***BEWARE DO NOT BOOK WITH THESE MONSTERS***
Let me start by saying that I was SO excited to book a party bus for my wedding. It was a special gift for my now husband because I knew he was nervous about getting married in a catholic church (I'm Catholic but he did not convert so he was pretty uncomfortable with ceremony to begin with). I thought it would be a great way to calm him down and make him feel more at ease with the strictness of the ceremony.
When I asked him how the bus was, he told me that they didn't have any alcohol (I wish the driver had prompted them but that is not necessarily the driver's fault). The driver didn't know it was a wedding, asked them where to go, and blasted slow, sad country music (which we hate) the whole way. I was frustrated that the driver didn't give them a tutorial on how to use the resources on the bus or have any idea where she was going. I even double-checked the email and absolutely know that I provided all addresses in the itinerary. The driver never offered to go back to the hotel to get alcohol or drive us to a store to quickly pick anything up. So instead, we waited in the church for the father of the bride to drive back to the hotel and deliver alcohol. At this point, I can't blame the driver for the lack of alcohol, but I wish she had been more on top of it and showed the boys around the bus and settled them in better.
Here is where it gets out of control. The photographers come out to the bus and instruct the bus driver to go to the Jackson Field in the Metroparks. We pile in the alcohol and ourselves and wait to start moving. The driver then asks where to go. Once we repeat the location, she tells us her GPS doesn't work. My sister, the maid of honor, gets down on the floor of the bus to use her phone to GPS the driver to the next location. Then, another phone gets used to try to connect to Bluetooth. Turns out, the driver is connected to Bluetooth and has been playing slow, sad songs this whole time. She does very little to help us understand how to set up the music. My brothers, who are computer science engineers and understand how technology works, are unable to connect to Bluetooth until the last 10 minutes of this 5-hour bus rental.
When we finally get to the location for photos, the driver demands $150 in cash from my sister because we are running behind schedule. At this point, her inability to properly drive, find the directions, and follow the directions without being explicitly directed by my sister is unfathomable. We ignore her and go take photos. The whole time, she is extremely nasty and screaming at our photographers who are starting to panic. At one point, she starts honking at everyone and tries to rush us back on the bus.
Once photos are over, we go back onto the bus. At this point, she is clearly livid. BUT THEN she asks AGAIN "so where are we going" as if she never looked at the itinerary that was sent to her that clearly outlined all addresses. So AGAIN, my sister is on the ground in her dress giving directions and STILL trying to set up the music. Everyone is frustrated and we all just wanted to get off the bus and enjoy the reception.
As we clean up the trash and file off the bus, the driver stops me, the bride, at the door of the bus. She demands $130 IN CASH before I leave the bus. As if I could possibly have that amount of cash stuffed in my wedding gown. I tell her that we can settle it on Tuesday (it is Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend). She tells me she IS the company and we need to settle the tab NOW. I walk off the bus and go inside my reception.
So, Sunday morning 7am I call and leave a voicemail to please call me back. At this point, I also see a charge to my new husband's credit card for $86.12 for going over by 30 minutes. Now, we were made late to everything all day because of the incompetence of the driver AND she has been demanding random different amounts of money to compensate for her inadequacy.
I get a voicemail from them on Tuesday giving me the number to call and discuss what happened. The call starts with me introducing myself and asking x3 if this is the right person to talk to. I'm talking to a female voice when I made my reservation with a male voice. I ask if she knows the bus driver and get no response. I delve into my story and at the end she starts defending the driver. Then she ends with "Just so you know, I do know the driver. I am the driver". At this point, I am overwhelmed with how duplicitous the company is. It was ridiculously egregious to set me up with the driver to discuss the events of my wedding.
The company refused to treat us, the bride and groom, as human beings on our wedding day. They DID NOT deliver the service that was promised. They did everything they could to make everything more difficult and stressful for us on what is supposed to be the best day of our lives. Obviously, we aren't getting anywhere with the company, so I want to make sure I do my due diligence and WARN EVER read more