Recently my family took trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Because the trip included extended family, we contracted a stretch limousine for the trip to Niagara Falls with a return trip to Toronto included a few days later. The cost was actually a bit less than taking two taxis each way so we decided to go the limo route.
The company we dealt with was Toronto Limousine Services (416-854-7900). At the time, their website indicated that their limousine services were subcontracted to Ambassador Limo (905-781-1500).
For the trip to Niagara Falls, the limo was 15 to 20 minutes late with the pick-up, which was disappointing but not a big deal. The drive to Niagara Falls went fairly well. Unfortunately, the pick-up in Niagara Falls at 11:00 AM a few days later for the return to Toronto went VERY badly. Here is what happened:
- By 11:15, started getting concerned that the limo had not shown up
- Called 905-781-1500. No answer there. Went directly to voice mail. Could not leave message because mail box was full.
- Attempted to send an email to address on email confirmation which didn’t work because it was a no-reply message.
- Sent an email from the website using the contact section. No reply from that.
- Found phone number of driver that picked us up in Toronto as the number was still on my cell phone. Called him.
- Previous driver said he was not the driver for this pickup but offered to call around for us to see what was going on. Said that either Ambassador or the limo company would call me back with 10 minutes. That never happened.
- At around 11:50, I finally got through to someone at the 905-781-1500 line. It was the lady who works in the office. She was on her way to work and said that she had no idea what happened to our pick up but was sure that someone was dispatched. She couldn’t verify that because she was on her way in to the office. When she got to the office she would check. In the meantime, she suggested I call the number that I used for the driver. I told her I already did that. She suggested I use that number again and ask for Adam.
- I called that number and it went directly to voice mail. I called her back (781-1500) to let her know that there was no one at that line answering the call. She didn’t pick up the call.
- By this time, it was 12:00, one full hour past the expected pick up time.
- Just after 12:00, Adam called. He said that the driver of the limo had car trouble and was broken down not far from the hotel so the company was sending out a new vehicle. They were just sending it out now so it would be anywhere from 1 ½ to 2 hours before we got picked up.
I think we can agree that this is atrocious customer service and raises several questions:
- Why does an organization of this type have no one available at their business number to address customer service issues until 12:00 Noon on business days?
- Why didn’t the driver of the broken down vehicle call to let us know that he had broken down? Our cell number was on the original order so he or the office would have had that information.
- Why didn’t the driver of the broken down vehicle call and order a replacement vehicle right away?Based on what we were told, we have to assume that he broke down close to 11:00AM – which was the appointment time for pickup. Why did it take a slew of long distance phone calls on a cell phone and one hour of elapsed time to dispatch a new vehicle?
Whether there was actually a breakdown, or if we were simply forgotten, is really irrelevant. We lost a half day of our vacation due to this mess up. In addition, nine people, including one senior and six children 10 years old and under were left standing around in Niagara Falls in record heat for three hours wondering if they would get back to Toronto that day.
Toronto Limousine Services, from what I can tell, seems to be a small operation run by a few people who simply act as a broker. They collect the requests and likely a brokerage fee and then you are on your own with the limo company they happen to send you to that day. Beyond the initial contact, we received zero service from them.
I contacted Toronto Limousine Services about this situation after we returned from Toronto and asked them to rectify the situation by refunding some of the quite-substantial fee we paid them. I was completely ignored.
Ambassador Limo, seems to be another small organization with limited resources and our experience with them showed them to be extremely unprofessional (late arrival then no arrival; no one to answer the phone on business days; voice mail full; etc.)
Both of these companies also seem to be affiliated with a company called Babylon Wedding Center. There is a link to that company from the Toronto Limousines Services website and the Babylon Wedding Center uses Ambassador Limo as their limousine provider as well.
Based on the review above of their poor customer service, my recommendation would be for everyone to avoid Toronto Limousine Services and Ambassor Limo, as well as any companies they are affiliated with.
FYI – I have found more feedback from other customers regarding Ambassador Limo (hint – it’s not good). Have a look at the link below:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search=ambassador+limo&everything=Everything
ValueCanuck.com 
These corporate a**es need to be held accountable for the repercussions that their service provides.This is just the most important day of your life.And should be looked at it that way!
pi**ed off Tracy
It sounds like you or someone you know may have had a bad experience with one of these organizations on a wedding day. I am sorry to hear that.
I am hoping this post will help people avoid these guys and any of their affiliated companies.
THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is what they did to me: 1) The people who run this company “Cindy” (odd name for a Pakistani woman; hence maybe fake name) and Ziad Jarrar (name unvalidated) 2) Act like con artists; Cindy answers the calls, plays “mrs. nice” until she has payment from you then she flips her face over into “Dr. Evil” 3) They pressure you to leave a deposit making up excuses such as “car is on hold for you for only two days” “car is in repairs” “you will like this car, most people do” “someone else is asking for the car too” DON’T BELIEVE ANY OF IT!!!! 3) Will tell you they have any car ever known to mankind available (THIS IS A LIE). If they allow you to view the car (which they make it seem like viewings are not recommeneded or the car is in repairs or not in service). They stage an act. They probably give a couple of bucks to an independent driver to have you view the car, somewhere other than their business location (which I don’t think even exists). They gave me an address to view the car rental at some strange man’s residence who claimed to not know anything about the transaction which is completely absured considering the service was going to be provided through him. The car was NOTwhat I asked and paid a deposit for!!!!!! Speaking of deposit, they REFUSED to add any service information on my payment authorization form which should be a RED FLAG right away! 4) They took a deposit on a car from me, lied to me about the availability of the car and the worst part is, they weren’t going to pay up to it. 5) “Cindy” made a 360 degree turn with her persona, went from following up to NEVER ANSWERING MY CALLS, DEFLECTING MY MESSAGES, BASICALLY TELLING ME TO “SCREW OFF” 6)Went to the police, they were even RUDE to the police. Cindy hung up on his face! Ziad was really rude, rambling on about he was assured everything he was doing was legal even though it was unethical given that he’s LYING to people and scamming them of their money. 7) Went to their address location MIDDAY advertised online to confront them–doesn’t even exist! No “company” sign, no cars, no sign of life! 8) Went to City of Mississauga since all their addresses are listed in Mississauga and was told that their so called “business” isn’t even registered with the government! PURE LIES! AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL POSSIBLE COSTS OR THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND THEN AVOID YOU! P.S. They also go under a different name AMBASSADOR LIMO!!! ANOTHER PHONE NUMBER” 905-781-1500. AVOID AVOID AVOID. TIPS for safe searches: 1) always check references on company; check for company reputation 2) always visit company on site (never deal over the phone or internet) 3) never sign any contracts without full service information detailed on it 4) always ask to view cars ON SITE; never leave any deposits without a detailed account of service and type and condition of car on paper in writing 5) View actual car before making any deposits/payments 6) Only agree to small deposits ($50 max), if everything else mentioned above is in place 7) Go to complaintsboard.ca and search company name and/phone number. Check google reviews. Check this negative review on company: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/ambassador-limo-mississauga-ontario-c157598.html 8) Check your city to see if business is registered 9) Don’t fall for seemingly “nice” people as they could be manipulating you into a purchase 10) Goodluck!
So it’s always better to do some quick research online about the limo business before using their services. Don’t trust the testimonials written by them; browse around for feedback from their previous clients.