Rma Chauffeured Transportation Services

Review: I booked a wheelchair accessible taxi service from them to take my family from DC to New York. My family was visiting the US, and my nephew (who is 17) has muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair bound at all times. He wanted to drive rather than take a flight and I thought that getting someone who is comfortable driving a wheelchair accessible car would be a better choice than me taking them. Their company was recommended to my by [redacted] and they were suggested to me by someone at the ADA. During my first conversation with them, I told them that my family has excessive luggage. I told them there are 5 big bags and handbags. They checked for me and called back and said it shouldn't be a problem. No one asked me about the size and weight of the luggage and I thought it would be fine. One day before the journey, I called back just to check regarding the luggage and I was told it would be a tight fit, but again, no one said "it can't be done" "tell me the size/weight of the luggage". My family has been taking domestic trips (they took their sons to [redacted]) and their luggage was allowed on domestic flights, so the size of the bags is not unreasonably large. On the day of the trip, the driver who showed up did not know how to operate the wheelchair lift and kept my family stalled for 30 minutes outside the hotel. Which I was subsequently charged for. Then, while they were en route, they said the luggage was too much. Which very well could be the case but no one mentioned anything at the start of the journey. The driver loaded the car and decided to move forward. With my family in it. If it was unsafe an hour later, it was unsafe in the beginning as well. But nothing was said. Which also makes me question whether my family was unsafe for an hour on the highway! When the driver stopped the car on a rest stop because it suddenly got 'unsafe', they called a second car. When I spoke to them about it, they went to the extent of saying the size of the wheelchair was larger than expected. How someone can say something like this when NO REQUEST FOR THE SIZE OF THE WHEELCHAIR WAS MADE. Even after the luggage was removed and two people moved to the second car, the wheelchair accessible car continued to be too low and seemed to be 'touching the road' in the words of my aunt. The driver also said that the car was not functioning properly. At the end of this horrible journey, every excuse in the book was thrown at me to make me feel the whole debacle was my fault/the fault of my family/the luggage and the wheelchair. They said that the driver started the journey in agreement with the passengers - who the company knew were visiting the US and have no concept of the highways, speeds, laws and regulations here. This was the entire reason we had not just rented a car and had my uncle drive it to NYC. There was absolutely no ownership of the problem on part of RMA. Another reasons that we booked a road trip was because my aunt wanted to meet her family in New Jersey. Due to the multiple delays (at one point, the drivers (both the drivers) could not get their credit card to work at the gas station and were stuck there for 20 minutes or so), my aunt met her elderly aunt on the side of a highway for 10 minutes. The journey that began at 9.30 ended at 6pm. It took them almost 9 hours to get to NYC airport. My family was on a 8.40 flight to India and I was worried they wouldn't make it. I barely worked all day from either being on the phone or stressing about their safety and their flight. At this time they are insisting that I pay for both cars. They have reduced the fee of the second car by 300$ but, I never requested a second car, I never requested any of this. If they had mentioned something at the beginning of the journey, I would have made alternate arrangements - followed them to NY in a train/bus with their luggage which would have been significantly cheaper; kept some luggage in DC to take with me when I travel home in a month's time. I had options that they completely took away and now are insisting that I pay them more than $1500 for the two cars. I also found their 'size of the wheelchair' comment extremely offensive. As a wheelchair accessible car service or any service, this was some of the worst I have ever seen. I am also disappointed that the last part of my family's incredible US vacation was spoiled by this experience.Desired Settlement: I think that the second car should not be charged to me. I am, despite the bad service, willing to pay for the wheelchair accessible car because I requested for that service. However, the second car was an arbitrary decision made by the company and I was told that it is 'important for the safety of my family'. Which made me absolutely incapable of rethinking/refuting it in anyway. I think, again, if it was important for their safety, the decision should have been made at the beginning of the journey and not unilaterally in the middle at a rest stop, when I had no options left.

Consumer

Response:

o me