After frantically looking for the confirmation email from Super Shuttle, and realizing they never sent one, we just assumed that they would be able to look up our name to find our reservation. I had printed a copy of my bank statement saying they took money out of my account, so I knew that they had our information somewhere. Apparently it was somewhere in cyberspace as the unfriendly shuttle driver grunts a confirmation that he is the driver to our destination, but then walks away from us when we say that we don't have a confirmation number. My sister and I shrug at each other and hope that the driver walking to the driver's door is a sign that he's going to find our reservation info.
Not quite...he calls dispatch and proceeds to butcher our last name in asking if they have our information. Two minutes later he walks back over to us and just grabs my suitcase from my hand to throw in the back of the van. "I guess we're good to go," I think. We hop inside and sit with two other passengers. The driver is still bickering with the dispatcher, shouting our last name, letter by letter, into the phone as he puts the van in drive and takes off.
We circle the airport once and park right where we got in the van. The driver isn't leaving the airport until he has a full van. Crap. The two other passengers have apparently been circling the airport for twenty minutes and are about to strangle the driver. We're about to kill him as well because he won't tell us anything, but keeps shouting at the dispatcher. Suddenly his cell phone is thrust in my face and the driver tells me to speak to his dispatcher.
"hello," I say.
"Can I have your confirmation number," the dispatcher asks.
"I was never sent one, but can you look me up by my last name?"
"Well I need your phone number to confirm that your reservation was actually completed..."
I cut the dispatcher off, "Um, no, my reservation did go through because Super Shuttle took the money for the ride out of my bank account. I just need you to find my reservation," I said a little hasty. Seriously, how do you run a business with no one being able to check anything on a computer and everyone giving you shit if you don't have a confirmation number?
"Mam, please don't yell at me, I'm just seeing if you did make the reservation..."
Yea, it's 12:30am, and I'm short tempered, tired, and now annoyed, "you took the money, so you have my info..."
"I'm going to transfer you," the dispatcher cuts me off and next thing I hear it a ringing phone. It goes to the main shuttle line and then says a dispatcher will answer my call in a second. Back to ringing. By this point the driver has decided that the latest passenger we picked up has hit his invisible quota to leave the airport and we're finally headed to one of the passenger's destination. The phone is still ringing.
"the phone is just ringing," yell up to the driver.
Silence.
"Do you want me to keep on the line?" More silence, more ringing.
A minute later I hang up and ask the passenger in front of me to hand the driver back his phone. I'm not gonna sit on the phone waiting for someone to pick up to fix a mistake that isn't my fault. The driver just takes his phone and asks for our destination address, proceeding to type it into his gps system while driving on the freeway. So safe.
Two minutes later, at 1:13am, my phone starts to ring.
"Hello," I say.
"Yes, you order a Super Shuttle? I'm waiting to drive you," an Indian voice inquires.
"Um, yea, I'm in one."
"I'm at the airport waiting for you. Where are you?" the voice asks.
"I'm already in one of your shuttles, driving on the freeway," I say.
"But I'm waiting for you, to drive you."
For a Super Shuttle you just make a reservation online or on the phone and go out to the sidewalk at the airport, hopping in the first van headed your direction. They don't actually have specific shuttles waiting for you with your name on a sign, so I'm slightly confused why this man on the phone is distraught that my sister and I have not shown up two hours after we've landed to have him drive us home? It's also funny to me that this man calling me has my phone number and knows I have a reservation, and yet our current driver and his dispatcher could not find our information in their system.
I manged to obtain my confirmation number from the phone guy and I tried to tell it to our driver, but I think he was past caring as he grunted and said he didn't need the info anymore. I wished I hadn't prepaid the tip. We continue onto one of the other passengers locations and then, finally, our Aunt's house, only slightly almost dying 3 or 4 times on the way there.
Once, when I was on the phone, the van suddenly swerves right across two lanes, then stops sideways on the exit ramp before the driver looks at his gps unit and then charges back onto the freeway. Apparently he turned off an exit too soon and decided to rectify his mistake. The rest of the near death experiences were due to "California stop" inducing whiplash and a swerve left to actually go right, turn.
Once at our aunt's, we quickly exited the death trap, grabbed our bags, and grunted a thanks to the "still ignoring us" driver. San Fransicso Super Shuttle drivers, dispatchers, and customer service all receive a half star on service from me. It would be no stars, except for the fact that my sister and I did make it to our destination alive and in one piece. But seriously, if you're going to run a business, make sure your employees are courteous, helpful, understand English, and problem solvers. Plus, they should never type GPS in the computer while driving. So dangerous.
And that concludes my Supern Shuttle rant/review.
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