- Report: #70850
Complaint Review: Long Island Limousine And Bus Service (LIALS) - Hauppauge New York
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Long Island Limousine And Bus Service (LIALS)
25 Newton Place Hauppauge, 11788 New York, U.S.A.
Phone:
631-234-8400
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Long Island Limousine And Bus Service (LIALS) LIALS Driver stole my Laptop PC Hauppague New York
Essentially, this is what happened: On Fri evening 10/24/03 I contacted LIALS, in order to make arrangements for a Sunday morning pick up at a friends house in NY. The Yellow pages add I used to look them up stated Visa/Mastercard was accepted. I was quoted $42.00 for a one-way ride for myself, my wife and 2-year-old.
At 5:30AM on the morning of the 26th, the van arrived with one other passenger in it. An accountant from Woodbury Long Island. There were no other passengers for the duration of the trip. The driver (a tall skin head guy) was busy communicating with the shuttle company on what looked like a cell phone, and didn't really say anything.
We loaded the luggage, the last piece of which was my wife's laptop computer packed in a leather Nine West bag. There was no room anywhere else in the van, so I placed the bag on the seat in front of me near where the other passenger was sitting.
We then left for the airport.When we arrived at La Guardia, We began unloading the luggage onto the directly in front of the baggage check in.
When the luggage was almost all removed, I presented the driver with my Visa card. The driver told me that he could not accept Visa as the phone book add had stated, without 24 hour advanced notice. (There was no mention of this either over the phone or in the advertisement). Since I did not have that much cash on me, we began to debate.
About a minute into our discussion, the other passenger (the accountant) butt in and said that he did not want to miss his flight, and so offered to pay our fare. He gave me his business card with address phone number and EMAIL, and said to mail him a check when we got a chance. I gave the driver $20 of the $42.00 (which had somehow risen to $45.00) and a promise to the accountant for the $25.00 balance. The driver and accountant then ran to the van and drove off.
We immediately noticed that our laptop had not been unloaded, and so called the shuttle company from our cell phone. They called the driver en route to Kennedy airport, (within a minute or two of pulling away) who said that he did not have the bag. We knew that the bag had not been unloaded and so called back a minute later and asked to speak to the driver personally. We were finally put in touch with the driver about 20 minutes later, who said that the other passenger on the shuttle (the accountant) had taken the laptop. At that point we checked our remaining luggage and boarded the flight.
We got in touch with the accountant late the following day, and thanked him for lending us the money and asked
about the where abouts of the laptop. He confirmed that he had seen the laptop on the seat next to him, but knew it wasn't his, so he left it.
I spent all of Tuesday trying to get in contact with a manager at LIALS to inquire what had happened to our laptop (and was given the run around), since the drivers story and the accountants do NOT match!
I was finally put in touch with Joe, a manager at LIALS. He told me that the driver couldn't find the laptop, so Joe asked him to bring the van in so HE could search it. He of course found nothing. This is a two year old laptop which isn't worth all that much, so I'm guessing that the other gentleman on the shuttle (the accountant, who is also an MBA) would probably have gone out a purchased a newer much faster machine, if he had felt the need.
The fact that the driver told me that the accountant had taken the machine, (which I seriously doubt) AND and that they had searched the van AFTER that, tells me that the skin head is pulling a fast one! He is in fact the only person, given the short time frames involved who could have taken it.
In conclusion, if you're ever left with the choice of walking to the airport on foot or taking a LIALS shuttle, break out your sneakers! These guys are CRIMINALS!!!
Police have been called in on this!!! Don't put your familys safety in jepardy with that type of operation!!!
Mike
Miami, Florida
U.S.A.
At 5:30AM on the morning of the 26th, the van arrived with one other passenger in it. An accountant from Woodbury Long Island. There were no other passengers for the duration of the trip. The driver (a tall skin head guy) was busy communicating with the shuttle company on what looked like a cell phone, and didn't really say anything.
We loaded the luggage, the last piece of which was my wife's laptop computer packed in a leather Nine West bag. There was no room anywhere else in the van, so I placed the bag on the seat in front of me near where the other passenger was sitting.
We then left for the airport.When we arrived at La Guardia, We began unloading the luggage onto the directly in front of the baggage check in.
When the luggage was almost all removed, I presented the driver with my Visa card. The driver told me that he could not accept Visa as the phone book add had stated, without 24 hour advanced notice. (There was no mention of this either over the phone or in the advertisement). Since I did not have that much cash on me, we began to debate.
About a minute into our discussion, the other passenger (the accountant) butt in and said that he did not want to miss his flight, and so offered to pay our fare. He gave me his business card with address phone number and EMAIL, and said to mail him a check when we got a chance. I gave the driver $20 of the $42.00 (which had somehow risen to $45.00) and a promise to the accountant for the $25.00 balance. The driver and accountant then ran to the van and drove off.
We immediately noticed that our laptop had not been unloaded, and so called the shuttle company from our cell phone. They called the driver en route to Kennedy airport, (within a minute or two of pulling away) who said that he did not have the bag. We knew that the bag had not been unloaded and so called back a minute later and asked to speak to the driver personally. We were finally put in touch with the driver about 20 minutes later, who said that the other passenger on the shuttle (the accountant) had taken the laptop. At that point we checked our remaining luggage and boarded the flight.
We got in touch with the accountant late the following day, and thanked him for lending us the money and asked
about the where abouts of the laptop. He confirmed that he had seen the laptop on the seat next to him, but knew it wasn't his, so he left it.
I spent all of Tuesday trying to get in contact with a manager at LIALS to inquire what had happened to our laptop (and was given the run around), since the drivers story and the accountants do NOT match!
I was finally put in touch with Joe, a manager at LIALS. He told me that the driver couldn't find the laptop, so Joe asked him to bring the van in so HE could search it. He of course found nothing. This is a two year old laptop which isn't worth all that much, so I'm guessing that the other gentleman on the shuttle (the accountant, who is also an MBA) would probably have gone out a purchased a newer much faster machine, if he had felt the need.
The fact that the driver told me that the accountant had taken the machine, (which I seriously doubt) AND and that they had searched the van AFTER that, tells me that the skin head is pulling a fast one! He is in fact the only person, given the short time frames involved who could have taken it.
In conclusion, if you're ever left with the choice of walking to the airport on foot or taking a LIALS shuttle, break out your sneakers! These guys are CRIMINALS!!!
Police have been called in on this!!! Don't put your familys safety in jepardy with that type of operation!!!
Mike
Miami, Florida
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Chris
United States of AmericaWhy would you think you can pay with a credit card?
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, December 13, 2009
Why would you think that when you're getting out of your limousine at the airport, that you can hand the driver a credit card? What do you expect the limousine driver to do with a credit card as you're getting out of a limousine at the airport?
If the driver did in fact steal your laptop, that is inexcusable, but it sounds as though you were trying to get away with a free ride by handing the driver your credit card as you stepped out of the limousine. No one with common sense would possibly think that you can hand the limo driver a credit card at the airport for payment.
In life, when you try to get over on people, it comes back to bite you, and it sounds to me like that is what happened in this situation. Do the right thing and the right things will happen to you. Try to get over on people and you'll come up short every time.
Steve
Hauppauge,New York,
U.S.A.
laptop not stolen
#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, December 11, 2006
In Response to Mike from Florida,It should first be stated that my company Lials is not Long Island Limousine And Bus as the latter is out of business and never had the reported phone number. However, Mike did in fact use our company over three years ago to go from Woodbury,L.I. to LGA airport. The original price he was quoted was indeed correct and that was the rate our driver told him. Apparently Mike was under the wrong impression that we accept credit cards in the van. We apologize for that misunderstanding. (We do,of course, explain this on the phone but it's possible one of our reservationists made a mistake] As far as Mike's alleged "missing" laptop is concerned our driver did check the vehicle as soon as as he was notified and found nothing. Our manager, Joe, also checked the van and found nothing. Despite Mike's obvious bias towards "tall skin head guys" it is our belief that Mike actually had the laptop (if indeed there really was one)all the time. The Police were notified and of course found no reason to investigate. We suggest that before Mike calls other people CRIMINALS he looks in the mirror. We would also bet that if we were able to check with other transportation companies we might just find Mike has "lost" a whole lot of laptops.
