It is time of course to make some changes. Too bad I don't seem to be important enough to be considered in this equation. Clearly things could be better.
For instance tonight the ride materialized at my home at 7:10 PM. When I reserved the ride I said how I needed to be at my destination at 7 PM. The AAA car service operator told me that according to the computer I needed to be picked up at 6:12 PM. Nothing else was available.
This sounds absurd. How can it be that nothing else is available when I am making my reservation well in advance of the day and time I need it.
I think the excuses must stop. I called up the County complaints line. Richard at TOPS told me that I have to fudge the reservation time. I said that I needed to talk with the owner of AAA. He wouldn't pass this message on.
My feeling is that the car service needs to do what they can in order to do what they say they are going to do. It shouldn't be up to passengers to play the role of mind readers in order to get their rides. I shouldn't have to play any kind of fudging game in order to make a reservation or get a reserved ride to arrive on time.
My call shortly after 6:12 PM only resulted in the operator saying that the ride still had time to get me. This was quite incorrect as I needed to be on time by 7 PM at my destination. It would be far wiser to actually let passengers know what is really going on.
As I suggested many times before, imposing a $2 waiver at 30 minutes or 60 minutes after the passenger has begun to wait, would be a step in the right direction. Car service providers would pay more attention to passengers that were not going to pay for rides that arrived too late to be utilized. No one listens to me.
I don't know why it was allowed for the car service to change the rule about this. When I started using the service passengers didnt' pay when cars arrived 60 minutes after the beginning of the pick up time. Now I am told that 90 minutes must transpire.
A better plan is to have the car service have enough drivers to deliver the service that they say they are going to deliver. Otherwise the car service is spinning their wheels for nothing by sending a car that is deemed inopportune by passengers because of untimeliness. Naturally I had to pass when the vehicle arrived so late. I would have appreciated at the very least a phone call telling me before hand that I needed to find another way to my destination. The 7:10 PM arrival did me no good because I was expected to do some important work on a governmental board that started precisely at 7 PM. The dispatcher Lori informed the driver Rene, that I should pay $2 for a ride that I would have cancelled earlier if I knew that they planned on getting here so late.
I will forward this to Supervisor Jerry at AAA. I hope he takes it seriously. In the past he has indicated how he has to read these messages and intimated how he found it to be a nuisance. I regret equally that I have to send them. Not sending them would constitute negligence on my part. We owe it to ourselves to do whatever is necessary to make our corner of the world a showplace. It doesn't happen by itself. Recently drivers received a 50% pay raise. These car service providers should not be having any difficulty attracting qualified personnel. What is the problem.
Sanford
