Probably Won't Use Towncars Anymore

[clkelley]

Although we had good service from Tiffany Towncar, I was less than overwhelmed for what we paid.

Ours is a unique situation, so it won't apply to everyone. My hubby uses his personal ECV that we transport on the airplane.

We ordered a towncar from Tiffany, but because we have the ECV they insisted on sending a van and charged us the van price. It actually was easier to just lift the ECV into the back of the van instead of disassembling it, so we didn't make an issue of it.

But I got my credit card bill today and instead of $115.00 (100.00 for the van with coupon and 15 tip), my credit card was charged 125.00. We also tipped $15 cash for the return trip.

I called Tiffany today and they are (hopefully) correcting the matter.

I got to figuring what Mears would cost and realized in our situation, that Mears would have been less for the same service.

Mears would have been $26 each (using $3 coupon that Disney sends) for a total of $104.00 and we could have gotten away with a $5 tip each direction and since we would need the accessible vehicle, we probably would have had the van to ourselves. We rarely use the grocery stop, so that's not a benefit for us.

Now, if we didn't have the ECV and could use the Towncar instead of the van, I would recommend Tiffany as the multiple stops in the Mears buses are awful.

We're going in September with friends who also have a personal ECV, and although we'll probably drive, if we do end up flying, I was wondering if anyone had any recent experiences with Mears accessible vans from the airport.

Thanks,

Carol

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

You'd probably have better luck on the disAbilities board about the accessible Mears shuttle. But you are right, they have a small capacity, so the liklihood of picking up other folks is slim, but still a possibility.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by Chip 'n Dale Express
You'd probably have better luck on the disAbilities board about the accessible Mears shuttle. But you are right, they have a small capacity, so the liklihood of picking up other folks is slim, but still a possibility.

Our pal Tyler is right; but then again, sometimes the disABILITIES board comes to you!

We are in a similar situation, as DS is wheelchair bound. We were planning to try out a towncar service, which would of course entail a van, mainly so we could get a grocery stop out of it I have been hesitiant to do so, however, bcs none of the towncar companies seems to have much of a clue about HC transportation (one referred me to Mears, interestingly).

Our Mears experiences have been pretty good overall. Bcs we need the HC van anyway, we get door-to-door service for just us four (myself, DW, DS 6 in wheelchair and DD 4). The great thing about the HC van for us is that DS can ride in his chair, freeing up his carseat for DD's use (so we don't have to check her's on the plane or rent one when we arrive). And the drivers have always been Great, and have received commensurate tips (so maybe you wouldn't save all that much ).

I have do two fairly minor complaints about our service tho:
the worst one was on our October '03 trip, all the HC vans were in use so they subcontracted out to a HC accessible cab; the ride was fine tho, just a bit tight, but we had to wait for about 30 mins.
Another petty gripe I have with Mears is their insistance that they pick us up from the resort 4+ hours before our flight. Since we're not sharing a bus with the rest of humanity, we just make it so we arrive at MCO roughly 2 hrs before flight time, leaving ~50 mins for the van to get us there (saving us an hour+ of wait time at MCO).

Overall our experience has been very good from Mears, tho. I think you would be well-advised to use your discount coupons and just go with them next time.

 

[clkelley]

Sounds like what we'll do next time then.

I was thinking about giving Mears a flight time about an hour later than it really is so that they don't insist on picking us up at 2:30 for a 6:30 flight.

Tiffany picked us up at 4pm for a 6:15 flight and we had oodles of time.

Carol

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Originally posted by clkelley Mears would have been $26 each (using $3 coupon that Disney sends) for a total of $104.00 and we could have gotten away with a $5 tip each direction and since we would need the accessible vehicle, we probably would have had the van to ourselves. We rarely use the grocery stop, so that's not a benefit for us.

I ride an electric power wheelchair and always uses Mears. Like you, I have figured that Mears 'disabled' shuttle is very unlikely to have more than your family in it (I have only had to share once).

However, I always tip the driver as much as a limo driver, because mine is the only tip he gets for the trip, unlike a bus driver who gets tipped by most every passenger.

Andrew

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by Andrew Bichard
...However, I always tip the driver as much as a limo driver, because mine is the only tip he gets for the trip, unlike a bus driver who gets tipped by most every passenger...

Good point Andrew! Our tips have been a minimum of $10 each way, sometimes $20, since we've gotten great service from some of those drivers.

And if any of you want/ need discount coupons, I have a half-dozen to spare. Just PM me. (I'd even mail one to the UK if you wanted Andrew )