Fl Tours - Buyer Beware

[brnidgrl]

A note to all posters - please use extreme caution when booking transportation from this company and get everything in writing before your trip!

In a nutshell - last September we paid dearly to surprise our children with a limo ride from the Orlando airport to our resort. When we boarded our limo we were told that the electrical system in the back portion of the car (where we were sitting) was not functioning properly but that it usually "clicked on" after about 5 minutes of driving. The temperature outside was close to 100 degrees.

Unfortunately the electrical system did not "click on" until we entered the gates of our resort. To say that our 45+ minute ride to the resort was a nightmare is an understatement. The air conditioning was not functioning nor could we roll down the windows to provide air circulation. The televisions and video players did not work, etc. By the time we arrived our children were suffering to the point of near heat exhaustion.

The company refused to give us any meaningful discount (gave 2% off the price of the ride), offering many excuses (he had a business to run, the limo driver should have notified him that the electrical system was faulty and he would have provided another car, etc.) - none of which were our fault.

When we reported this company to the FL Better Business Bureau, they lied in their response stating that our party only experienced 5 minutes of inconvenience and that the electrical system had "clicked on" about 5 minutes into our ride. My NUMEROUS communications to the contrary (we were without ANY functioning air conditioning, electric windows, music systems, video systems, etc. for close to one hour) were ignored.

The owner of this company demonstrated dishonesty with our party as well as to the FL Better Business Bureau. In addition, the company did not live-up to their agreement to provide us with a fully-functional vehicle for the price we paid and refused to provide any sort of meaningful discount.

At the risk of being longwinded - the owner did offer a free ride from the airport the next time we visited Orlando. My response was that I would not select FL Tours again unless they were willing to live up to their obligations for THIS trip - which they were not. I would rather pay more and get what I paid for than to have a free ride in a sub-standard vehicle where our health was in jeopardy.

BE EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS if booking transportation with this company!

 

[Laurabearz]

First..... Welcome to the DIS!!!

Second... so sorry your limo ride was horrid. (((Hugs)))

 

[dudspizza]

If you truly had a bad experience with FL Tours, that is too bad.

Is it just me or am I the only person that gets a red flag when a post like this is a person's very first post and it is right after they have registered? It is kind of like ebay. A person who has no feedback rating is harder to buy from versus someone who has a positive feedback of 1000. Just my opinion. If the OP did have problems, that is too bad.

Hope things work out.

Duds

 

[brnidgrl]

Hi, duds -

I can certainly appreciate your reluctance to listen to my posting - which is your perogative. But just to clarify - I've used the Dreams Unlimited group for several trips over the years and actually had a different "name" during that time which I now cannot remember!! Poor, tired old brain......

 

[goofygreb]

I too did not have very good service with FL tours when we used them in July. When we arrived at the airport there was no one waiting for us, I walked all around the baggage claim area and nothing . Finally I called, and the person on the phone said the driver was there over by some stairs. When I finally found him he did not help DH get the luggage just sat back and watched. On our return to the airport we received the phone call the night before to confirm time, so it was surprising that the next morning no one was there, after waiting about 20 mins, I called and they said a driver would be there soon. When he finally did arrive he was wearing jeans, a polo shirt and a baseball hat not very professional at all. He had on some public radio station that was airing a comedy show which was a little inappropriate in my mind. I did not complain, I probably should have, but we will never use them again.

 

[dudspizza]

Hi, duds -

I can certainly appreciate your reluctance to listen to my posting - which is your perogative. But just to clarify - I've used the Dreams Unlimited group for several trips over the years and actually had a different "name" during that time which I now cannot remember!! Poor, tired old brain......

Ok then, I am sorry you had a bad experience. I tend to get skeptical of new posters nowadays, especially after there were many negative ME posts by new members who turned out to be limo company owners trying to drive business their way. Best of luck with your next endevour.

Duds

 

[disneymom3]

Duds,
I will admit to having exactly the same thought. I am open to believing, but it is not as weighted as a poster who has many posts to their name. I always wonder if posts like this are from the competition trying to trash the name of one of their competitors. Not saying that is the case, but just that the thought does occur to me.

OP, sorry you had such an awful experience. I have to say that there is no way I would have continued on such a trip. The temp in the car must have been beyond stifling without any air from even outside. I would have been banging on the partition between us and the driver and demanding that he stop.

 

[Zoop]

Used them in November and they were 45 minutes late for our pick up.
Said it was our fault as WE had changed the time which was totally not true.
We actually called and confirmed our time three days before our trip and we were all set. After returning home I emailed them with my complaints after receiving a customer survey email from them and have never heard another word from them. So much for customer service. Will NOT use them again.

 

[ducklite]

I think the OP was quite factual with her post, a competitor wouldn't have given details like that which could easily be checked out with the BBB.

Usually when it's a competitor, the grammer is poor and there's no details, or the story is so ridiculous you can see right through it.

To the OP--that's terrible that you had that situation. I probably would have refused to pay for the ride from the get go, or would have disputed it with my credit card company.

Anne

 

[Dreamer04]

Thanks for posting your experience. I am so sorry this worked our badly for you.

 

[jinglesmountjoy]

When we reported this company to the FL Better Business Bureau, they lied in their response stating that our party only experienced 5 minutes of inconvenience and that the electrical system had "clicked on" about 5 minutes into our ride. My NUMEROUS communications to the contrary (we were without ANY functioning air conditioning, electric windows, music systems, video systems, etc. for close to one hour) were ignored.

The Better Business Bureau is not all it appears to be. Think of them as a union, looking for the interests of one another. If one of them gets way out of line, you might see them take action (although limited at best). They will however, almost always side with the business.

For future reference, membership in the Better Business Bureau means nothing.

 

[DisFam95]

We had a bad experience too with the owner and customer service. The van was in bad condition and did not look anything like a "luxery van" IMHO. The driver was nice (we actually had him on our next trip working for Tiffany if that tells you anything).

We originally had a full party of 8 arriving at the same day. Just a couple days before 5 of our party had to change to arrive a day later so it was just us 3 in the van. I get a message in our hotel about us doing that and it was rather rude.

I paid for the darn thing you can drive me in doughnuts in the parking lot for 2 hrs if that's what I wanted...I paid for for it!!! We had a fullsize stroller and I did not think that would fit with all our luggage in a car trunk. He actually wanted me to call him back to "discuss it". He was very rude and we won;t be using them agian.

And the PP is correct about the BBB. They will usually support the business. We complained about something once and the business denied it so the BBB said that they could do anything about it.

 

[DisOrBust]

More then one. That answers my question for transportation.

 

[disneymom3]

Anne--that is a very good point. This poster is not flaming as you see in some suspicious posts but is simply very factual.

I did not say in my first post on this thread and did mean to, that I appreciate it a lot when people come on and give their negative reports of companies too. It is hard to do but so important to hear the negative aspects as well as the positive.

 

[Alysa]

Could you get in touch with your credit card company? AmEx is very good about protecting their clients where they can...

 

[jaysue]

Wow - sounds like they have gone downhill big time - is this not the company that "Andy" runs if I recall correctly - when we used his company it was great - this is unfortunate

cheers
jaysue

 

[Anjelica]

something off about FL tours. I used them back in November of 2004 and had one of those deals where it was airport (w/grocery stop) to akl and then 7 days later to hard rock hotel then 4 days later back to airport. Since this wasn't the usual roundtrip their website was doing something screwy so I had to call in. The guy was short and wasn't as "nice" as I thought they would be (especialy for a 1 quick question call to resolve the website dealio).

I will say that our driver was extremely nice and car was clean and on time so I certainy won't/can't complain about that. This time, though, we decided to go with rental car for various other reasons then stated above.

 

[Dizzyworld]

When we used them in Dec. we were told by our driver that Andy had sold the company. Our experienc was different in Dec. than before. Just not as professional.

 

[DaveO]

The last I checked FL Tours does not accept credit cards which is why I would never use them. These posts show I was correct in that assumption. If a company does not take credit cards there is no way to dispute charges. Also I agree that the BBB is just a scam so businesses can say they belong to a watch dog group which it is not.

Dave O.

 

[goofy4tink]

The last I checked FL Tours does not accept credit cards which is why I would never use them. These posts show I was correct in that assumption. If a company does not take credit cards there is no way to dispute charges. Also I agree that the BBB is just a scam so businesses can say they belong to a watch dog group which it is not.

Dave O.

Hi neighbor...we're one town over from you, in Westborough. But, I digress.
When we used FL Tours, we had some not so great experiences which I have posted on before. The first time, we had to go in search of our driver at MCO. He was not waiting at the foot of the escalator/stairs. He was outside, chatting, way down the walkway.
Then, the next time we used them, we were told we could not have a grocery stop since it was Thanksgiving Day. Now, you have to understand that when I booked this, I asked repeatedly if a grocery stop was going to be an issue. NO, not at all, I was told. Even if we had to stop at a little convenience store, we would stop. But no, not our driver. No way was he stopping.

Twice we had to go looking for the driver for the return to the airport. Once the driver was a bit late, but he got there. The second time, we were at BWV and the driver was parked down towards the bus stop!!! We had stood outside, waiting for 20 minutes, before dh went off in search of the driver. Wonder if the driver thought we were lugging our bags down the driveway??!

Nope, I've been using DME quite happily now for the last 3 trips. When, and if, they change to charging for the service, I'll re-evaluate my transportation. But, I don't think I'll be using FL Tours again. I did use Tiffany several times and never had an issue with them. I just wanted to support a board sponsor, so went with FL Tours. Never again.