ComplaintsforLamers Bus Lines, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  05/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired lamers bus service for 10 hours of continuous service from a hotel to our wedding venue. I had listed shuttle times at 3:30 and 3:55 on our wedding website as I received confirmation that I would have the bus from 2:45-midnight. The bus supposedly arrived at 2:45 but left at 3:15 with no riders. Additionally, the bus driver claimed to attempt to contact my sister. However her phone log shows that she did not receive any calls. The bus whereabouts is unaccounted for from 3:15-7:30pm. I am seeking compensation for this time. The business is refusing to refund us any amount. I have attached the contract along with evidence to show that it was supposed to be a continuous service, my sisters call log, emails verifying that the bus was unaccounted for until 7:30, and evidence that shows that the hotel did not release video footage even though they are claiming that the hotel did.

  Business response

  06/07/2024

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond. We take all feedback seriously and are committed to providing exceptional service to our passengers. According to our research, the bus was present at the specified location and time as outlined in the contract. Upon investigating the incident,we found that no passengers were present for the shuttle from the hotel to the ceremony venue. The school bus arrived at 2:30 p.m. for a shuttle to the ceremony location at 2:45, per the signed contract. The driver remained double-parked at the pickup location until 3:15 when he left after receiving no riders. We have confirmed that the driver was there through hotel security camera footage, which was viewed by hotel staff, and confirmation of the drivers presence was communicated to our terminal manager. While the driver waited, he reached out to the day-of contact provided, twice by text and one phone call.He did not receive a response. We have time and date stamped confirmation of those communication attempts. ****** data only shows screen shots of phone calls that say Saturday but do not show exact times.  Before leaving, the driver also called the hotel, but hotel staff reported no one was waiting inside for a shuttle. After calling the manager, the driver left the location with the intention of doing the return shuttle, for which he arrived at 7:30 p.m. and completed the return shuttles from the venue. In the days that immediately followed, the bride and groom, their friends and family, all spammed review sites with the intent of seriously damaging the companys reputation online. On Friday, May 31, the bride contacted our company president via phone seeking money back after she was originally told that no refund would be given. After explaining the contract to the bride,Mr. Lamers offered the bride the $200 refund she was seeking if the reviews regarding her event were removed, even though the contract was executed as written and the driver made every attempt to reach the group. As of June 7, 2024, the reviews remain, and no refund has been issued. 

  Customer response

  06/10/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [Please type your response here.]
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************

  Customer response

  06/11/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  The business did not meet their contractual obligations by providing a 10 hour continuous service from terminal to terminal as evidenced by the documentation I have provided. It took a week for the business owner to contact me regarding this issue. When I was finally able to contact him via phone call, I attempted to come to a solution with him. He demanded that I take down my reviews. After further conversation via phone call, he agreed to refund me $200 if I took down my reviews. I agreed to these terms. When I requested these terms in writing, he demanded that all reviews written about our event be taken down. Unfortunately, I cannot agree to these terms as consumers of their service wrote additional reviews on their own accord and I cannot guarantee that these reviews will be taken down. Additionally, I have very little trust in this business. Regardless of my feeble attempt to negotiate in order to receive my money back , lamers still did not meet their contractual obligations and still owes me a refund.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************

  Business response

  06/14/2024

  We apologize that the bride misunderstood the contract when she signed it. By reading the email communication between our manager and the bride, the continuous shuttle discussion was about the return trips from the reception back to the hotel, which was completed. We dont see in the communication she provided where multiple shuttle ***** were discussed for trips to the ceremony location. We price the entire wedding day as one trip as a cost-saving measure for couples, because otherwise the day would be two trips between ceremony and reception shuttles, costing brides and ****** at least twice as much. So, the vehicle is available during those 10 hours, however,couples need to communicate to their sales rep ***** and destinations during those hours so dispatch and the driver know when and where the bus needs to be.The bus will not just drive back and forth whether there are passengers or not.  This bride operated on an incorrect assumption and now expects us to pay for it. Regardless, after not receiving any riders at the scheduled time according to our paperwork, our driver made multiple attempts to contact the day-of contact with no response. So after waiting for 45 minutes and not hearing back from the day-of contact, and verifying that there were no riders waiting at the hotel, he assumed that no one was utilizing the shuttle to get to the ceremony. He then returned for the evening shuttles from the reception back to the hotel. We feel we have explained the situation clearly and will not be issuing any further response. The offer of a $200 refund still stands, if the bride has her husband, friends, and family remove the reviews they spammed us with, along with her own reviews. 

• Initial Complaint

  09/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Bus driver left my 5 year old in the bus TWICE, once returning to her stop and the other they continued the route to go to a HIGH SCHOOL. Staff and Lamers headquarters had NO compassion or urgency to get my 5 year old back to me. This company should be work with small children.

  Business response

  09/19/2023

  According to *********************** policy regarding student transportation, no student ages 6 or younger may be left at a stop without a parent or guardian present. The driver can only release a student at the students bus stop, at a district school, or at the MPS daycare center. In researching this complaint, we spoke with the office manager, school bus office staff and the route driver.

  The driver originally waited at this students stop for 12 minutes without the parent appearing to retrieve the student. So, for the students safety and to comply with district policy, the driver kept the student on the bus and continued to the next part of the route, transporting high school students. It was at this point that the parent started calling and swearing at four different staff members until they were forced to disconnect the call. The parent then threatened violence against the staff members to the manager. The parent was given the opportunity to pick up her child at the drivers second school (King **** ******** The parent did not come to the school.  She was given another opportunity to pick up her child at the drivers third school which she did.

  Lamers Bus Lines acted according to district policy and in the best interest of the childs safety. We endured many profanity-laced calls from the parent and instructed them on how to pick up their child after the parent was not present at the childs designated pick-up location at the drop off time. We believe this complaint should be closed and will not be offering any further response.

• Initial Complaint

  04/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have had constant issues with the bus driver picking up and dropping off my child. Particularly with a driver named "***" who tried to drop my 4k student off at the wrong address and then drove around with him for another 30 minutes causing fear and confusion for my child, and then when I asked him why he tried to drop my child off at the wrong address, he screamed at me in front of of my 4k student. Again, when he was supposed to drop my child off he didn't even fully stop the bus and took off before I could open the front door despite the fact that I was early. Seems as though the driver did this out of spite. Both times this has affected my work because I have to clock out and lose money to wait another 30 minutes for the driver to show up.

  Business response

  04/27/2023

  Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. We reviewed your claims with our local ******** manager who provided the following response: Per the school district policy, all 4K kids must be released from the bus to a parent/guardian. So if that person is not visible when the driver makes the stop they can continue on. We keep the student on board for their safety and will try to return later to drop the student. Though the driver you refer to is new to this route, he is an experienced driver who follows procedure. We will not be removing him from the route because of this complaint. 

*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. ↩