[Raywatkins]

We use Groome and had our first problem on Sun.
I stress it was not their fault.
Our international flight arrive late and we knew before we landed that we would not make the scheduled bus on time.
Phoned them as soon as we landed and they told us they were fully booked all day. They even tried using the Workman van - all to no avail.
They did suggest we could just wait and see if there was a no show.
We decided that was too risky so phoned Village Vans. They took a few minutes but said they could get us on a van. We asked what the wait time would be. Reply was the van would arrive in 10-15 minutes. Yes we were lucky.
We had previously abandoned Villages Vans because the vehicles were shabby and seat belts didn’t always work. But this was a new van and really no different to Groome except $10 more expensive.

We contacted Groome expecting to have a problem getting a credit - but no that was given without any hassle.
Only issue we had with Groome was the long telephone wait time when calling about a refund.

It does seem that the services are very busy just now - not sure why, but probably due to the expanded size of The Villages. No doubt these companies will increase capacity in due course.

As I said at the start - it wasn’t Groome’s fault we missed the connection. Well done to them on the credit front. And thank you also to Village Vans for helping us out.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by GizmoWhiskers

...
Squirrel...

I don't understand why theTampa A P isn't an option for shuttle services from T V. It is not that much further and time wise is only like 15 min longer. With the growth in Orlando, MCO is not the awesome airport it once was.

A guess:
- 20 miles further
- 30 minutes longer but highly dependent on downtown Tampa traffic which can be terrible
- Fewer flight options (may not be as much of a factor)

[jojo]

Groome stranded me at 3 a.m. in the morning. Admitted it was a driver error. At that time they didn't have a 24-hour number. Appears that they still have this problem. Workman was very reliable. Hope Groome gets it together.

[75090BAR]

My first communication has not compared favorable to Workman. I was on hold for 1-1/2 hours trying to make a reservation. No answer. Finally I went on their website to accomplish this. When I tried to call back days later to confirm that I was being picked up, etc. I waited for 30 minutes again. When the rep finally picked up she did not sound friendly or helpful. I felt like I was bothering her. Luckily my trip with Groome to Orlando will only be one way. I will keep reading TOV to learn what other transportation is available. Workman: We miss you!!!

[defrey12]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Two at a minimum. Things happen and everyone has a bad day once in a while.

IDK…one missed flight would be enough for me. But I’ve done the math…cheaper and easier to park (for a week; two weeks is break even). And I KNOW I won’t be late.

[Villagesgal]

I hope the bad reviews are wrong. We already signed up for the new express service with them. Hope all goes well.

[Altawood]

I have used the new Groome service twice since the change-over, once to MCO and once returning to the villages. In each case the experience was better than my trips with Workman who made us wait two and a half hours in Orlando airport for our return.
Having said that, my experience with both companies has been limited to two trips each.

[KsJayhawkers]

Originally Posted by Cbloom

New service to the airport disgraceful bus showing up 30 min late won’t answer phones No communication. ! If you need to get to the airport don’t trust them it’s been a great service for years now this !

I will say the employees of both Groome and Workman are equally as frustrated as management/IT tries to merge both reservation systems. The transition has been anything but smooth and, in my opinion, should have been worked out before any schedule changes were made by management. We are having phone systems go completely down with no incoming/outgoing phone calls for hours until technical support gets them back up.

Workmans Express service and Groome's door-to-door service is equally confusing as MCO has delegated one pickup spot in Ground Transportation for all of the Groome Services - The Villages, Daytona Beach, and Workman. If a passenger has Express service with Workman and arrives earlier than their planned pick up time and a Groome door-to-door van arrives at Ground Transportation, it is Groome's policy to pick up those early arrivals if there is space and bring them home (LSL or Brownwood depot) so the customer does not have to wait. This increases the travel and drop off time for the van drivers next stops/pick ups.

Since Groome offered a 24-hr operation and Workman was not, they have had to spread out the dispatchers to cover the shifts and simply do not have enough dispatchers or phone lines. They are hiring five new dispatchers to cover shifts but as we all know, the hiring/training process takes time.

The employees feel everyone's anger over the disruptions and I hope the snags work themselves out quickly as both companies have the best intentions of bringing superior customer service but as of now, they are failing in that category.

Please have patience with us.

[NotGolfer]

Yet another reason we're not traveling these days. The airlines have issues, crowded airports, now the shuttles (or whatever one calls them). Add that to aging people and it's a disaster. If you're young(er) it's mostly an inconvenience---no scratch that----it's just not acceptable for anyone to have this added travel stress.

[jbsnarkin]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

This is very disturbing and bad news. As if traveling isn’t stressful enough, now this. We, along with many of our guests, have been using Workman (And The Villages Transportation before it became Workman) for many years without ever having an issue. It was always the one leg of our trip we could count on. If a flight was delayed, there was always room on the next shuttle bus. We never had a bus leave for the airport more than a few minutes late and never were rushed to catch a flight. If we needed to talk to a dispatcher, someone would always pick up the phone with little or no wait. Having this service now being operated by a large national transportation company, with no real competition, is very concerning going forward. One thing is for certain, any changes in service will only go in one direction, and that direction won’t be for the better : (

I too was disappointed with the service. Crammed into a full minivan with workman markings on both legs of the trip. When I emailed them I received this reply.

“Eventually when things are situated, our busses will usually be favored on the Express routes and the Transit Vans for the home service routes.”

Favored busses. Keeping the minivan option on the table.

[Albany]

I read the entire thread, and I'm going to drive myself to MCO for now on. The long term lot works fine, tons of buses to the terminals, etc. I don't care about the cost, I want to get where I'm going with no added stress.

[mikemalloy]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

A guess:
- 20 miles further
- 30 minutes longer but highly dependent on downtown Tampa traffic which can be terrible
- Fewer flight options (may not be as much of a factor)

When we go to the Tampa airport we take 75 to 52 and run that over to 589 which takes us into TPA and completely avoids downtown traffic. 589 is a toll road.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by KsJayhawkers

I will say the employees of both Groome and Workman are equally as frustrated as management/IT tries to merge both reservation systems. The transition has been anything but smooth and, in my opinion, should have been worked out before any schedule changes were made by management. We are having phone systems go completely down with no incoming/outgoing phone calls for hours until technical support gets them back up.

Workmans Express service and Groome's door-to-door service is equally confusing as MCO has delegated one pickup spot in Ground Transportation for all of the Groome Services - The Villages, Daytona Beach, and Workman. If a passenger has Express service with Workman and arrives earlier than their planned pick up time and a Groome door-to-door van arrives at Ground Transportation, it is Groome's policy to pick up those early arrivals if there is space and bring them home (LSL or Brownwood depot) so the customer does not have to wait. This increases the travel and drop off time for the van drivers next stops/pick ups.

Since Groome offered a 24-hr operation and Workman was not, they have had to spread out the dispatchers to cover the shifts and simply do not have enough dispatchers or phone lines. They are hiring five new dispatchers to cover shifts but as we all know, the hiring/training process takes time.

The employees feel everyone's anger over the disruptions and I hope the snags work themselves out quickly as both companies have the best intentions of bringing superior customer service but as of now, they are failing in that category.

Please have patience with us.

Had a feeling this was the problem. Hope they work things out before they destroy their business

[jparsoneau@aol.com]

I used Groom two years ago. Did not have a problem. But I wasn’t a fan of having to spend 30 to 45 minutes on the route to picking up or dropping off other people meanwhile.
I have been using private shuttles in the village. There is many to choose from. They charge a couple dollars more but it’s only you or your party. There is no picking up other people no dropping off other people. There is no wait time and there’s nobody to put you on hold.
There is many of these independent shuttle rides. Which are a lot better and a lot more dependable

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jparsoneau@aol.com

I used Groom two years ago. Did not have a problem. But I wasn’t a fan of having to spend 30 to 45 minutes on the route to picking up or dropping off other people meanwhile.
I have been using private shuttles in the village. There is many to choose from. They charge a couple dollars more but it’s only you or your party. There is no picking up other people no dropping off other people. There is no wait time and there’s nobody to put you on hold.
There is many of these independent shuttle rides. Which are a lot better and a lot more dependable

How much is "a couple dollars more?"
For two people round trip Groom is $160 and airport parking can be as low as $70/week.