Driverseat Sarasota

Thank you for your review Monica and I am sorry that you are still unhappy. I would like to reassure you that the call recording referred to in my response was from when you telephoned several times and you were informed by our phone system at the beginning of each call that it was being recorded. Rest assured that the dashcam records the outside of the vehicle and does not record audio - your chauffeur told me that you chatted throughout the ride, I do not know what you discussed. Please stop accusing us of illegal activity and also referring to the nationality of the owner in such an angry way - this is really not relevant. As already mentioned, we are a legitimate company, employ US citizens, are based in Sarasota, and part of an international franchise system - and of course we can accept pre-payment! We just choose not to at the moment as the majority of our customers prefer to be charged at the end of their ride. If you had requested to pay in advance, we would have arranged that as our customer service is our top priority.

For anyone reading this review and have got this far, here is the response that I wrote on Google:

"Thank you for your very surprising review, Monica. We have looked into your ride details on our system, spoken with your chauffeur and reviewed the archived dashcam footage from your ride, which was a month ago. For the benefit of any future customers reading this, we'd like to point out the following:

1) We spent around 30 minutes in total speaking with you to discuss your requirements and to reassure your concerns regarding your level of mobility. You were advised that we are not medical transportation, but we will provide some support and help with bags if required. You confirmed that you were ambulatory, you were able to stand / walk and were just being overly cautious using a walker;
2) Your chauffeur met you at the elevator in the airport, as arranged, and offered to help with your bags but you already had assistance so he wasn't required at this point;
3) You and your chauffeur chatted throughout the 54 minute journey and he was not given the impression that you were unhappy with the service at this point;
4) When he pulled into your narrow driveway, you requested he move closer and he did so immediately - you didn't exit the vehicle and there was no mud;
5) On leaving the vehicle you requested assistance with finding your key and opening the door - your chauffeur happily obliged and even physically helped you over the doorstep at your request;
6) You requested that your bags were placed inside and then asked that they were moved to a more convenient location - again your chauffeur happily obliged, despite being slightly uncomfortable to now be in your house;
7) We do not currently take prepayment - your chauffeur handed you his phone to authorize the card payment at the end of the ride, at which point you have the option to add a tip and there are preset buttons to select no tip, 15%, 20%, 25% or custom amount...this is totally at our customers' discretion and there is never any pressure to leave a gratuity;
8) We are a Canadian franchise and a Sarasota local business, based in midtown Sarasota near Siesta Key. We are also members of Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce. We pride ourselves on delivering an outstanding level of customer service and have thousands of happy customers from all over the US, Europe and beyond, who don't feel as upset as you that the owner isn't American!

We are dismayed and confused as to why you would leave this review. Your chauffeur went above and beyond in making sure that you arrived at your destination safely and spent considerable time helping you at the end of the ride. The Driverseat brand promise is to 'out-care the competition' and we aim to deliver this level of service 100% of the time.

Having listened back to the call recordings, you go into some detail that you were trying us for the first time because you were very unhappy with the service that you received from the company you used previously. Perhaps you have confused us with them? We would be happy to discuss this further or play the recordings back to you."