Talk of The Villages Florida - Village Airport Van Terrible Service

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mneumann02 (Post 1947600)

My last two experiences with Village Airport Van were complete disasters and if you use airport van services might want to know. I will never use your company again and will actively advise others not to also. NOTE: The company advertises vans leave every 30 minutes.

May 2- Landed at Orlando Airport and got to parking space A-45 at 1:25pm. Van showed up at 1:30. At 2:10pm I asked the driver when he is leaving. Driver said not till the dispatcher releases me and there are 2 people with their luggage coming down the stairs. These people never showed up. The van finally left at 2:40pm- an hour and 15 minutes after I got there.

May 19- My son got to space A45 at 6:30pm. No van. I called the office and was told the van would not get there until 7:20pm, and then would wait 30 minutes for other passengers, which would be 7:50pm or 1 hour 20 minutes after my son got to the parking space. My son then called Uber and took that to The Villages.

Conclusion: There is no excuse for this. Their current policy is to load up the vans to increase profits, no matter the discomfort to your customers. But they continue to advertise on your website the vans "leave every 30 minutes."

Suggestions: Stop advertising 30 minute schedules. Stop loading up the vans to increase profits at the expense of having satisfied customers. (This van packing also means extended times for picking up to the airport and coming back to The Villages. And with Fenney now drawing customers, it can be well over 2 hours sitting in the van.) Hire more drivers.

Excuses: None really. They blamed it on Covid, but bad service from anyone is now blamed on Covid.

Reacation from TOTV Members: Please do not attack me. I wrote this for three reasons. One, to advise people what to expect from this company if they use them. Two, just to blow off a little steam. Three, I have taken this up with the company and hope they might reconsider how they operate.

We changed to Groome & very happy with the service. $66. round trip. Immaculate vans & on time. Village Airport Van has gotten very sloppy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss B GA (Post 1947911)

We use private transportation only. $40 each way per person. No wait. No hassle.

Would very much appreciate information on your private transportation

Quote:

Originally Posted by vintageogauge (Post 1947606)

Never had a problem with Workman's, always on time with pick up and drop off as scheduled.

Yes, we love Workman. We do pick up and delivery at Lake Sumter Landing right near Cody's. There is a large parking lot across the street if you need to park your car during a short trip. We live at the north end of The Villages and the other door to door pickup service meant we had to tour The Villages from the south to the north before it got to our house. Going to Orlando airport, the reverse happened. This wasted a lot of time.

Not a NICE tour at 9:30pm....after waiting in the van before heading for home. Two hours to get home one time, exhausted from the previous flight from AZ.... Oh well, you get what you pay for that's for sure.

Has anyone have opinions on Airport Express or Dave transportation? Thank you in advance!

Anything with wheels that delivers anything from People to Pizza will have problems now and then.

I feel terrible for the people who get lumped up by a Service that doesn't add up to their expectations. $33 dollars to Orlando airport is an unbelievable price. Very good

and their customers seem to love them.

I owned a small piece of a big taxi service in N.J. it used cars and vans just like in Florida and in order to pay everyone, maintain the cars, keep the electricity on and pay the rent and almost forgot the dispatcher, they like to eat too. We also had insurance to pay and registrations and car washes daily. We would get $45 to Newark Airport which was 30 miles there and back $1.50 per mile. The service that has been going for $33 to Orlando is charging 45 cents per mile based on 72 miles which is what I clocked on my own vehicle this past week when I was dropping off my wife.

Point being. How do they stay in business? I have a feeling I might know but don't want to disparage a company that at this moment seems to be providing the service at an unbelievable price. What a bargain.

If anyone in my circle of friends and family down here needs a ride, that would be me. On-time every time. So Far. Thank you, Lord.

You all have provided great alternative transportation options to MCO. But who, besides the Village Airport Van, goes to SFB (Sanford)?

I had a horrific experience with them. I will NEVER use them again. I came so close to missing my flight, pre-pandemic. The dispatcher called when I was picked up (I was the first person on the van) and gave him more people to pick up. . It was packed when we stopped at a hotel to pick up additional passengers that hadn’t even arrived at the hotel yet. We had close to a mutiny. Couldn’t blame the driver who was very nice but he had to follow orders or his job would have been in jeopardy. The van was so seriously overpacked with people that it was a dangerous situation. I cancelled my return trip and the people at the office couldn’t have cared less. Terrible company to deal with. my advice, find any other way to get to and from the airport

Who do you use? Do you have #

My friend WILL NEVER EVER CONSIDER USING YOUR COMPANY "GROOME"! Your manager should be ashamed how they treated him. He makes a future reservation but 20 min's later he called back to cancel when I told them I had to go to Orlando that day and could drop him and his wife off. He called you guys back and you stated "YOU'D ISSUE HIM A CREDIT FOR A FUTURE TRIP???". Come on, I could see if he waited days or weeks to cancel, but inside 20 min's? Then the manager gets rude and hangs up, GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! It took a call to your corporate office to get a refund, shame on you! Are you telling new and existing clients about refunds, that you don't give them? I'd NEVER RECOMMEND YOU! This didn't happen last year, THIS HAPPENED LAST MONTH! I've also seen that you don't social distance, I was at the light at 44/Morse, THAT VAN WAS PACKED WITH PEOPLE, WOW!

Many of my friends both here in the Villages and Leesburg use Dave's Airport Transportation, 352-223-4696. They can prove they are commercially insured/licensed versus some of these 1-2 car so-called services who are not even registered with the state to operate, yet alone have commercial insurance. They don't rideshare, they are a one pick, 1 drop off service. I've read their impeccable reviews on NextDoor Neighbor website, they also have a business page on there which lists their services and pricing.

Village Airport Van

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken D. (Post 1947937)

OP, please clarify which company you’re complaining about. Village Airport Van (yellow stripe) of Workman’s Airport Shuttle?

The problems have been with Village Airport Van, not Workman's.

And here is their ad: "48 trips per day leaving OIA/MCO approximately every 30 minutes."

Quote:

Originally Posted by stan the man (Post 1948037)

Should be two different van - one for below 466A other above

THREE.
One for above 466
One for 466 to 44
One for below 44
:pray: