My family and I have used Nisei Charters to travel between Gardena and Las Vegas for many years and up until yesterday, had never had any complaints. They offer reasonable rates and had a good reputation for promptly arriving at destinations.
The complete lack of professionalism that they provided yesterday, however, ensures that my family and I will never use them again. They completely mishandled a bad situation and made it worse.
Our bus back to Gardena was supposed to leave Las Vegas at 11 AM. We were told to arrive at the lobby at 10:30 AM so that we could check-in and hit the road. Up until this trip, you could rely on Nisei Charters to have the bags loaded and the passengers seated ten to 15 minutes before departure time.
When the bus failed to appear by 11 AM passengers began to call the Nisei Charters office. The calls went to voice mail because, despite having a bus driver working on a Sunday, the offices were closed. People left messages, including the staff at the California Hotel and Casino, explaining the situation to no avail. No one picked up the phone or returned calls.
Fortunately, someone had the cell phone number of the company president. Unfortunately, she wasn't answering her phone either. Not until around 11:45 AM, did she pick up the phone and become aware of the situation.
There was, apparently, a mix up with the bus driver and he was never informed of the assignment. Nissei Charters was sending another driver and all of us passengers were told that he would arrive between 6-6:30 PM. While this pleased no one, people were at least content to know that the problem was being addressed. The fact that there wasn't an apology or statement of any kind from Nisei Charters regarding the manner is unacceptable.
What upset people was how poorly the company president managed the situation. It hadn't occurred to her to provide any type of food for us, despite having to wait an additional seven hours at the hotel. When asked, by the very helpful desk manager of the California, the best that she could come up with was that if a passenger ran $200 through a slot machine, Nisei Charters would provide a $5 voucher for the snack bar. That was the answer? Gamble more? You have 26 people tired, hungry, and ready to go home, and you're telling them that if you're only willing to provide for lunch if they gamble $200 in a machine? Not even at the restaurant, but for the snack bar?
It wasn't until the company president was persuaded, either by the desk manager or by the growing anger among passengers, to give everyone food vouchers for the restaurants did it dawn on her that if you're stranding people for seven hours in a hotel lobby that you have to feed them.
After waiting for nearly seven hours, we were informed that the driver encountered heavy traffic and would arrive at the California at 10 PM instead of between 6-6:30 PM. How were the passengers informed of this? Only because one of the passengers contacted the company president to inquire about a time estimate on the driver's arrival. If not for that call, all of us would have been uninformed on the bus' whereabouts. No announcement to the hotel staff. No announcement to the passengers. Only a call FROM A PASSENGER TO THE COMPANY PRESIDENT allowed all of us to become aware of the current status of the driver.
The fact that it failed to cross the company president's mind that she should inform everyone about the delay demonstrates this company's lack of professionalism. We eventually arrived in Gardena at 2:30 AM. People had to cancel their plans on Sunday and many had to work on Monday morning. Nisei Charters inconvenienced a great many people and showed no remorse over it.
Crisis management is just as important as promptness. While very strong in the latter, Nisei Charters is a complete failure in the former. I advise that people take an alternative means of transportation from Gardena to Las Vegas. read more