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Recently, I was in charge of planning my oldest friend's bachelor party. After deciding the details of an overnight stay at a local casino, we also decided to order a limousine to bring us to and from the hotel. I did research online, compared prices, and decided to go with Premier Limo in Berlin, Connecticut. While they were slightly more expensive than their competition, their online reputation was seemingly worth the extra money.

Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case. The trip to the casino was fantastic. The ride back, however, was a nightmare. The driver was told to pick us up in front of the main casino door at 11 in the morning. By 11:15 he still hadn't arrived. Getting worried the time had been written wrong, I called Premier Limo. The customer service representative was, by far, the rudest I have ever had the misfortune to speak to.

When I explained I was waiting she called the driver, who told her he was outside a different part of the hotel. Relaying this to me, she informed me that my party was going to have to walk to meet the driver. Due to the layout of the hotel, this meant a 15 minute walk all the way to the other side of the property. As I was explaining this, she became combative and repeatedly interrupted me. Finally, she agreed to have the driver come meet us.

After another half hour of waiting, the limo finally arrived. Our bags were put in the back and we took off. The driver apparently decided he needed to make up time, as the ride back was extremely rough. There were several times when a drink was spilled due to either a quick acceleration or hard braking. Needless to say, I immediately emailed the VP of Premier Limo when I arrived home.

There's that old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." That perfectly sums up my experience with a Mr. Schlein at Premier Limo. After hearing about our horrid experience, he offered a partial refund of the return trip, a free ride back to the casino, and a discount on the future return trip. A few months went by and I attempted to collect on his generous offer. Suddenly, Mr. Schlein was no longer willing to return my emails or phone calls, even after setting a date.

It goes without saying that I strongly recommend against using Premier Limo for any trip, no matter how simple it seems. My experiences with the drivers, the customer service, and the VP were nothing less than terrible. This was an utter failure from the driver all the way to the Vice President. While Premier may be quick to chalk this up as unfortunate bad luck not indicative of their company, I find that hard to believe. The next time I need a limo, I won't be calling Premier.

A. Orien Avery is a freelance writer as well as a Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. His work has appeared on sites such as Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, and Yahoo UK News.

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