What was planned to be a happy
night celebrating our daughter's wedding instead turned into a
nightmare. I live in Maryland and my daughter lives in Ft. Worth.
Because there were a majority of family and guest from out of town, I rented a
party/limo bus for my daughter's wedding. There were sixteen (16)
passengers who included the bridal party, parents of the bride along with
family and friends. The company suggested that I rent the 30 passenger bus and
quoted me the weekday rate of $150 per hour for a total of $900 for the
evening.
When the driver arrived, he
introduced himself as well as introduced his “daughter”. He told me that
his “daughter” was riding along with him to assist with any women who may get
sick. I have rented party buses before and never had a driver bring along
a “daughter” and/or an assistant. Does this particular limousine company
view all their clients this way? If they do, they should be really ashamed of
themselves.
When leaving from our location a
member of the bridal party indicated that he would drive because he may have to
leave early due to his work schedule, so he followed the bus. As we drove away,
he noticed that the bus was swaying. When we arrived at our destination,
he told the bridal party that he was concerned and thought that the driver was
either distracted and/or had been drinking. He had no idea what had
transpired on the bus.
Whenever the driver applied
the brakes the seats and passengers fell to the floor. When I said
something to the driver, “his daughter” indicated that they had the bus out the
night before and that the same thing happened. With that said this
limousine company had full knowledge of the problem and still decided to
lease/rent the party bus out to customers.
Also, for everyone’s safety, I did
not want to put young lives at risk so I gave instructions regarding the drop
off locations to the driver. Only two stops needed to be made with my
daughter and bridesmaid being the first stop. When they got off the bus,
they realized that they were not at the right address. They in turned got back
on the bus and finally reached the correct destination. The last stop was
to be the Hyatt Place at Cityview Blvd, Ft Worth. When everyone got off
the bus we realized that we were not at the Hyatt but at a completely different
hotel. The driver offered to take us to the correct hotel but at this
point we were so frustrated with the service we said no. As we started
walking, I was approached by one of the passengers that a family member was
unable to walk the distance due to her disability. She had to stay behind
until a vehicle was obtained from our hotel then we had to go back and retrieve
her.
The following day, I contact the
limousine company and mentioned the faulty seats and passengers falling as well
as the driver’s daughter riding with us. The
representative's response to me was that the driver does not
have a daughter. This infuriates me even more. This company has
turned our special social event into an unforgettable nightmare. As
requested by the company, I have submitted a complaint along with photos of the
broken seats and passengers on the floor to them. I also requested a full
refund but at this point it appears that they are now asking for a copy of the
police report and to now give them the time of the incident. With that said, it
appears that they are not willing to provide an immediate refund.
I have contacted the Texas Department
of Motor Vehicle, BBB, the local Dallas Ft. Worth Newspaper and will be filing a
judgment against them with the Small Claims Court. This company is extremely careless and is
endangering lives for those who step foot in one of their vehicles.
I hope that they would be cited and demand to have every one of their vehicles
to be inspected.