[CSB1228]

Usually, you prepay because you are locking in a certain time and the car service can't book that time again. If you cancel at the last minute, they're out the money. We prepaid one of the best car services from The Villages to Port Canaveral up to 8 months before our cruise. They texted us the driver's name and contact info the day before departure and again on the morning our cruise docked at Port Canaveral. Our round trip for 2 of us was $295.00 because we took advantage of a 20% off offer.

[KatieBon]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Sounds like a bad experience. First red flag should have been requiring you to prepay. We have used several different private drivers over the years and have never been required to give them any payment until they bring us to our destination.

Are there private car services you would recommend? (and thank you for the payment tip, did not know that!)

[davephan]

Next time use Uber instead. Uber has a much larger staff of drivers, you’re not totally dependent on just one person, who may have issues, or is unreliable. We add one hour to the normal travel time to the airport, in case there is a problem with the individual Uber driver or the roads. For example, if we need to be at the airport two hours before the flight, we add the normal travel time, then add an extra hour. That’s the time we schedule to be picked up by Uber. It’s happened before where two different Uber drivers could not find our location, and the ride was handed off to the third Uber driver who could find our home. We also have Global Entry, which eliminates the long security lines at the airports. Global Entry allows you to use the very short TSA Precheck security lines, and saves a lot of time. If an extra hour buffer isn’t enough time, add more time. It’s better to be a little early, than to run across an airport terminal. Done that, never again!

Dispute the charge on your credit card, and find as many review websites, and give that ride service a poor rating. That will help compensate you for the poor ride service that’s flighting you to refund your money. Absolutely never use that ride service again under any conditions of the refund status. If you can’t get a refund, consider it a lesson to use a major ride service next time. Plus, find even more review site to publish even more poor renews!

[Sandy and Ed]

If you are unable to get a full refund if your money i suggest you go to the Seniors vs Crime office at the Sumter Sheriff office located on 466 just off Morse You paid for service that was not provided Also i wonder what type of license is required to operate the car service and if Junior had that license (or for that matter, mom).

[BobbyM46]

Have used Dawn’s service a number of times with no issues. Pay cash at end of trip.

[oneclickplus]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

Dawn won't refund my $261 and offered me a "credit towards a future booking". Oh yeah, I can't wait to depend on her again!

Wait ... $261 for a ride to the airport?

[spinner1001]

Originally Posted by oneclickplus

Wait ... $261 for a ride to the airport?

That’s what I thought. I believe there is more to this story.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by bowlingal

I don't have GPS, not everyone does. Not saying they were right, but do not assume everyone has the gizmos and gadgets BrianL.

I assume it's simply common sense, for someone in the Car Service business to use GPS. Any car service who doesn't have GPS capability, isn't professional and is operating in the dark ages.

In this particular case, both the owner of the company and the driver had a Cell Phone .... 99.9999% of which, have GPS capability.

[JEM0715]

Read all the comments but nothing said, so here's the rest of the story that you can fact check if you so choose. #1) Dawn's is an "ILLEGAL" service. She's NOT registered as a state licensed business with Florida per (sunbiz.org). #2) No commercial insurance or airport permits. #3) one of her drivers weeks ago posted her "arrest report" for shoplifting at Walmart. Truly amazing though people use her services because of her cheaper pricing, lol. She doesn't have the overhead costs the other 9 "LEGAL" private car services have. The ole' saying though, you get what you pay for.

[Cindysum90]

100% agree with you. We used her once - never again. She had her father in law drive us and he was rude and a horrible driver. She didn’t care at all.

[FredJacobs]

I use PayPal when I am dealing with merchandise that comes from China. I have had experience with items are overhyped and not as advertised. PayPal contacts the seller and if they do not respond within 2-weeks, PayPal debits the seller's account, credits my account and tells me to do whatever I want with the merchandise.

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

I assume it's simply common sense, for someone in the Car Service business to use GPS. Any car service who doesn't have GPS capability, isn't professional and is operating in the dark ages.

In this particular case, both the owner of the company and the driver had a Cell Phone .... 99.9999% of which, have GPS capability.

Exactly!! If you have a cell phone you have GPS. No excuses on that.

[Albany]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

So I went to Ireland for the holiday and 2 months ago, I booked transportation with Dawn's Car Service to Orlando Airport.

At 2:50 PM on 12/26 I get a text, "Is your flight on time? I'm leaving now".

15-20 minutes later I get a text, "I'm feeling under the weather, I'm sending my son.

It's supposed to be a 4:30 pm pickup.

4:35 he's not here and I ask Dawn if he's lost.

"He made a wrong turn and will be there in 15 minutes" is the response.

How does someone get lost with GPS?

4:50 she says "he's still not there"? "He should be there". (no kidding!)

4:55 I tell her I'm going to miss my flight and I'm leaving to drive to Orlando.

He's still not here at 5. I drive to the airport, spend 40 minutes finding a place to park, then dash from Terminal A to Terminal C, race through Security and make my flight, only because of the kindness of the AerLingus desk agent, who allows me to board the flight, late.

Now I'm stuck with my car at Orlando airport and after 22 hours of airports and flying, I have to drive back to TV at midnight last night.

Dawn won't refund my $261 and offered me a "credit towards a future booking". Oh yeah, I can't wait to depend on her again!

& as it turns out, Dawn doesn't even have a "son", I've been told.

Thanks for posting, I keep a list of unreliable drivers to the airport--Groome being right up there, but this is worse.

[Albany]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

If your credit card is with an FDIC insured bank, and the merchant accepts the credit card as payment, the bank is required to comply with the Federal credit card dispute process. I would never pay a merchant with a third party payment, such as PayPal. Merchants like to use PayPal as a way to bypass the Federal credit card dispute process. The Federal dispute law allows you to dispute a charge within 60 days from the date that the charge first appears on your credit card statement. If the merchant failed to deliver the service or product you paid for, the bank must issue a credit to your account.

This is all good information. Paypal which is so commonly used, me being one of them, will just tell you they are a payment platform, and to call your bank. OK. My credit card is with Chase, I opened a dispute and got a full refund. It certainly does work.

[Whoaboy]

That is unfortunate for sure. Now you have me scared! I used her a few days ago and all was good. Planned a return trip in 2 days. Hoping for good results . I booked with her because of previous positive recommendations.