Collegetown Cab — Local services in Town of Ithaca

I am writing to express my appreciation and that of my Model UN students from Florida that visited Ithaca last weekend. You provide a service that make everybody who uses your service want to keep on coming back. Your flexibility in meeting the needs of your customers is unparalleled. For instance, we had requested that we would need transport at Syracuse Airport at 11:45AM. We happened to arrive and be ready by around 11:15PM. I called the office of College Town and by the time we cleared with Baggage Claim (about 20 minutes earlier than planned!), the three vans were there waiting for us to take us to Ithaca - and there was no extra charge! The following day, we did not know what to do with three hours. We called College Town office and within less than an hour after the call, we had a first class tourists' itinerary arranged for us. Our picnic at Butter Milk Park was such a pleasant surprise and it turned out to be the highlight of our visit to Ithaca! On our last day, our flight was at 6:00PM and we had asked the vans three hours earlier. We had no idea how close the airport was to our hotel. We found ourselves with some extra time and the staff of College Cab helped us all the way. They were very patient with us as we sorted out our bags. We are truly thankful to Gary for making all the arrangements to make our visit to Ithaca so memorable. We are also very thankful to the driving staff- cum-tour guides. Kelly, Kevin, Hunk and the others whose names I do not recall were not only very safe drivers but also knowledgeable, humorous and most of all very nice people. They made us feel very special. We are truly grateful for making our visit to Ithaca so enjoyable and memorable! Please let Kelly, Kevin, Hunk and all the others know that we were very grateful for all that they did for us. Thanks...

Tl;dr: DO NOT book with CTC if you are going to the airport Driver very obviously pressures for tips, but beyond that, on my most recent trip, driver arrived over an hour late to pick me up (I actually scheduled the cab for 4.00 and was told the day before the driver would be there 4.30 to 5, and then the driver actually arrived at 5.05 to pick me up). Driver then made two more stops (all of us were trying to make a flight that leaves at 5.50 AM! all of us wanted earlier pickup times, and I had TOLD them when my flight was!!), pressured us for tips at the tail end of the trip, and got us there so late that 3 out of the seven (!!!) people on our trip arrived too late to check our bags (through no fault of our own at all, entirely due to the cab company).

Due to this egregious issue (THEY CAUSED ME TO MISS A FLIGHT AND HAVE TO SPEND ANOTHER TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS REBOOKING) I will never book with them again. I discourage anyone else from booking with them. Notice that the majority of good reviews they have are from 8+ years ago, and their rating is still so low. Take an Uber or get a friend to take you to the airport.

EDIT (response to their comment below): I gave you the flight info. There were literally only two flights out of Ithaca that day. You had the information, you just did not care about providing a timely service. Of course I had told you what flight I was trying to make. ALL OF US ON THE SHUTTLE were trying to make that flight, and almost half of us could not make it in time to check our bags...

I just saw another review with a complaint against the same driver I had an issue with, Shawn Murray. I figure I should also warn others about it. Back in January I requested a ride through the app, and he came to pick me up. He said he could only take cash since his card reader wasn’t working. I mentioned I could pay directly through the app since I’ve done it several times in the past. He was rude and said that wouldn’t work, so he took me to a gas station so I could take out some cash. I did it because I needed to get to work early morning. As I arrived to my destination, he asked me to pay $15 in cash. I knew that was way overpriced since I usually pay $9 for that type of trip, but I was just trying to get to work. As I got off, the app sent me my receipt saying I paid $10.28 in exact change. I submitted a complaint and the company said they would confront the driver and that my next ride would be “free”. I was never refunded the money.

I ended up blocking the driver in the app so I would never get him as a driver again. Fast forward a couple of months, I decided to give the company another try. I requested a driver, and, once again, Shawn Murray was assigned to me. I immediately cancelled that ride. It looks like he made a new profile on the app, because I checked and I still had his original account blocked. I deleted the app and I don’t plan on using the company ever again. I always warn friends before they order a cab through...