Carmel Car & Limousine Service

I ordered a taxi in Santiago Chile. Carmel assured me that the taxis would be there. It was not. their customer service is non-existent. Thyerefuse toisue a credit. Never use them. I am trying to get Orbitz (,whom I originally paid for the taxi), to drop Carmel. more

i even had bad experience with this service! Ibooked and paid in advance but after several calls their driver couldn't find us at jfk and i decided to take a normal NY city yellow cab. for My next visit to NY i'll never book in front! more

I have many bad experiences with Carmel, but my last one made me decide to NEVER EVER use them again. \r I booked 1 week in advance for a pick-up in Harlem to JFK. As my flight was the same day as the NYC Marathon, I called them right after I booked online to make sure my journey was feasible (I asked to be picked up 4 hours before my flight expecting traffic/rerouting). The person on the phone hardly replied to me that of course yes they do service that day no matter what. 2 days before my pick up, I called them again to reconfirm that. Again very rude person on the phone that almost laugh at me. Fine.\r On the day of the pick-up, I got a call right on my pick up time telling me the car would be 10mn late. Ok. 10 min after I got a call telling me my car would be now 20mn late (so 30mn total). Since I schedule 4 hours, I was thinking I would still be fine, still I started to worry. 40mn after my requested pick up time, I GOT A CALL TELLING THERE WAS NO CAR COMING TO PICK ME UP! Person on the phone hardly apologized and just told me to find another way to get to the airport. I was by myself at home and 6 month pregnant. I finally ended up having to take a black cab and pay crazy money (not to talk about the stress of missing my flight). \r And as I said, it is not my only bad experience with them.\r Carmel - WORTH SERVICE EVER I strongly NOT recommend you to ever use them.\r more

The worst service I ever got in the US. We had to wait for a cab for 20 mins at JFK, had to spell the street name on GPS for the driver because he couldn't even read English from the printed itinerary, while in cab we had to speak 3 times to their supervisor to make a planned stop on route - because the supervisor couldn't understand what the driver was saying. At the end the driver was very rude when he understood that he won't get a tip. Our company will never use them again. more

Have had nothing but excellent experiences with Carmel. Have used three times now and each time they were punctual and stuck to the quoted price. In fact they email it to you so they can't dispute it. Just make sure you ask for the soup to nuts price including toll and tip and write it down. more

i use Carmel six times on average a week. on 7/30 car #2226 picked me up at Memorial Hospital. The driver told me my f...king wheel chair was too heavy. He kept screaming ""f words"" at me . When I finally arrived at my destination I noticed he had broken my left armrest on the wheelchair. I told him that and he screamed ""F... You""\r I have called Carmel four times and have heard nothing 11 days later.I just left a message for John Roberts Head of Administration. Let's see what happens more

I'm usually not writing reviews, but I feel that people should know that.\r I was waiting in the line in JFK airport to get a cab, when a man walked to me and gave me a coupon for ""$6 off"" for Carmel Car and Limousine Service.\r I decided to call and see the prices. The dispatcher told me it will be $44+toll+tip minus the $6. And I repeated the all thing to him and he approved.\r I was waiting for a car for 15-20 minutes after the time scheduled, because of bad communication with the office.\r The driver was very nice, and when I told him about the price, he said that I was supposed to get ""a code"" for the coupon. So I tried to call them on the way.\r They put me on hold to ""try to give me the code"" about 7 times, for 12 minutes. And then I got to the ""supervisor"" that was very unprofessional and told me that he can't add the code after we started the ride, and when I asked him what to do, he said that he can't do anything and that I will need to pay.\r I told the ""supervisor"" that this is not a way to run a business (as I am running a business and know how it is), and he just said that it is fine with him and I will have to pay.\r This wasn't about the $6, that I ended up paying. It's about the customer service that was horrible.\r \r I will never use them again, and I really don't recommend anyone to use them. more

WORST CAR SERVICE EVER-\r HAD A 1:45 PM PICK UP RESERVATION AT JFK\r DRIVER CAME AT 2:30 AND SAID HE JUST GOT THE CALL TO PICK UP. MAY HAVE NOT BEEN THE DRIVERS FAULT- WORST DISPATCHER AND CAR SERVICE COMPANY EVER-\r \r SPENT 45 MINUTES ON HOLD JUST TO TALK TO A DISPATCHER TO TELL US TO WAIT OUTSIDE IN THE FREEZING COLD WEATHER. NEVER AGAIN\r BEWARE! UNPROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES- more

Don't Use this company. Their service is SHAMEFUL. Despite several confirmations of a New Year's Eve reservation I made several weeks in advance, they cancelled out on me at the last minute(two hours before pick up on a night they knew I could not find another ride on such short notice. Left me and my elderly parents with mobility problems stranded.. more

Don’t use Carmel services! I had an awful experience with this company. It was the first time I used their service and absolutely the last one.\r \r First the van wasn´t big enough as we booked on line, one of my daughters had to travel on the floor because there was no more place to sit. \r \r \r \r Second, and more important, the driver they send to pick for us, didn´t know how to drive the van.\r \r He told us it was the first day he was driving that van, and never been to JFK. How can that be possible in a company that dedicates to this???\r \r \r \r As soon as we start, we made two blocks, with GPS on, and he got lost, getting very frustrate and nervous.\r \r Then when we enter the highway he couldn´t manage the van well enough, he drive side to side, couldn´t getting the van on the middle of a lane. He went all the way cursing.\r \r Also he didn’t know how to follow GPS directions nor signs and could barely speak English, so is was very difficult to made us understand.\r \r We try to help him, giving us the directions but he was to nervous and out of him to pay attention to us.\r \r To make things worse, in the middle of the highway, the GPS falls and he just release the steering wheel, and we were about to crash if it wasn´t for my daughter that took control of it.\r \r He abruptly stop the van in the middle of the highway, without turning lights on and a truck almost hit us from behind.\r \r When we finally made it to JFK 8 terminal, my daughters were in shock, crying while he denied to take off the luggage.\r \r I sincerely thought this company was the best choice, but I was absolutely wrong.\r \r So make sure not to choose Carmel for any of your trips you will regret it.\r \r Hope this review help so nobody else goes through our awful experience.\r more

Stay away! Bait and switch! \r \r I recently had guests arriving from Europe and as they were arriving in the middle of the day I couldn't get away from work in order to pick them up myself. So in order to give my guests a quality ride I thought ok.. I'll book the ""deluxe"" car instead of a regular car. That was a rip off in that they sent a regular car, not even a town car. In fact that car was so run down that it didn't even have working seat belts. Mind you my guest had 2 children coming along. The driver then intimidates my guest who is ready to take another car at this point. The guy has lousy english but oddly perfect pronunciation of the word F***. Which he proceeds to use over and over in front of the children as they enter any sort of traffic. They then get lost of course. It took several phone calls to coax them to the right destination. \r \r This happened in June, I wasn't ready to give Carmel a bad review because of one bad driver. However what has happened since has totally shocked me. \r \r I've sent numerous emails to Carmel. Numerous phone calls to their ""customer service"" number. Here's how the scam works. The emails get an automated reply after 3 days telling one to call the number. You call the number, no one answers. YOu leave a message. No one ever calls back. They ignore the problem till you give up. \r \r I tried opening a claim with my CC company. They said that Carmel's bank insist for proof that the seatbelts were not working. Proof that even though the original receipt says ""deluxe"", you need a receipt that says they underdelivered on the vehicle. What kind of scam is that? What business is going to give you a receipt that says hey we didn't deliver as promised!? As such I'm going forward with a complaint to the TLC. more

I have used this car service for the past four years, every time I come to New York, and have not experienced any mishaps other than broken struts in one of their vehicles. That was not to be our experience this time. We came in for our wedding. We gave all our guests Carmel's information to book travel in the city as well airport service. Our service from the airport was fine, leaving us feeling secure in the rest of the bookings; most importantly taking me to the ceremony . We spoke to reservations two months in advance, then again a week before and upon our arrival to ensure all was well with our needs for the pick up and drop off for the ceremony. Twenty minutes before they were to pick me up, they called my fiance and told him they could not do the service. He told them that we had an agreement and they needed to follow through and that it was inconceivable that they would do this 20 minutes before the ceremony. They said they would not do the service unless he paid them an additional $100 plus. He told them to pick me up and he would discuss it later. \r I was in the dark at this point or I would have told them to twist off and taken a cab. When I arrived at the ceremony, I ran into my disabled nephew who was just arriving by cab. Carmel car service decided they would not pick him up either. No call, just no show. He had to flag down a cab that could house his wheelchair. My, now husband, called Carmel to complain and they told him a customer sevice rep would call him back. He spoke with them the next day and told them our experience. They were so very apologetic and said they would look into it. Our bill should have been $293, but we were charged $400! \r We felt trepidacious, but as we had not had problems like this in the past, we kept our reservation with them for airport pick up. OMG, you would think that they would have paid a little more attention to the booking after what had just transpired, but nope. Their capactity for screwups was not a fluke. As we waited for the Continental that we reserved, I noticed a small car drive up to the hotel. I could not believe my eyes. It was a Toyota Avalon. Are you serious? Our party consisted of three adults with three large suitcases and carry-ons. Not sure who was going to be riding on the roof, but it wasn't going to be me. We told the driver that it was not the car we ordered. He kept arguing with us that this is what we were getting. Our bellman kindly ordered another credible car service to take us to the airport. We will NEVER use this mickey mouse shamble of a crooked car service again. And neither will our wedding guests that had the misfortune of trusting our suggestion. Oh, and the refund we received? $22! These guys are crooked and incompetent. Save your money, and stress, and use ANYONE else. What they did was criminal. more

I WILL NEVER USE CARMEL AGAIN!!! I have used carmel for many years to get to the airport myself, and to take others who are visiting. The last time I scheduled a ride to get to the airport for my early morning flight I had a car come to pick me up at 4:30 am. I assumed that the driver who would be taking me on this trip that was scheduled ahead of time would know how to get to JFK airport, but that assumption was very wrong. The driver who picked me up was unfamiliar with the route to JFK and got lost several times, including missing the off ramp to the airport not once, but a second time when she circled back around and was coming back the other way. When she exited the highway to circle back around, she turned left on a red light and then proceeded to drive the wrong way down a two way street. Thank goodness there wasn't any other traffic on the road, but by that point I was scared for my safety. She almost drove the wrong way down another road but a car honked at her to tell her she was going the wrong way. Although she had a navigation system she did not bother to try to use it until she was driving and did not get it up and running. She even pulled over to the side of the road to ask someone walking on the street how to get to the airport. She was also checking her phone the entire time she was driving and drove most of the way with her right turn signal on. Once I got to the airport, I had 15 minutes to get through security and board my flight. She took a very long time to get the credit card slip ready to sign and did not get out to help me with my carry on suitcase. Not only that, but she did not open the trunk to let me get my own suitcase out until I banged on the window to remind her. I barely made it on to my flight. I called and emailed Carmel to let them know what had happened but I kept getting recorded messages. I finally talked to someone and they offered me a $10 discount coupon. I said I wanted my money back and they said they would check with the Drivers' Manager and then let me know what they could do. After several days, I still hadn't heard from them and called them back and they told me that the driver was a very experienced driver and ""due to traffic"" took another route to the airport and that because I hadn't missed my flight they could not give me my money back. There was absolutely NO TRAFFIC on the road to JFK at 4:30 am and the only reason it took so long was driver error. Additionally, I really did fear for my safety after she broke several traffic laws and almost drove the wrong way down two different streets (and actually did for one of them). The excuse they gave me was total BS and I am extremely disappointed with the customer service at Carmel. They do not care about their customers and actually put them in danger. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. more

LEFT STRANDED IN LONG ISLAND!! I called to confirm this reservation on the day before and the next time I called to confirm the reservation was 30 minutes before pick-up, which was at 12:30am. I was told by the dispatcher who picked up that they were UNABLE to get my car and there was nothing that they could do. This left six people stranded in Long Island in the snow with no way to get home to Brooklyn in the middle of the night more

I've used Carmel for several years. Normally they are terrific. However, last evening they stranded my girlfriend and I during a snow storm without the least bit of concern about our plight. Our reservation was booked 48 hours in advance and they canceled it 8 minutes prior to our scheduled pick up. I will NEVER use them again and strongly suggest that you use a different car service as well. They cannot be trusted to actually pick you up. more

I have used Carmel for work travel half a dozen times in the past 2 months, and I have had nothing but problems with them. First, they lure you in with the ability to book online, and with the friendliness of their booking agents. But it's all downhill from there... Most recently, I had 2 drivers pick up 2 colleagues at the airport at 6am to drive them to their respective homes. Both drivers claimed the corporate credit card was declined and refused to drive them unless they paid cash. One co-worker (going from JFK to Hoboken, a $100 ride with tip and tolls) was told this only after they left the airport, and was forced to pay out of pocket. After getting home, she saw that the driver also tacked on a $5 ""additional stops"" fee, though they never stopped once. The other coworker was my boss, and the ""declined"" card was his corporate card. He called the dispatch and read his card number to them. Guess what! No problems! The driver was very rude when he learned he wouldn't be getting cash. My boss didn't get a receipt from the driver, so I called Carmel to see if I could have one emailed to me. Since he didn't remember the exact cost of the ride, nobody at dispatch could help me. I guess providing the reservation number, name of passenger, pick up location and destination, date and time isn't enough information for them to look up the transaction. They need the EXACT amount charged. So I'm transferred to customer service, which is a straight-to-voicemail system. The dispatch operator tells me to expect to wait 3-5 business days to get a response to my voicemail message. Since I need this last receipt to close out the budget for this account, I called them and left voicemails every day. I emailed them as well, detailing all of the information on the trip. I received an email response asking for all of the information already included in my previous email. Clearly they never read it. My response was to write, ""As per my previous email:"" and copied and pasted my email, putting all of the answers to their inquiries in BOLD. Their response? They wrote, ""As per your previous email: ??? Your receipt will be mailed."" Wow. Just about as rude as it gets. more

I prepaid for my brothers car journey from Manhattan to La Guardia which includes tolls and tip. The driver took the longer route to avoid tolls and needlessly extended the journey. When I contested this with the owner of Carmel he said it was his perogative and refused to pay back the tolls and tip charged. It will be my prerogative never to use Carmel again and I will will obtain my refund by contesting through my credit card company. Carmel obviously doesn't care about customer service. I would rather pay more and go elsewhere. On top of this all their dispatchers are rude which doesn't surprise me when the owners doesn't seem to care. Have seen a review further down which suggests Delancey Car Service (212-228-3301). more

I used Carmel for a ride home from Newark Airport recently. My car was 20 minutes late. Any time I would call in to ask Carmel for an update on where my car was, I would get an operator who gave me false or inaccurate info. I called and left a complaint in a voice mail box at Carmel. When I finally got a call back, the attitude from the customer service mgr was that this sort of thing happens frequently and is no big deal. Upper management at Carmel seema just fine with late cars, incompitent call center people and a rude customer service manager. more

I've been using Carmel for rides to and from the airport for years. Usually they are on time when going to the airport, but it seems they have trouble picking me up at the airport to go home. I dislike having to contact my driver and wait at some designated spot on the sidewalk at some odd place in front of the terminal because its more convenient for the driver. The cars are getting dirtier every year and the drivers less professional. I think its time for me to move on. more

Horrific!! I had a Sunday evening, 4:45pm reservation from Fresh Meadows, Queens to Penn Station in Manhattan to make a 6:05pm Amtrak Train. I called at 4:45pm just to make sure everything was okay. The customer service rep told me they must be right around the corner. I went outside my apartment building and no one was there. I called back at 5:55pm, they tried to say again ""they were right around the corner"", but I demanded they contact the driver. They apologized and said they would be there in ""under 5 minutes"". About 8 minutes later, still not there, I received a call from a driver who I can hardly understand with his broken English. They are now 20 minutes late, and he is claiming to be in front of my house. I ask the address he is at, and he is about 20 minutes away in a whole different area. I have an online confirmation with the correct address. So Its now 5:10 and I have to catch a 6:05 train, and he wouldnt have gotten to me until 5:35pm. I cancelled the reservation and starting running to try and catch a subway. Carmel then called me and politely wanted to ""confirm that I no longer needed a cab"". I corrected them, saying I NEEDED a cab, but now due to their extreme tardiness, and also lack of ability to find a residential address, I have to hop on a subway to try and catch the train.\r \r I ran into Penn Station and missed the train by 10 minutes. Carmel Car Service caused me to miss the train, and I had to pay $50 extra to switch my ticket to get on a later train.\r \r DO NOT USE THIS CAR SERVICE. They DO NOT CARE! They are a big company that couldnt care less.\r more