SuperShuttle Consumer Reviews - Page 5

NEW YORK -- Super Shuttle? Stupor Shuffle! Your mileage may vary, but if your travel situation is similar, be warned. Timeline: around 4 PM - Flight arrived on a Friday at JFK Int'l. Airport. By 4:30 PM - picked up checked bags. By 4:40 PM - used Terminal 4 courtesy phone to call about reservation. By 4:50 PM - the first estimate of van arrival passed. Was redirected by a driver to sign in with Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (never mind I had given my reservation # on the phone, and had talked to someone on the basis of that reservation). After 5:25 PM - Got fed up with the Port Authority people who operate separately from the call center and had no info. to help me.

Called again the call center who assured me that the van would arrive in another 15 mins. Got the van number this time. By 5:40PM - we got in the van. We asked around the van while the driver was out, and found one lady got picked up in 17 minutes with no reservation, and one couple had waited an hour like we did. Most in the van were foreigners (who feared a taxi driver would cheat them?) By 6:00PM - the van picked up its final of 10 passengers at Terminal 8, and began to leave the airport. By 8:30PM - finally arrived at our destination, the last of the 10 passengers to disembark.

What we learned: Unless you are broke or a risk-averse foreigner, and have a couple of hours to waste, I cannot imagine why you would not take the Airtrain & subway or a taxi from JFK. If you still want to take SuperShuttle, note that having a reservation is a liability, as you will not be able to walk away without losing your fare. We immediately canceled the return half of our reservation, and loved the subway-Airtrain combo. We took early Mon. morning, which got us to JFK in both a fraction of the time and cost of Stupor Shuttle.

JFK AIRPORT, NEW YORK -- I must begin with a thank-you note to this site where I can find my fellow victims to commiserate with. What my wife and I thought would be a long-time-in-coming dream vacation ended up in a small nightmare, all thanks to the negligence of SuperShuttle. After reading the distressing accounts of others posted here, I have little more to add except to say that we had to suffer a delay of nearly three hours from JFK to home.

It was especially hard for my wife, who had to rely on the airline wheelchair service to move from the plane to the pick up area, only to watch this incredible scene where their vans were passing us by one after another picking up new customers, who we learned were paying a discounted fee. We the victims must unite to fight SuperShuttle together. We can let the Big Guys in DC and Wall Street fix the economy they tanked, but we have to deal with the little injustices around us to make our community a little better. I suggest these things: File a Complaint as I did after getting no response to my complaint.

Thanks to the consumer movement initiated by Ralph Nader, we now have consumer protection agencies in our local governments. Here in NY City, there is the Consumer Protection Law forbidding "deceptive or unconscionable trade practices" in sales of goods and services. You can get more info about the law at: **. Similar legal protection should be in place outside the City as well. I have no doubt SuperShuttle will Win an 'unconscionable trade practice' award hands down.

Cancel Payment. Remember, you can always cancel the payment with a charge back through your credit card company for cause. Indeed this can be more effective than fighting them to make the company pay attention and correct their abusive ways because it hits where it hurts them most: their wallet. Enough complaints can take away the company's credit card privilege. Please post your ideas and progresses made on this front. Who knows? Someday we may come here in appreciation for the valuable service provided by an 'honest and conscionable' company that the Shuttle had become.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- I am a passenger of Supershuttle. My flight is Jan 26 8:00 am 2009 from Phoenix airport to Beijing and before that I booked the SuperShuttle through the phone. A guy answer the phone and I told him all my flight information. Then he asked me whether my flight is international one. I said, "Yes," and at the same time I told him that I would take my plane in terminal 2. Then he said shuttle will pick me up at 5:50 in the morning.

I thought it was too late, but I don't have a lot of experiences about take the plane and I believe SuperShuttle very much so that I say nothing about the time. At that day, I waited in front of my apartment till 6:00 am. It didn't appear. Then I make a phone call to shuttle. At 6:11 am, a shuttle came here to pick me up. What's worse, after he picked me up he picked two more passengers, when I arrive airport, it was 7:06 am.

In addition, the driver put me in the wrong terminal. My flight is Northwest airline but is operated by Alaska airline. About this problem I've told the driver, but he said I should go to terminal 3. Anyway, when I found the mistake and arrived terminal 2 through the airport bus, it was already 7:25 am and my flight would take off in 35 minutes.

They didn't allowed me check in and they said even the domestic flight cannot check in at that time. Actually, no matter it is international or domestic flight, no matter it is terminal 2 or 3, when the shuttle arrive airport, I already didn't have enough time to check in.

Now I have to rebook the ticket and pay extra $225 for that. I hope shuttle company can help me compensate it. It really bring a lot of trouble for me. First, Jan 26 is the New Year Day in China and I want to celebrate this day with my family. It is the most important festival in China like the Christmas day in America. But now I have to wait one more week to go back home.

Second, the earliest ticket I can rebook is at Feb 4th, but I only lease my apartment at the end of January. I don't know where I can stay in next month. I am a student in China and this is my first time to take the plane alone, when I known that I miss the flight I feel so helpless. I believe SuperShuttle so I chose it to send me to the airport, but I am in the plight now.

I believe America is a fair country, I try to connect shuttle through the phone for many times, but the only thing they ask me to do is waiting. I hope you can help me when you read this email, and thank you very much. But no one reply to this letter till now.

MARYLAND -- I had a reservation for Supper Shuttle on 1/20/09 - coming back from Michigan. My flight landed on time and I had reserved a reservation for 1/20/09 from BWI airport to my home in Suitland, Maryland. I had a discount coupon and was told when I made the reservation that I could use this coupon when I paid at the airport - which I tried to do and was told that you can only use them online and that I should not have been told that- this was the first problem.

Then I was told that it would be a 90 minute wait because there were no vans. Oh, I am sorry - they had 4 vans in the street and they were still getting people and accepting reservations from people as I stood there. Then finally the young lady said, "I can't accept any more because there are no vans" and no one told her that there was no vans. She really did a good job with trying to assist people but she don't drive the vans - she just take the reservations.

I have rode on Supper Shuttle on several occasions - so 1/20/09 - was not an excuse for the delay. It is always delayed. I would like to know why you have a driver that will pick up people who are not going in the same direction. They take Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. and try to put all of them in the same van - so you get home 3 hours after your plane has landed. I am requesting a full refund of my money which is $41.00 not including the tip - for my inconvenience for that night. I got home at 1:30 A.M. and it was just me and a couple in the van. They were going to Falls Church, Virginia and he was the only van available.

You should not take reservations on that day if you knew the people were not going to be accommodated. If you want me to use this service again - you have to show me some kind of passion and respect. There are other types of transportation but I think you feel because you are the cheaper of most that you can treat people any kind of way. That is not right - word of mouth gets around on the internet or on the street and you could fold like a lot of these other corporations.

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND -- My plane was delayed 2 hours yesterday at Chicago O'Hare airport, and my initial plan to hop on the metro for a quick ride home on the red line went to the wayside when the plane landed at Reagan National rather late. As I had used all my cash for cab fare in Chicago, I made sure to ask the attendant outside of the shuttle exit that I could pay with a credit card. I was assured no question that it wasn't a problem. I was stunned when I handed my credit card to the driver and received nothing but attitude and argumentative behavior.

The first words he combatted me with were: "A Credit Card! I already shut down my computer!! Oh God!!" I apologized politely and informed him that I had asked the attendant at the airport if it was okay if I paid with a credit card, and explained the assurance I received. "But you didn't ask me!!" he replied, and then "Who was it you talked to?! I don't know who you talked to!", he belligerently continued. My desire to be polite went away by this point, and I told him that I was tired, and didn't need to put up with that behavior from him, and just wanted to pay my bill and go home.

This is the second time I have had this kind of a reaction from a Super Shuttle Driver when I wanted to pay with a credit card. The last time, it was almost exactly the same circumstances, and each time I left the van bitter with the taste of argument in my mouth.

If Super Shuttle ever becomes a smart business and starts perhaps to consider the customers experience here are 2 bare bones suggestions to start with:

#1: Drivers must ask passengers how they plan to pay for the ride prior to taking their luggage on board.

#2: Drivers must never give attitude or take out their aggressions on customers.

#3: All drivers must give the customer a Return Receipt indicating the name of the driver, # of the van, and a number to call for complaints about the driver.

It doesn't seem there is much accountability in place at Super Shuttle. I think the above measures would a be a good start. Although the ride through the city to my home was a good one, and the driver seemed just fine until I handed him my credit card, there was absolutely no excuse for his shabby behavior at the end.

I will never use Super Shuttle again, and wished I had remembered the old bad experience before riding the shuttle last night. But now my memories are forever etched in my mind and I will always be sure to carry extra cash for a cab, just to avoid potential Super Shuttle misery. Spending that extra cash will be well worth it.

I had probably the worst customer service experience of my life with the Denver SuperShuttle. After waiting more than an hour at the airport until after 4:00 pm (for a 3:00 pm shuttle) with no van in sight, another woman and I went back to the SuperShuttle desk where we were informed that the shuttle had left at 3:00 pm. We informed the man at the desk that this was simple impossible. Both of us had been waiting at the shuttle pick-up before 3:00 pm (and we had seen a number of other SuperShuttle vans come and go with their rides so we knew we were in the right location).

Basically we were told that it was our fault we had not caught the phantom 3:00 pm van which we had never seen. At this point, I demanded a refund. This was given, but then I was told I could not take a 4:30 pm shuttle, and that I would have to make other arrangements to get to my hotel. Completely infuriated, I took a $70 taxi to my hotel. I'm less angry at having had to pay an extra $40 than with the fact that SuperShuttle would not accept fault in this matter. I am absolutely dumbfounded with the lack of courtesy in how we were treated. I feel worse for the other woman who was there to visit a friend who has terminal lung cancer.

She lost 1.5 hours she could have spent with her dying friend. According the SuperShuttle Standards of Guest Service: We will recognize that our first responsibility is to our guests, who are the sole support of each and every one of us. We will be on time, every time. We will assist our guests in every way possible. We will be friendly and courteous, no matter how difficult the going gets.

We will take pride in the clean, cared-for condition of our shuttles, and the professionalism of our own personal appearance. We will respond with urgency to any problem that jeopardizes these standards. This is completely ironic, since my experience (and it appears many of the other experiences on this sit) was truly the antithesis of these standards.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- HORRIBLE experience. I had a confirmed prepaid reservation for 11:30 PM on a shared van ride from LAX to Brea. Our driver never showed. Several vans passed by and said they were going elsewhere but that ours would be along. After waiting 45 minutes one pulled up and he said our driver was too tired and went home. He said he was the only remaining bus for the night. He said he would only take us if we paid an additional $50 cash!! What choice did I have? Totally shady! He said he wouldn't take a credit card. Cash only. I wrote to SuperShuttle and called to complain. They totally ignored it. The company is shady. Use someone else.

Recently I spent the weekend in NYC shopping. I arrived at JFK airport on time, placed my call to SuperShuttle to check-in, and was told the shuttle would be there to pick me up within 25 minutes. As I waited at the baggage claim area, I got lost watching people. Before I knew it, the driver came inside, and called me by name, as well had a sign with my name on it. The gentleman grabbed my bags, placed them in the cargo holder, introduced me to the other riders, and off we went to the next terminal. I noticed the time and the driver arrived to collect me in about 15 minutes from the time I checked in.

Once we had collected all the riders, off we went to Midtown. The couple I sat beside had never been to NYC before, so they were asking the driver about the areas we were traveling through. The driver was friendly, knowledgeable of the city, and pointed out all the sights. I was even able to display my NYC knowledge too. At each stop, the driver assisted the riders out of the van, as well as handled the bags carefully. Over all, my experience was positive, and saved me about $75 dollars by not using a private car as I normally do.

Was supposed to be picked up from the hotel at 11:45 A.M. A shuttle arrived at 11:55 A.M. and I went out to meet it. The guy asked for my name and said that I was not on that shuttle - he called the office and they said that my shuttle was about 5 minutes away and it was #398. I'm looking at his shuttle and it says #398. So I ask him if they are all labeled #398 and he gets very confused. In any event, his shuttle is full and I'm not on his list. So he leaves and I begin waiting again. I called Super Shuttle about 12:15 p. m., never spoke to anyone for approximately 15 minutes before hanging up.

Called back and spoke to someone 10 minutes later and they put me on hold for another 10 minutes before I hung up the phone. Then another SuperShuttle arrives to the hotel close to 1:00 P.M. I basically just climbed inside and told the driver that he was taking me to the airport. It was only by the grace of God that I didn't miss my flight as it was departing the airport at 1:45 P.M. I had about 3 minutes to spare with virtually no wait from homeland security. Will never use SuperShuttle again.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- I booked Super Shuttle online- round trip. The website suggests a gratuity of 18% I believe it is. Numero uno: I don't tip in advance. Numero two-oh: I am a generous tipper, but I realize that service employees would rather have cash in hand rather than go on record for the actual gratuity. So I entered no gratuity in the website slot. Time came for my SS pickup and I received a call on my phone that SS was downstairs. It took me less than 6 minutes to get to curbside and there was no SS. I waited a 1/2 hour and went back up and called SS (this is one of those times that a cell phone would have come in handy).

The dispatcher told me I had "missed the first van." I said, "Baloney (not the real word I used). I was right down at curbside." I did not rebook. I took a cab. Later, I realized what probably happened- the SS van driver saw that the online gratuity was entered as zero, so she just didn't pick me up- and then lied about it, saying I had "missed the first van." I emailed SS with a complaint but never heard from them. I copied the email and sent it with a letter to the corporate headquarters, and only then did I hear from SS. I may be wrong about the motives of the driver not picking me up, but it certainly is possible.

My advice: don't book your SS reservation online and always "go corporate" via snail mail if you have a SS complaint. Too bad- they've always been more expensive, but they've always been the most dependable. Now, they're just more expensive.