ComplaintsforUniversal Transportation Service

• Initial Complaint

  04/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, my husband and I received an upsetting phone call around 9:45 a.m. from our daughter’s school stating that our daughter, who is nonverbal and has autism, hadn’t arrived at the school yet. They stated that the driver from Universal Transportation Systems (UTS) had arrived at the school early at 7:55 a.m. The school told the driver that she would have to wait in the parking lot until the school’s 8:15 a.m. start time and one of the staff members would be out to get our daughter from the car line at that time. The school then said that the driver decided that it would be better to take our daughter with her to pick up another student who also attends the school and come back instead of waiting. The driver then leaves and does not return with our daughter and the other student until more than two hours later around 10:10 a.m. I asked to speak to a supervisor on the day this incident happened on Tuesday, but as of Friday, I have not received a call back. I have never received a response from a supervisor despite requesting for one to contact me on numerous occasions. My husband and I would like an explanation as to where our daughter was for two hours when she should have been at school? We would also like to know why the driver would be allowed to leave the school without dropping our daughter off when she had already arrived at school safely? Something could have happened such as the driver getting into an accident and that would have been very upsetting to know that our daughter had reached her school safely, but was not dropped off. We have had many incidents, including this one, that have yet to be addressed or even acknowledged by a supervisor and have taken the step of contacting the Better Business Bureau in an attempt to get some answers.

  Business response

  05/16/2024

  The UTS leadership team reviewed the complaint failed by *** ****** and reviewed GPS data, pulled the original inbound telephone calls from *** ****** and the corresponding internal email correspondence related to this incident.  Supervisor contacted *** ****** via telephone on 05/16/2024 and discussed the situation with her.  In addition, the UTS supervisor discussed and resolved an additional issue *** ****** brought up concerning dismissal times.  At this time, we believe that this and any other issues regarding *** ****** have been satisfactorily resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  01/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My son has been scheduled 3 daya for pickup, 3 days they have failed us. Day 1. 20 mins early, no notice. Day 2. Curbside, driver never even slowed down. Day 3, outside early, company no showed again, we called, they told us they'd be here within 5 minutes, went back out waited 5 BEYOND the time we were told. NO SHOW. i have lost 3 days of work. This company is screwing us over badly. We have an autistic child on a IEP. PLEASE HELP US!!!!!!

  Business response

  01/17/2024

  Thank you for reaching out.  Based on the information contained in the complaint, we were unable to identify the specific student, school and route that the customer is contacting us about.

  In order to research further, please provide the student name, scheduled pickup address, school/destination and specific dates of service or specific date ranges, and mode of transportation (yellow school bus, van, etc.)

  Once we have this information, our operations team can research the specific route and student in question to identify the problems and potential solutions.

  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  01/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  After my experience, I looked up reviews, and was astonished at how little this company must care about being punctual, which is the main reason the company exists... My problem: Working a very busy schedule, I've been abruptly woken up before dawn by this company honking their vehicles horn 5-6 times every minute right in front of my house at 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning. (it's against **** code to make non-emergency loud noises before 7am) I've called the help desk, and had words with the driver. They will not stop honking. They pick up the phone to make a call only after honking 5-6 times. This is ridiculous. Today a driver started taking pictures of me through my bedroom window as I watched them honk more and more. This business needs shut down if the common theme is being late, disrespectful, and works with children. No good. This company puts a bad taste in my mouth. Again they were unable to give me the light of day when faced with a complaint. They are a poor business, getting worse and worse. Also, because of ***** code, I will notify law enforcement about the issue again.

  Business response

  01/24/2024

  Hello, 

  Thank you for your feedback on this matter. UTS has identified the driver who has been using their car horn before 7am in this neighborhood. Corrective action has taken place and a solution has been implemented to alleviate this concern. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On 1/9/2023 I called UTS to ask have my kids bus not came because they were supposed to be picked up at 7:45 but it's was now 7:05 and no bus came. The lady was rude and told me she couldn't help me that she don't see those records but I've called before and the lady had no problem seeing those records and contacted the bus to see where she was

  Business response

  01/13/2023

  Our leadership team contacted *** ***** on 01/11/2023 via telephone and followed up via email regarding her complaint.
  
  Advised which route to which her children were assigned.

  Advised the correct pickup time and location.

  Provided the correct contact information for ********** ****** ******* transportation department of ###-###-#### (****) for route and bus information.  ********** ****** ******* yellow bus operations are not handled from the UTS call center that *** ***** contacted and, as a result, the UTS phone representatives do not have access to yellow bus information for ********** ****** ******* because we serve as a contractor providing yellow bus service.

  One of our Site Managers reached out in the afternoon to confirm that *** ***** received and understood her students route assignment and times.

  Customer response

  01/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *** *****
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My daughter attends ******** ****** **** here in ****** **** through ******* *******. This place is constantly late with no communication, And their customer service is Horrible. On Monday my husband was waiting for my Daughter's Van to arrive home after school call, and after waiting for 2 hours it never came. I called customer service and inquire about where my child's Van was and why it had been late. The customer service our service rep the answer stated I need to talk to the driver. I find this very weird because they are the 1st ones to answer the phone so they should have to answer to these questions. I've been asked to be transferred to a supervisor, However I was transferred to automated service. I then called back and Got what sounded like the Same rip that I had previously spoken with. I immediately asked to Be transferred to a Supervisor. She asked me what I was calling for And sarcastically ask for my name as well as my daughter's name. I requested once again to be transferred directly to a supervisor because I was upset about my daughter being 2 hours late me not knowing where she is at and getting very sub par customer service. She put me on mute for a few seconds got back on the line and I heard her say this is ridiculous referring to my phone call. Me not knowing where my 9 year old disabled daughter is is not ridiculous In any capacity. She then transferred me to a automated service once again So I hung up and I call back again.. I got another rep on the phone on the phone who to Advise me that no supervisor was currently available and she took my contact information promising that someone will call me back within 24 hours. No one has called me back. I will be contacting my daughter's district rep to see what can be done about using another transportation company. This is only one complaint of many. This is unacceptable. Especially for a company that transports individuals with disabilities.

  Business response

  10/04/2022

  Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention.  On Monday, September 19th, 2022, this student was picked up in the afternoon by her regular driver. While transporting the students home, our driver had to be rerouted to a different school due to another student that missed their transportation 40 minutes earlier.  The driver transporting the complainant's daughter was 6.59 miles away and, due to her proximity to the school, she was sent back to pickup the student that missed their transportation. By adding an additional student to her route, all other drop offs were significantly delayed that afternoon.

  The complainant's daughter's account lacks documentation stating the guardian was contacted and notified of the change. We have addressed this with our dispatch team and implemented an action plan to prevent similar situations moving forward.
  

  Our Operations Director attempted to call the complainant and left voice mail messages on Thursday 09/29, Friday 09/30 and Monday 10/03 and has not yet had a return call from the complainant to discuss the situation.

   

• Initial Complaint

  12/07/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Tuesday, November 30, 2021,I received a video chat call from my daughter who is a student on RT# *** at 17:01 crying so much that she could not speak to me. She gave her phone to another student by the name of ***** who explained to me that the bus driver is refusing to drive the bus until everyone sits down. At this time, I was waiting at her bus stop on ********** and ******** and noticed that two students were standing up observing my conversation with *****. I encouraged the children to sit down thinking that once they had the driver would start driving again. ***** then told me that they did sit down when he first stopped but the driver still refused to drive the bus. I asked where they were and was advised that they were on ******* and ******* ***l. This was very strange considering that the bus should have left the school over an hour ago! I arrived at the bus sometime after 17:20 and when I arrived at the bus door, I was greeted by a parent who advised that they driver wasn’t letting children off the bus until the principle had arrived and he had to pry the doors open to be able to get his daughter off the bus. By that time, the bus had been away from the school for approximately 90 minutes. I stood at the bus doors and the driver would not acknowledge me. I saw the handle on the outside of the door to be able to open the door from the outside and did. Wednesday, December 1, 2021, I called UTS for information on what took place on the bus, what the notification process was and what the procedures are for when things like this occurs. Cassandra was very rude when she initially got on the phone. Please review the phone call? I gave her my account of the events and asked why I wasn’t notified. She advised that a text message had gone out to the parent and I countered asking when parents began being notified via text because in the past. She lied and advised that she personally sent the texts out at 15:50. School isn’t even completely dismissed until 15:55.

  Business response

  01/11/2022

  A member of our management team had a detailed conversation with this individual regarding the the BBB complaint and the bus service for her daughter. We discussed and concluded the following:
  
  Discussed the complaint:
       She was unhappy that she was not notified of the event after school hours
       She was upset that her daughter was suspended for not following the rules of the bus
       She did not understand who suspended her daughter or lifted the suspension for 1/3/22
       She did not care for how the UTS call center representative handled the call. Believes that she was unprofessional.
       Wants clarification for what to do in the future if this scenario occurs.
  
  Conclusions:
       We informed her of the ROBOCALL system and how to confirm with ###-#### that she is registered to receive the text.
       We shared that ODE and DOT provide guidance and training to a driver to pull over to a place of safety to handle events such as unruly student passenger situations.
       We informed her of the process of investigating an event and that *** Trans. Dept. has full authority post investigation to suspend or cancel services. Vendors and Schools do not have the same authority.
       We informed her that we will send the customer service representative to a customer service “refinement” session to retrain her to understand how to manage and further assist a caller and the steps to take to remain clear with information promptly.
       We gave her the names of the *** Specialist to call through the ###-#### call center staff to receive answers to her questions. In addition, I gave her my direct contact information if she needed to escalate the assistance.
  
  We ended the call with pleasantries and agreed that the complaint was satisfied and concluded.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩