Let me preface by saying that I have never written an online review of ANYTHING, so take from that what you will.
Here's what happened…. A group of 8 friends rented a limo for a birthday party to go wine tasting in Santa Barbara. The plan was to leave LA around 9:00 AM, go to Santa Barbara for the day to a number of wineries, end with a dinner at 5:45 and then drive back to LA. These plans were explicitly and specifically discussed with the owner of the Limo company prior to the date of the birthday. We also inquired as to whether the driver would have a GPS system and if the vehicle would have an ipod cord and jack that we could plug into the stereo: we were assured that the car would accommodate both requests.
We should have seen it as an ominous start when the driver arrived and asked “Where are we going, folks?”. You’d think they’d inform the driver he was embarking on an 11-hour day, but apparently not. He also had no GPS system or ipod hookup. Not the end of the world, but annoying nonetheless.
The day proceeded to go smoothly (Thanks to those with GPS on our phones) until it came time for dinner. It was about 5:30 and we informed the driver that we’d be heading to the restaurant for our final stop. He then proceeded to tell us that he needed to get back to LA and that he was unaware of plans for dinner. We (very politely) explained that our itinerary was pre-arranged with the limo company and that this was a birthday party that included specific dinner reservations at 5:45.
Our driver then got in the limo and began to driving the group to what we thought was dinner. Following along on the GPS, we notice that he missed the restaurant exit, so we lowered the partition to let him know. He then informed us that he was going back to LA and that there would be no dinner. At that point he raised the partition and refused to acknowledge us for about 15 minutes – we were essentially captives in the back of his car. This is where the excitement began and I’ll just give you a few highlights to spare rambling even more:
-About 15 minutes into our hostage situation, one of the girls in our party started knocking and shouting to the driver that she needed to stop at a restroom, to which the driver replied “Go on the floor”
-Fortunately, we convince him to stop on the side of the road a few minutes later. After 2 minutes, with certain people still standing outside of the limo and the doors open, the driver started slowly driving away. When those of us back in the car pointed this out, he angrily yelled “Tell them to get in the car NOW.”
- Once back in LA we were approaching our destination, when the driver decided to drive through an intersection although the light had turned red a solid three seconds prior. As a result of this, a car coming across from the right side had to slam on their brakes, subsequently causing our driver to do the same. This caused half of our party to literally go flying through the air towards the front of the limousine. No one was seriously hurt in our party, but the driver did not even lower the partition to make sure that everyone was okay.
-Finally, we were relived to arrive home in once piece and tried to confront the driver on the experience - he brushed us off and drove away in a huff.
Here’s the best part: after this was all said and done, the birthday girl recounted the entire experience to the owner of the Limo Company who showed NO CONCERN WHATSOEVER. Apparently lying to and blatantly disregarding customers, along with reckless endangerment and borderline hostage situations are all in a day’s work for Taxi Limos “R” Us!
And to be clear, I do not recommend their services to any prospective customers. That is all.
Pros: Vehicle, We Got Home in One Piece
Cons: Amenities, Driver, Fearing for Safety, Misinformation,
more