A Touch of Class Limos

I wish I had read the Unilocal reviews before booking with Maria Lanides and Touch of Class. Of course I didn’t think anything of it since I had heard the name «Touch of Class» before (but apparently in reference to the decoarators or the hair salon). Right after NYE my husband started calling around to limo services to get a quote for 10 people to go to Mohegan Sun on Friday Feb 20^th and return the 21^st for his 40^th bday. She couldn’t give a price over the phone so we emailed her the specifics (address of hotel and our address for pick up, dates, times). We got an extremely low price back. We talked to our group annd they all said it was a fantastic deal. We sent back the signed form and Maria came back w/​«I was confused about which casino and I can’t do it for that price». She came back with a price $ 200 higher. My husband and I decided to eat the additional $ 200 and let our friends pay the original price we quoted them. About 3 days prior I was told that the money would be drawn from the account. I expected there to be tax and we had been informed that the driver tip was our responsibility directly to the driver. We were charged an additional $ 247 for fees. This is the point where I happened to google Maria Lanides and Touch of Class and found the BBB, Unilocal,and Times Union blog about her. And this is when I went into panic. Every complaint had described our experience thus far exactly. I didn’t want to cancel because she a) already had my card info, b) had ALL of the monies, c) figured she would screw me for cancelling and charge us, and d) we didn’t have time to find another solution.
Friday morning comes and we are waiting for the limo to show. We call because it is late. He finally shows up 25 minutes late. A rather old Cadillac limo show up. A very unprofessional looking man in a leather vest, black jeans, etc. shows up. Mind you the leather interior is cracking, there is no smoking signs EVERYWHERE, but there is a full ashtray towards the front. We ask to stop for a bathroom break. While piling back into the limo we all see the tire on the rear driverside (not the side we got in on initially) is FLAT and there is a tear in the sidewall. My husband puts his entire thumb into the hole. The limo driver attempts to have it filled at the next gas station which didn’t have an air pump. He didn’t ATTEMPT to fill it again!!! We all prayed for a safe arrival to the hotel for the next 45 minutes. We get to our hotel and we reluctantly give him the tip that we had collected and have a conversation of «this tire will be replaced by tomorrow yes?» He assures us that it will be. The next a.m. my husband calls Maria to make sure that the limo is running on time. She was unaware of the tire situation. She called driver and then called us back. THe tire had not been replaced. He took it to a mechanic and he said it was FINE. We are all sweating now. My husband went out to have a conversation about the tire with our again late driver. Again, we all reluctantly got into the limo because we would all be stranded 3+ hours from home with a snowstorm scheduled to hit within 2+ hours. My husband has been a mechanic for 22 years. In fact worked for a tire shop in the beginning of his career. Maria would not divulge the name of the mechanic that was used (of course). The driver divulged that he made $ 600 for the trip (plus our first $ 50 tip… he did not get the second one that we had already collected for him) and Maria made almost $ 500 for her couple emails and couple unprofessional phone calls to us. We were so stressed over this. Our guests were very sweet and understanding but it all weighed heavily on us for those 30 hours. I could say that you get what you pay for but I believe the end price was the same as if I had just gone with Today’s limo’s quote of $ 1100 and I would have had a courteous, professional, punctual driver and a professional over the phone that was more organized and courteous. Maria Lanides is NOT a nice person. She is a nightmare. My husbands 40^th was not as fun for me as I would have liked after spending all that money. I was rather stressed and apologizing to our guests for the entire 30 hours we were gone.
Do yourself a favor and spread the word. My family has owned their own businesses for 40+ years and they have to make good before on a mistake or a complaint, but that is what being in a service business is all about. This was an expensive lesson learned. I honestly don’t know how she has a business at all. Apparently by raping the very few suckers that do happen to call her.

STAY AWAY! We had a horrible experience with Maria and hope that no couple looking for wedding transportation use her. When I inquired, 2 months before the wedding, about the balance due, Maria responded by saying the vehicle we had agreed upon was no longer available. She gave us two inferior options to replace it. We thought we could agree that these were not right for our wedding day and walk away with our deposit and no hard feelings. We were wrong. She insisted on keeping the $ 150 ‘processing fee’ though what she actually processed, I don’t know. I wish I had read more reviews ahead of time and never called her in the first place. The scary part is, had I not contacted her, who knows if she ever would have told us until it was too late? We got lucky and were able to scramble to find a more reputable company, but it could have been a lot worse. Again, STAY AWAY!

Please don’t even consider giving your business to this company! The website says to use their website to request a quote — BUT IT DOESN’T WORK!!! Okay fine, so I e-​mail instead! Do you know it takes ATOC at least a week to get back to you? So, instead, I call… The lady who runs this company (Maria Landies) is probably the most unpleasant woman to deal with. Terrible customer service! And their rates have all these additional fees that Maria can just give you a straight answer… Please take it from me… Don’t give your business to Maria or ATOC!