Carmel Limo Beware
Nov 10th, 2006, 01:08 PM
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Carmel Limo Beware
As a result of reading decent reviews I booked Carmel Limo online for pick up at LGA on Sunday Nov 5 at 7:45 for a rate of $28 to midtown. Thankfully, I printed out my confirmation.
I arrived at LGA at 7:30 and by the time I had my luggage it was 7:50. I called Carmel Limo, per their instructions and they told me to go to the passenger pick up median outside and wait for the car who would have a yellow sign with my name on it and they asked how I could be identified. I told them I was in a full length red coat (easy to spot). They told me 10-15 minutes.
I called at 8:15 (25 minutes later) and was told it would be 10-15 minutes. They seemed to not know I had called previously. I asked where the car was EXACTLY and was told, "nearby".
I called at 8:30 and asked for a supervisor. (If you're wondering why I didn't simply get a cab it was because they had my credit card number and I thought I would be charged as a no show.) I was transferred to someone else who took all the information, yet again. I demanded a supervisor. When the supervisor came on, I had to repeat it all again. He said 10-15 minutes and I erupted and told him I'd been waiting almost an hour. I asked if they had the reservation and he said yes for an 8:30 pick up. I told him that was crap that I had called twice already and had a printed confirmation showing a 7:45 pick up. He repeated 10 minutes and hung up.
At 8:40 I flagged down a car (not the Town Car I reserved), with a white sign with my first name on it. I asked the driver when he was called for the pick up and he said 8:15! He then told me the fare would be $34. I showed him the printed confirmation indicating it was $28 and he called the office and let me speak to someone who told me it was now $34 because it was after 8 p.m., despite the fact I called before 8 and had been waiting 50 minutes. He also told me I didn't call until 8:15. I told him I could show the driver my cell phone call log. He told me I was lying!!!
I ended up only paying $28 but I will never use them again. This was the WORST, most unreliable, unprofessional car service I have ever encountered.
Even if this was a rare exception (which I doubt) they never admited error, nor did anything to rectify the situation, or even apologize.
I arrived at LGA at 7:30 and by the time I had my luggage it was 7:50. I called Carmel Limo, per their instructions and they told me to go to the passenger pick up median outside and wait for the car who would have a yellow sign with my name on it and they asked how I could be identified. I told them I was in a full length red coat (easy to spot). They told me 10-15 minutes.
I called at 8:15 (25 minutes later) and was told it would be 10-15 minutes. They seemed to not know I had called previously. I asked where the car was EXACTLY and was told, "nearby".
I called at 8:30 and asked for a supervisor. (If you're wondering why I didn't simply get a cab it was because they had my credit card number and I thought I would be charged as a no show.) I was transferred to someone else who took all the information, yet again. I demanded a supervisor. When the supervisor came on, I had to repeat it all again. He said 10-15 minutes and I erupted and told him I'd been waiting almost an hour. I asked if they had the reservation and he said yes for an 8:30 pick up. I told him that was crap that I had called twice already and had a printed confirmation showing a 7:45 pick up. He repeated 10 minutes and hung up.
At 8:40 I flagged down a car (not the Town Car I reserved), with a white sign with my first name on it. I asked the driver when he was called for the pick up and he said 8:15! He then told me the fare would be $34. I showed him the printed confirmation indicating it was $28 and he called the office and let me speak to someone who told me it was now $34 because it was after 8 p.m., despite the fact I called before 8 and had been waiting 50 minutes. He also told me I didn't call until 8:15. I told him I could show the driver my cell phone call log. He told me I was lying!!!
I ended up only paying $28 but I will never use them again. This was the WORST, most unreliable, unprofessional car service I have ever encountered.
Even if this was a rare exception (which I doubt) they never admited error, nor did anything to rectify the situation, or even apologize.
Nov 10th, 2006, 01:50 PM
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In the future, you should just ditch the car service and jump in a cab. If there is a charge, you can dispute it through your credit card company. That sucks, and I'm sorry you had such an unfortunate episode. There could have been a lot of demand due to the marathon that was tying up the cars - not that it's your fault!
Nov 10th, 2006, 04:15 PM
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This is the reason why it's always simpler to take a cab into the city from LGA. (Although you have reserved in advance they don;t organize a car for you until you call. If it's a busy night - bad weather etc - you can count on having to wait.) If you want a truly reserved car you need to tell them what time to be there and they almost certainly will - but then you have to pay for any waiting time.
And if you do call for a car service don;t use a credit card - just tell them you'll pay with cash - so if they don;t show there's no possibility of a problem.
And I wouldn;t blame Carmel for this - on nights that have bad weather or lots of traffic or accidents this can happen with any car service - that's the price you pay for using them versus a real limousine - which from LGA would be at least $60/$70.
And if you do call for a car service don;t use a credit card - just tell them you'll pay with cash - so if they don;t show there's no possibility of a problem.
And I wouldn;t blame Carmel for this - on nights that have bad weather or lots of traffic or accidents this can happen with any car service - that's the price you pay for using them versus a real limousine - which from LGA would be at least $60/$70.
Nov 11th, 2006, 04:41 AM
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"And I wouldn;t blame Carmel for this - on nights that have bad weather or lots of traffic or accidents this can happen with any car service - that's the price you pay for using them versus a real limousine - which from LGA would be at least $60/$70."
What? That is ridiculous. Gayle obviously has a reason to "blame" Carmel and be upset. It wasn't due to bad weather, traffic etc. They were outright lying to her, when she had the proof on her confirmation paper. Sheesh.
And by your reasoning, couldn't "bad weather or lots of traffic or accidents" affect the $60/70 "real" limosine service as well?
And I thought some of these companies require a credit card number, I could be wrong. But if that is the case then you can't get around that.
Thanks for the tip Gayle! I also had a bad experience w/ Dial 7 (price quoted, ended up being about $10 higher in the end). I think cabs are the way to go.
What? That is ridiculous. Gayle obviously has a reason to "blame" Carmel and be upset. It wasn't due to bad weather, traffic etc. They were outright lying to her, when she had the proof on her confirmation paper. Sheesh.
And by your reasoning, couldn't "bad weather or lots of traffic or accidents" affect the $60/70 "real" limosine service as well?
And I thought some of these companies require a credit card number, I could be wrong. But if that is the case then you can't get around that.
Thanks for the tip Gayle! I also had a bad experience w/ Dial 7 (price quoted, ended up being about $10 higher in the end). I think cabs are the way to go.
Nov 11th, 2006, 05:22 AM
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Thank you for reaffirming my belief that booking a car from LGA to midtown is just plain silly. I've never understood the idea of having to call when you get there and then wait for a car -- even if it weren't so long, when you can go right out the door and get a taxi almost instantly -- at least I always have been able to from the taxi stand near American luggage pickup.
But I think I do understand that the central office is booking cars and sending them to locations as people call in and as drivers have reported back that they have delivered there customers to various locations and are not free again. Don't think that a particular car has already been reserved to stand by and wait for your call.
But I think I do understand that the central office is booking cars and sending them to locations as people call in and as drivers have reported back that they have delivered there customers to various locations and are not free again. Don't think that a particular car has already been reserved to stand by and wait for your call.
Nov 11th, 2006, 11:15 AM
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Amelie -
I don't think you understand how the system works. When you originally call they put you in the system as a request. However you are not assigned a car don;t until you call from the airport that you have arrived. If the weather is bad or there is an accident all the drives take longer - so they are able to handle fewer pickups - and you have to wait. That's what you get when you call a basic car service (which costs no more than a taxi).
If you want them to assign you a car in advance and have it wait for you they will do that - but it costs more. And the car may still be late if conditions are really bad (the cars can't sprout wings and fly over traffic).
If you want a guaranteed car you need to use a corporate type limo service - which will be MUCH MORE - and they will assign you a car in advance (and not take any trips that end only a few minutes earlier). These are reliable unless there is a blizzard or equivalent - and then no one can do anything.
That's why I always use a cab. You know where you are. If you want to use a car service you need to inderstand what you're buying.
And they are OK about 80 to 90% of the time. But I have been abandonned at the airport - a service organized by my company. After 30 minutes of no car, and multiple excuses I told them to forget it and took a cab. And made sure they didn;t charge us anything.
I don't think you understand how the system works. When you originally call they put you in the system as a request. However you are not assigned a car don;t until you call from the airport that you have arrived. If the weather is bad or there is an accident all the drives take longer - so they are able to handle fewer pickups - and you have to wait. That's what you get when you call a basic car service (which costs no more than a taxi).
If you want them to assign you a car in advance and have it wait for you they will do that - but it costs more. And the car may still be late if conditions are really bad (the cars can't sprout wings and fly over traffic).
If you want a guaranteed car you need to use a corporate type limo service - which will be MUCH MORE - and they will assign you a car in advance (and not take any trips that end only a few minutes earlier). These are reliable unless there is a blizzard or equivalent - and then no one can do anything.
That's why I always use a cab. You know where you are. If you want to use a car service you need to inderstand what you're buying.
And they are OK about 80 to 90% of the time. But I have been abandonned at the airport - a service organized by my company. After 30 minutes of no car, and multiple excuses I told them to forget it and took a cab. And made sure they didn;t charge us anything.
Nov 11th, 2006, 11:03 PM
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Gayle, I'm so glad you posted this BEWARE message. I was planning to use Carmel on my upcoming trip, but reading this post has changed my mind.
Does a taxi from LGA cost about the same as the car service?
Does a taxi from LGA cost about the same as the car service?
Nov 12th, 2006, 08:07 AM
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I invariably end up paying between $30 and $35 total for a taxi from LGA to midtown, and more often than not that's a late afternoon "rush hour". That includes the tolls and a tip of 15 to 20%. So I don't see any real difference between the price of a taxi and a car service -- and you don't have to make a phone call and wait for the taxi.
