Not so happy with Happy Limo

Hi all! I just need to vent a little...
We booked an 8 passenger stretch limo with Happy Limo one way from Sanford airport to Bay Lake Tower about a month ago. We were quoted $126. However, we received an email confirmation that stated $181. When I contacted them about this discrepancy, the woman I spoke to said she would have someone contact me as nobody was there to help me. Well, I was never contacted. I called today and was told that it will be $181 and they will speak to the girl who quoted me $126 (apparently she was new). I don't want to see anyone get in trouble... mistakes happen. It wrong for me to expect them to honor the quoted price??????
 

s8film40

Well-Known Member
I've had good experiences with Star, I haven't used them personally but have booked them for clients. Their vehicles also seem to be in much nicer shape than Happy.
 
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DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
I went with Happy Limo because they were recommended on Mousesavers. I'm obviously going to start pricing out other companies.

Not that you should have to - but - my point being - if you had priced out some other companies, you would have seen that most of the others would be in the $180/200++; $126 is more inline with a towncar service - and a red flag would have been raised. (my prices were round-trip) - yet, not out of line with a one-way trip from Sanford (I am most familiar with Orlando International) http://www.happylimo.com/orlando_limousine_rates.html#LINCOLN STRETCH LIMO RATE SHEET
 
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slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
Probably wouldn't cost you much more than that to rent a car and drive yourself. :shrug:

As far as your question goes, you never know. Sure, MAYBE, the person who originally helped you was new, and MAYBE she misquoted you, and MAYBE she'd get in trouble if you insisted on getting the price you were quoted.

But MAYBE this is not an uncommon thing on the part of Happy Limo and Mousesavers doesn't know about it. Not saying it happens every time, but every so often a quoted price goes up because the person working the phone that day was "new." And they figure people like you won't complain because you don't want to get an inexperienced worker in trouble for an innocent mistake and that's why they can get away with charging you nearly 50% more.

For me, the big warning sign is they call themselves "happy limo." Really? Is that what I'm getting? A happy limo? It's a cutesy-poo name meant to disarm you so you're not thinking about the fact that a happy limo might be taking advantage of you. 'Cause they're so HAPPY!

Checking out the website, I find it interesting that, unlike a rental car website where you can input what you want and they'll spit back a price, you have to request an estimate. When it comes to a company like this, I'd have to think they'd advertise a special rate for people going to WDW, considering that it's probably one of the main sources of their income. Even it winds up being a bait-and-switch deal (like, the price is for a town car, 4 people maximum so if you want a different vehicle with more passengers, it goes up), there seems to be no baseline, which means they can charge you whatever they want, and the only way you'd know if you were getting hosed is if someone else in your party made a similar request and you see how different prices might be.

Personally, I'd just call and cancel. When they ask why, explain you were quoted a price, and not only was that quoted price not honored, but you had to make the phone calls to find out why, without any apologies from the company that made the mistake in the first place. Don't say "now, if you offer me the original price, I'll keep my reservation;" any reputable company will do their best to honor a quoted price. If they say "fine, you're canceled," then you'll at least know that your quoted price was, indeed, too low. That means the price was SO good, they're willing to risk losing your business now and in the future, to say nothing of your bad word of mouth, because there's no profit in it for them. If they say "OK, we'll honor your quoted price," then either a: they were trying to hose you or b: they're willing to take the hit to maintain good customer relations.

or, as I only-half-jokingly stated above, you can see how much it would cost to rent a car. it might not be that much more
 
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fabulousdisney

Member
Original Poster
Not that you should have to - but - my point being - if you had priced out some other companies, you would have seen that most of the others would be in the $180/200++; $126 is more inline with a towncar service - and a red flag would have been raised. (my prices were round-trip)

Thanks for the info!
They were my first call. Needless to say, I though it was a great price and booked them. We have always flown into MCO and used Disney Express. This is a last minute trip for us and a first for flying into Sanford. We ended up booking Allegiant down and Air Tran back because the airfares were crazy. Long story short, we're surprising our kids with a weekend trip for their birthdays. We were able to book an awesome rate with our annual passes at BLT. We figured the limo would be an extra surprise. They will have no clue as to where we are going... I can't wait to see their faces when they figure things out :) I know the trip will be amazing regardless of the price of the limo.
 
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fabulousdisney

Member
Original Poster
Probably wouldn't cost you much more than that to rent a car and drive yourself. :shrug:

As far as your question goes, you never know. Sure, MAYBE, the person who originally helped you was new, and MAYBE she misquoted you, and MAYBE she'd get in trouble if you insisted on getting the price you were quoted.

But MAYBE this is not an uncommon thing on the part of Happy Limo and Mousesavers doesn't know about it. Not saying it happens every time, but every so often a quoted price goes up because the person working the phone that day was "new." And they figure people like you won't complain because you don't want to get an inexperienced worker in trouble for an innocent mistake and that's why they can get away with charging you nearly 50% more.

For me, the big warning sign is they call themselves "happy limo." Really? Is that what I'm getting? A happy limo? It's a cutesy-poo name meant to disarm you so you're not thinking about the fact that a happy limo might be taking advantage of you. 'Cause they're so HAPPY!

Checking out the website, I find it interesting that, unlike a rental car website where you can input what you want and they'll spit back a price, you have to request an estimate. When it comes to a company like this, I'd have to think they'd advertise a special rate for people going to WDW, considering that it's probably one of the main sources of their income. Even it winds up being a bait-and-switch deal (like, the price is for a town car, 4 people maximum so if you want a different vehicle with more passengers, it goes up), there seems to be no baseline, which means they can charge you whatever they want, and the only way you'd know if you were getting hosed is if someone else in your party made a similar request and you see how different prices might be.

Personally, I'd just call and cancel. When they ask why, explain you were quoted a price, and not only was that quoted price not honored, but you had to make the phone calls to find out why, without any apologies from the company that made the mistake in the first place. Don't say "now, if you offer me the original price, I'll keep my reservation;" any reputable company will do their best to honor a quoted price. If they say "fine, you're canceled," then you'll at least know that your quoted price was, indeed, too low. That means the price was SO good, they're willing to risk losing your business now and in the future, to say nothing of your bad word of mouth, because there's no profit in it for them. If they say "OK, we'll honor your quoted price," then either a: they were trying to hose you or b: they're willing to take the hit to maintain good customer relations.

or, as I only-half-jokingly stated above, you can see how much it would cost to rent a car. it might not be that much more

Thanks for your insight :)
My husband doesn't want to drive. Were getting in a little late and have never driven this route before. At this point, I'll probably cancel and go with another company even if I end up paying more. I have no problems with them making a profit. However, it makes me question what kind of company am I dealing with....
 
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captainkidd

Well-Known Member
I was VERY pleased with Happy Limo last year. We reserved a stretch limo for both legs of our trip, and were upgraded both times to huge limo SUV's. Drivers were on time and very polite. Vehicles were gorgeous. Using them this weekend in fact.
 
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docdebbi

Well-Known Member
just want to chime in on the "should they honor a phone quoted price" issue. as someone who runs her own business, i can assure you that folks mishear/misunderstand a lot! intentionally or otherwise. daily i have patients arriving at the wrong time and wrong date and SWEARING that's what they were told. we accommodate them. and later talking to them find out that this time/date was more convenient than what we had to offer, and they know that if they claim it's what they were told, we will honor it. but don't think for a minute that we believe them. we actually have recordings that we check occasionally, and it is almost never our mistake
the point being that anyone can call happy limo and SWEAR they were quoted 50 bucks, even though they never were. easy way for happy limo to go out of business if they honor too many of these. and trust me, word gets around.
 
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