "forgotten bride", so I settled for $38.00 for my inconvenience. Oh did I mention I could have 20% off the next time I book with them? I don't plan on getting married again!
If you are a bride, preparing for your big day, dreaming of all the things to come, I would highly recommend NOT booking with Brother's Limousine as you might be yet another "forgotten bride". read more