Urban Express Charters

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Urban Express Charter was hired to transport our 263-member high school marching band from Dayton, OH to St. Louis, MO for an overnight competition this weekend. Unfortunately, Urban Express Charter stuck us with an old, worn-out, sub-standard bus that clearly was not up to the trip. The first issue that forced our caravan to exit the highway involved a faulty emergency exit door that wouldn't latch shut, causing an alarm to continue sounding. Who knows if that issue was properly resolved, but they got the alarm to stop going off, so we got back on our way. Then, about an hour before reaching St. Louis, there was a major malfunction with the exhaust system, with tons of smoke billowing out the rear of the bus, rendering it inoperable. Again, we exited the highway, and everyone on the crippled bus had to merge onto the remaining buses in the caravan. For the rest of the trip, we had kids sitting on top of each other -- both uncomfortable and unsafe! Because of these first two setbacks, we were running so far behind schedule that we had to completely rearrange our itinerary for our first evening in St. Louis. As a result, our kids got cheated out of their sightseeing experience at Arch Park. Not cool. Arriving in St. Louis nearly two hours behind schedule, and having over 260 hungry teenagers on his hands, our band director opted to go straight to dinner. After dinner, the crippled bus made a re-appearance in the restaurant parking lot, and we were assured that the exhaust problem had been fixed. So, our kids loaded the bus.... but didn't get far. Frustratingly, the bus's worn out suspension couldn't support the bus well enough to make it out of the parking lot! Again, our kids had to unload the crappy, old bus, and one of the other buses had to circle back to pick them up from the restaurant after dropping everyone else off at the hotel.The band is still in St. Louis, and I hope and pray that Urban Express Charter is not planning to cause more problems for our return trip home by making our band ride back on this piece-of-junk bus. Beyond the unnecessary frustration and grief that Urban Express Charter has caused, I, as a parent, have very real safety concerns surrounding our kids riding on such a terrible, unreliable bus. As I mentioned, we are a large band, and our parents are aware of, and quite upset by, the problems that this charter bus company has caused for our band on this trip. Urban Express Charter can expect additional negative reviews. Lots of them.

They were Professionals, showed on time and worked as planned. Simply, would recommend them to a friend

The driver was very nice and proffessional and the car ride was so comfortable. I would recommend highly to anyone needing transportation.

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!

If I could give Urban Express 0 stars I would. My fiance and I were looking for a shuttle service for our wedding. Initially, they were quick to respond and gave us a quote of $490 for the shuttle we were looking for. At that point, my fiance forwarded me the email with the quote and I replied asking if there were any discounts available to that price. I did not get any answer at all. My fiance emailed and called the gentleman 4-5 times and never once got a response back over a 2 week period. She eventually called the office and spoke with a woman who said she would have the guy finally call back... he never did. She called again, spoke with another woman who was apparently very nice and helpful and finally got the guy to reach back out. When he finally responded after weeks of no communication at all, he told us the price was going up to $900! Basically doubled the price 3 weeks before our wedding!!! Needless to say, we were pretty upset, and responded back saying that it was extremely unprofessional the way they were handling this and that they should honor the initial quote of $490. They then proceeded to say that our venue was a 2.5 hour drive back and forth from the hotel and it would be over 300 miles throughout the day. Our venue is 13 miles from the hotel and a 20 minute drive. I did a little math to show them that even with more trips than they needed to make, we were going to be under 200 miles for the entire day and that the back and forth trip would only take 40 minutes total.



The owner of the company finally called my fiance and at first apologized for the miscommunication and said he would honor the $490 but would have to add 4 hours to the total price because we live outside of Columbus.. we live in New Albany, which falls under Columbus/Franklin county. He said that with the discount he could give us the shuttle for $892... WOW!! AN $8 DISCOUNT!!! AMAZING!!!!! She then told him that was a little ridiculous and that she was going to write a review on The Knot and The Wedding Wire so that other brides did not run into the same situation as she did and he proceeded to yell at her and tell her that she couldn't do that because it was slander and she was trying to trap him just to write a bad review... this is just silly. Luckily, we found another company that is run by people who know how to handle business and not try to screw us over. I hope that no one ever has to deal with this company and chooses to use another service in the area as they are extremely unprofessional and just trying to screw you over at the last second and make you pay more than what you first agree to.

Had a great time on the limo bus! Thanks for the good service!

I had reservations to be picked up at the airport, but my flight was late. I was worried they would not be there to pick me up, but that staff and driver at Urban Express were very understanding. The Mercedes was there waiting for me and it was immaculate. I will definitely use them again.

I haven't had any problems with Urban Express. In fact, I have been very pleased with the quality of vehicles and customer service.

I made a reservation 5 days in advance. I called because the shuttle wasn't there and was told a driver wouldn't be there for an hour even though I had a reservation. If I didn't want to wait she said I should take a cab. They need to know what RESERVATION MEANS.

We used the service back in June for our wedding, we provide them what we need prior to the wedding and this is it , service was done at professional level with no issues we was happy and all the guests as well. all I can say hand them what you need and forget about it ....it will be don

Summary: DO NOT RENT FROM THEM – THE OFFICE STAFF STOLE MY IDENTITY



I thought it would be great to rent a party bus to go tailgating, out to some bars, and back home for me and 29 of my closest friends. Initially all seemed normal when I booked the bus. The lady in the office required a signed contract, a copy of my credit card front and back, and a copy of my driver’s license to rent the bus. No big deal because I was paying cash and I never use that credit card. All mostly went ok on the trip except my friend left her coat on the bus and when we got back on it was not on there and her ID and credit card were in it. She called them and even went down to look on the bus the next day and it was not there and they we all rude to her. She canceled her credit card and we all thought nothing more about this for a long time.



Until one day I get my mail only to discover “I” had bounced checks all over Columbus from places ranging from Home Depot, a bunch of clothing stores, Meijer, etc. So I immediately had to get to the bottom of it. Only to discover a few days later, I have a bill with my credit card (which I never use) and someone had charged their HOME phone bill to my credit card – the link I needed to solve the case for my detective.



Turns out this office person stole my information (and a ton of other people’s too), made fake IDs with her picture on it, created checks with my name on it and other clients’ checking accounts and went shopping until she got caught. Her stupid boyfriend charged his HOME phone on my credit card. I solved my case because I remembered faxing a copy of my ID and credit card to them for the reservation – I had saved the info I faxed. The case is finally closed and the office chick, her boyfriend and all others involved got a slap on the wrist and Urban Express Transportation will not do (nor did they do) anything to help or care that their office personnel stole my identity. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!!!

We contracted for a bus for 24 adult passengers for 6:00 pm. for a 7:00 pm dinner reservation. The bus NEVER arrived. After repeated, unreturned, phone calls to the office, a second bus was dispatched at 6:30 pm which made us arrive at our restaurant at 8:00 pm-exactly 1 hour late. Brandy, our Urban Express contact, assured us that the fare would be credited and we would be charged 1/2 the amount. This never happened. We gave them two weeks to keep their word. Again, after repeated, unreturned phone calls, we emailed the company to let them know we contacted our credit card company and had all the charges reversed.



If, you contract with this company, do NOT pay them in advance; do NOT sign a contract; do NOT count on them providing any service. We use charters quite often and this has never occurred before. Be VERY wary of these people.