I'm torn on the stars--the driver gets FIVE STARS! He was absolutely amazing. He was in full dressy…read moreuniform and looked quite sharp. He had all the things we needed, including a corkscrew, because we forgot one! We had some complications from the office, not his fault, and yet, he accommodated us beautifully. His name was Larry, and would highly recommend that if you use their service, you ask for him. We were completely satisfied with our driver. He even had some great suggestions for places for Christmas lights in some nice parts of Houston.
Unfortunately, the reason for not getting five or even four stars has nothing to do with our driver. It has to do with the reservation set up. The way it feels to me is that they were willing to say whatever it took to get our deposit and it didn't matter if what I wanted was what they offered.
I requested a limo that would accommodate 10 people. I requested one on the website that said it would accommodate 10 people. They wrote back that the one I had requested would not be available, but assured me the one they were sending would seat 10. Well, it might have seated ten children. It would not seat 10 full-sized adults, and yes, three of the guests were people of size, but even so, it was a super-tight fit and there were only 9 of us.
We were an hour away from the limo service (in the suburbs) and so a quick exchange for a bigger vehicle wasn't possible. We called the office and they said they didn't say it seated 10 people, but rather, it seated EIGHT to TEN people. If that had been told to me, I would NOT have rented that particular limo, because we had more than 8 people. But on the website, it clearly indicated there were different limos--some that seated 6, 8 and some that seated 10. I picked the one for 10!
The office only offered to allow us to pick the hummer limo, but there would be an additional $180 charge (amount amended--That night cost us over $600). I've been informed it was a discounted charge, for a hummer that 1) was not previously rented on a 2) weeknight that was 3) after 6, so unlikely to be rented-I think it could have been a better offer.
We had to drive over an hour in the cramped limo, with one of us sitting on the floor, to get to the yard to switch. The driver told us he would not charge for over time on the trip If we went over. The office has said this is true, we won't be charged, and I trust that they are honest about that. I'm not worried about my bill. While I feel they were not clear enough on their reservation process and were more interested in making a sale than being completely transparent, I don't feel they are dishonest.
So we get to the yard, and move over to the hummer limo--and on the floor are napkins and dust and dirt. The lights in the roof flickered all night (one that buzzed off and on because it was going out). Even though we had called the office and let them know we were going to come get the hummer limo, and it took us more than an hour to get there, the limo was not prepared. We moved the bag of ice and water bottles over to the new limo ourselves, and then had to get out and go back for the champagne glasses because there weren't any set up in the hummer. THEN, the driver had to put gas in the hummer, because there wasn't any--so we had to sit, without lights or air conditioning, while he filled up the tank. I personally think this alone deserve some form of compensatory discount--but that wasn't offered to us, even though the company responded to my original Yelp review via email.
Since my Yelp reviews often include accessibility issues: the hummer is not accessible. With a limo, it's easy enough for someone who usually is in a wheelchair to slide into it like any vehicle, but with the hummer, you have to step up on the step rail and then the side rail and then into the hummer. That's difficult for someone who cannot use their legs. Fortunately, I can still walk, but it's not easy to pull up into a vehicle like that--and it wasn't something I had considered prior to arriving. The regular limos should be fine with a folding wheelchair though, and the wheelchair can fit in the trunk--but let them know in advance.
Also, even though they have a Christmas Lights Tour advertised on their website, they have no tour. The driver apparently will take you driving around places YOU want to go to look at lights. We were under the impression they knew or had contracted places to drive around and look at lights, but they don't offer that at all. Fortunately, the driver had a few suggestions of places to go and we saw some nice lights.
In the end, we had a good time; the rest makes for a good story, I guess. Let me end with: If we need a limo again, we absolutely would go with their services, but would also make certain we and they are more clear during the reservation process, so there are no minor misunderstandings. When paying this much for services, I do expect excellence, not just acceptable (or even just good).
