Limos at the dock in Victoria BC, Canada WARNING!!

[legunn]

To all that are going to Victoria in BC Canada!! We just got finished cruising on the Carnival Spirit and had a blast. We only booked one excursion through Carnival and that was on the Tracy Fjord Arm and that was because there was no other vendor. We didn’t have anything planned for Victoria so when we got there at 7:00 p.m. we got off the ship and had a large group (at first 10 people but then 3 backed out and did their own thing so then it was 7 of us). Here is what happened.

 

I went to talk to the limo driver to see what the price was (they had signs saying city tours), first I got a quote from one driver for 10 of us (he was the only one that could fit 10) and it was $10 per person for a 1.5 hour then $5 every half hour after that so I went back to my group told them and that is when the 3 decided not to join us.... so I went back to the limo area and there was a smaller limo that could fit the 7 of us. I talked to him and asked how much for the 7 of us (we had a infant with us so really it should have only been 6 of us) he asked "what did the other driver quote you" I told him $10 dollars per person. He said "ok I can do it for that, $10 per person for 2 hours". I said great...but can the baby ride free? he said "sure" so then my father who was with us then said ok so it will be a total of $60 bucks right and the guy said "no, I can't do it for less than $70", we decided that was ok we would pay $70 bucks for all of us for 2 hours. My husband went to pay him and he told him no that he would settle up at the end "he needed to start trusting people anyway". He drove us around and toured the city and he was great during the tour and patient with the baby because she was fussy. He took us to a university that had tons of rabbits on the campus and he had to go to the bathroom so we got out and chased the rabbits (our toddler loved that, 20 month old). Then when he got back in the car he stated we could extent the tour to 2.5 hours for $100 and some bucks and I told him no, we only want the 2 hours for $70 "because we are cheap and need to get back to the boat by 11 anyway". So he kept driving and was coming up to the boat dock when he started saying there was a 12% tax in Victoria, we thought nothing of it and were like ok no biggie. We pulled up to the boat dock and that is when he told us it would be $156 dollars..... How the heck did it jump to 156 bucks from $70 . So we argued with him and he said he never said that it was $70 for the 2 hours, he said $10 per person per hour. So to make a long story short, we got swindled into paying double the amount. We complained to the port authorities and they took a statement but it wasn’t even on lined paper and no one signed it so I doubt that it went anywhere. We were not the only group that got hustled either. There was another group that heard us complain and told us they had the exact same thing happen to them but they didn’t hear the 12% tax part they just got told the larger amount of money.

 

 

DO NOT RENT A LIMO at VICTORIA IN THE PORT... if you do get it in writing before you ride or else you will end up paying more at the end!!!!

[Putterdude]

Obviously this should never have happened. Do you have the name of the limo company and the driver as it should be reported to the Registrar, Passenger Transportation Branch, PO BOX 9850, STN PROV GOVT,

VICTORIA, BC , V8W 9T5. Just as a sidebar, I do know that limos must charge the 12% tax which is a combined federal and provincial sales tax but it should have been disclosed to you up front.

[legunn]

Obviously this should never have happened. Do you have the name of the limo company and the driver as it should be reported to the Registrar, Passenger Transportation Branch, PO BOX 9850, STN PROV GOVT,

VICTORIA, BC , V8W 9T5. Just as a sidebar, I do know that limos must charge the 12% tax which is a combined federal and provincial sales tax but it should have been disclosed to you up front.

 

Unfortunately I did not catch the driver’s name. But I have a copy of the Receipt with his signature and the name of the limo company at the top. The company name is Arbutus Limousine. I should have gotten a copy of the "REPORT" that the security at the port took so that I had the guys name and license plate number. I will send the copy of the receipt and the information for the limo company to the address you provided. Thank you. I really wouldn’t have cared much about the price (although we probably would have done the Horse trolley tour instead) but it was the fact that he quoted one price and then at the end gave a much higher price. I didn’t even mind the 12% on $70 dollars, that was fine with us it was the double the price plus the 12% that aggravated us.

[Langley Cruisers]

Gosh, I hate hearing stories like this. It makes me so sad. :(:(:(

 

So sorry about your adventure in Victoria. The sadder thing still is the number of people who will hear about this, and Victoria ends up getting a bad name because of this one limo driver. It's like someone saying, "Don't go to Barcelona because of all the pick-pockets there." Well, obviously they are are, but to paint the whole city with a wide brush? It's awful.

[Urban trekker]

Here's a link to Arbutus limo service web site:

 

http://www.arbutuslimo.com/services.html

 

While it shows rates for most of it's services it doesn't have anything listed especially for individual sightseeing tours if I read the page correctly.

 

Sorry to have this ruin what otherwise sounded like a great cruise and trip.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[legunn]

Gosh, I hate hearing stories like this. It makes me so sad. :(:(:(

 

So sorry about your adventure in Victoria. The sadder thing still is the number of people who will hear about this, and Victoria ends up getting a bad name because of this one limo driver. It's like someone saying, "Don't go to Barcelona because of all the pick-pockets there." Well, obviously they are are, but to paint the whole city with a wide brush? It's awful.

 

I was not trying to give Victoria a bad name I just wanted to warn people about the port limos and have them get it in writing and be sure that there is some way to prove the amount agreed upon before getting in the vehicle because unfortunately there is nothing that can or will be done after the ride is over.

 

I did contact the limo service and am waiting for a response. If they rectify the situation I will notify everyone on here but I doubt that I will hear anything. I have a letter ready to send to the transportation branch if I do not hear from the limo service.

 

as I said I do not want to deter anyone from going to Victoria because it is a beautiful area but I do want to warn them so they do not get hustled at the port. Some people do not have 156 dollars on them and would have just taken the 7 dollar round trip shuttle to downtown. (Like we would have).

[robgvic]

Sorry about your problem in my city but i am not sure where you could get a limo for $35 an hour. $70 sounds about right for me but even that may be a little low. And yes hht is added to the rate.

[hello]

legunn, I loved your suggestion of getting the amount agreed upon in writing ... so simple, but it would never have occurred to me ... thank you!