This year, our office decided to pitch in and book a limo wine tour for our boss for his birthday. Looking on Groupon, we found an amazing deal of $375 for 6 hours in either Napa or Sonoma, but it said to call for availability. When I called the office, they informed me that they would honor me the Groupon pricing of $375, but after fees and driver tip, it will be $545. That should have been my first warning sign. Don't get me wrong, it's not the dollar amount that made me upset, it was the fact that they automatically added a 25% tip to the driver before the actual event!
The day before the pick-up, I received a call saying that my card was declined and I needed to call the office with a new credit card number. I checked my online banking and the transaction was posted as pending since it was late on a Friday night. Sent the screenshot to the office and they said it will "fall off", and that I should give another credit card. Okay, fine, I'll just call my bank on Monday. The event is tomorrow and I do not want this highly anticipated trip to be cancelled.
On the day of the pick-up, the driver arrived on time and I gave him our itinerary and he gave me documents to sign stating that if we go over the 6 hour limit, I will be charged $110/hr. He opened all the doors and we filed in.... But he did not even close my coworker's door! HELLO, IF I WANTED TO TAKE A MINI VAN I WOULD HAVE WENT TO AVIS OR ENTERPRISE. I've taken limo tours to Napa/Sonoma before, and I truly regret not catching the previous company names. The service was sub-par and he did not talk to us once during the whole trip. As with other tours, when we were about to walk to the parking lot of each winery, I phoned the driver to let him know that we were on the way. For OTHER companies, they would spot us, get out, open the trunk, and help us load the boxes. This one? Nope.
We enjoyed the trip since it's a fun activity and we did not want this part of the experience to bring us down. Due to that, we stayed at the last winery for an extra hour, meaning we went over by 2 hours because of the drive home to SF. When dropping us off, I stayed back to sign the overage charge and his first comment was "oh, no cash?" Excuse you???? He plugged in the Square device on to his iPhone and swiped my credit card, charging me $240. This whole time he kept mentioning "oh, oh, you can add tip on here too." while guiding my finger towards the 25% tip option. No homie, I'm intoxicated, not stupid. But I am nice, so I'll give you 20%. While I was walking away, he told me to go on Yelp and review him. So here. I am unhappy with your company.
Monday rolls around and I check my bank account. Low and behold, there's pending transactions on both credit cards. I call my bank and they said that on the first card, the company charged me twice, with the second one declining due to bank security measures. There was also another charge on my second card. I contacted the office and told them about what happened and the lady said she will get back to me once she is near a computer, she has not called me back since. The bank told me that if it does not get resolved with them, they can file a claim.
Buyers beware: You will get charged a 25% tip for service before you even receive any service-- thus making them not needing to EARN your tip through excellent customer service. You will also be left with a hell of a hassle while trying to get things resolved. read more