I don't know what's going on with this company, but I called from L.A. to book a ride for my dad in…read moreGrants Pass, to his eye doctor's office in Medford. The actual booking went smoothly, except that I wanted to pay for the ride myself, and the person taking the booking said he would have to call me back to get my credit card details. I don't feel comfortable until things like this are paid for and confirmed, but by the end of the day, I still hadn't gotten a call back, so I called again. I was told that the payment didn't have to be made right away, that I would be called in the next day or two. Five days later, two days before the trip was scheduled, I still had not received a call, so I tried again. I got Double D's answering machine in the middle of the day, so left a message that I wanted to pay for the trip and did NOT want my dad to have to pay. Toward the end of the day I still had not received a reply! I mean, what kind of business is this??? I went online to look them up and there was a second phone number. I called that one and got another answering machine, so left another message. A couple of hours later, that same number called my home phone, but hung up after one ring. I called back, got the machine AGAIN so left another message! This time the woman (Dee) called back and spoke to me. Hallelujah! What she said was that there was a problem with the booking, because I had been quoted $50, and my dad lived '13 miles out of town'. NO HE DOESN'T! I told her exactly where he lives (which is in Grants Pass, about a mile from Merlin, where Double D operates). She then said that they charge $50 to go to the airport, but my dad's doctor's office is about a mile from there, so they would have to charge me a minimum of $73 - one way. I didn't understand all this, and was increasingly uncomfortable with such shoddy business practices. I asked if they would honor the quote I was given 5 days earlier; a quote no one had followed up on to correct in those 5 days. She said no. Ok. But it gets worse. I got off the phone and started calling around to other transport services. While doing this I got a call from the man who had taken my original booking at Double D. He apologized for the misunderstanding and said he wanted to make it right. He said that $70 was only $20 more than my quote and not a big deal. But, he said, they would have to pick up my father an hour earlier because they transport mentally challenged people, and already had a booking they had to pick up on the way. And if that wasn't bad enough (since I had made the booking 5 days earlier), he said they could not take credit cards over the phone - that I would have to go to Walmart and pay to wire the money to him! Really??? He insisted it was easy - no big deal.
Well, Double D may think treating people like that is no big deal, but I think you should RUN as fast as you can the other way before ever calling this questionable company. I've never dealt with anyone so unprofessional, and I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't continued to call and attempt to get the booking paid for. And 'wire the money to Walmart"??? I'm guessing Double D stands for Dishonest and Disreputable.
In the end, I was lucky to find a reputable company on such short notice; a company that charged less than $70, took my credit card over the phone, sent me an instant receipt, and is going out of their way to accommodate my dad.
