The Short Bus LA

WOW… after reading these reviews, I feel lucky I had such a fun night on the Short Bus! I bought the living social deal and used it just a few nights ago. We got picked up on time and the first thing our driver, Joe, asked me for was the voucher and $ 100 tip. Dumb me, I didn’t bring the voucher but handed the 100 right away. Didn’t want my evening ending before it even started. Joe then called ‘short bus headquarters’ asking what to do because i didn’t have the voucher. I was able to look it up on my phone, whew!!! As for the tip, we would have anyway, but don’t recall anything about an upfront mandatory $ 100 tip… wasn’t written on the voucher nor mentioned on the phone when talking to mike or roger.
We brought our own snacks, alcohol, even blue cheese olives for our dirty martini’s. I brought glass wine and martini glasses, which wouldn’t stay in the too shallow drink holders… not a deal breaker. prefer glass to paper. we headed off to our first destination, a little speciality store that will remain unnamed… shopped, picked up three more friends, making for a total of 8. Then we went to MOCA, where those lights are… great photo op! Then, we went to a bar for a bit. Joe found me to let me know it was time to leave… we opted for another hour and he wanted to be paid right there, right then. I said i was good for it and would do it back on the bus and continued to dance. He did get us back to our starting point.
As for the bus, didn’t notice broken windows or torn seats. It was quite dark. We had an absolute blast and great evening filled with laughter, silliness, drinking, dancing and great photo ops.

I was really scared after reading some of the reviews. A friend of mine bought it as a deal on Living Social. It was alright. It’s kind of a no frills party bus. The driver was nice. There’s no bathroom, but the driver knew a few easy spots that had restrooms. The stereo had bass. I didn’t really have to deal with the money side, I was just a guest. We just kind of rode around and drank. If I were going to use it again I would have a fun destination in mind.

THIS IS A SCAM!
I booked this service for a friend’s birthday party. Before the scheduled pick up time, I received a phone call from the dispatch operator confirming that I had the driver’s tip ready in an envelope to be paid when the driver arrived. I thought it was strange being that a tip is based on the quality of service rendered, but I chose not to question him, as I assumed they had their reasons. (In addition, the living social deal specifically said that the tip was included in the total price.)
I was advised that the driver would call upon arrival. A phone call was never placed. Approximately 30 minutes after our scheduled pick up time, my party made our way downstairs to find the bus. Once we arrived at our scheduled drop off location, the afternoon quickly spiraled out of control. The driver, «Mark», became extremely rude and abrasive. At one point, he threatened me physically. Bear in mind I’m approximately 5’2″ and 100 lbs. When I called the dispatch operator, «Roger», to speak to the company about the incident, he called my party trash. NEVER in my life have I been referred to as trash. I was calm, civil and measured through out the entire experience. When my party reached our meeting location to be driven back, we found our personal belongings had been haphazardly discarded on Venice Blvd and the bus was gone. I called the company and was advised that we could find our own way home, but I was assured that we would be reimbursed for our cabs.
I sent the receipts off to the company along with a letter. In this letter I asked that we receive reimbursement within 10 days upon receipt of the letter. Otherwise we’d be forced to pursue the matter in small claims court. This morning I received a phone call from «Mike» who told me that we will not be receiving reimbursement, and while we could take the matter to small claims, they would not do anything about it. He said this was «on account of the weed and the drinking». We absolutely did NOT have any drugs on board that bus. This is a false claim (along with many others) on the part of the company to sidestep their financial obligations. In terms of alcohol, yes we were drinking. Hence the term «party bus»! However, we did NOT drink excessively to the point where we were a threat to ourselves or anyone else involved. We were just a group of friends getting together to celebrate a birthday on a SUNDAY afternoon.
A friend of mine wrote a review about our experience shortly after it happened and within days she received a message from the company telling her that she and the rest of the Unilocal reviewers should have a «trashy party» together. I’m expecting a similar message as soon as I post this review…
11−20−12: In response to «Mike’s» comment regarding the satisfaction of 99% of his costumers, I’m just curious as to where he came up with that figure. From what I can see, this company has yet to receive a positive review.
I contacted the Better Business Bureau shortly after I wrote this review and was advised that they’d received several complaints. I personally take that as an indicator not of a few disgruntled costumers, but as an endemic issue with an unprofessional, unapologetic company.

I absolutely agree with all the other reviewers. I purchased a voucher from Living Social, which states in black and white that «tax and tip are included in the purchase price.» I even spoke to Mike at the company and scanned and emailed him a copy of the voucher. However, when the driver, George arrived to pick my daughters and her friends up for her 16^th Bday party, he demanded $ 100 in tip BEFORE the trip. In fact he got so angry that I did not have that ready that he started yelling at me and my girls to «GET OFF THE BUS», not once but 7 to 8 times. He said he was leaving if I did not give him $ 100.00. I really did not have a choice, ruin my daughter’s party (which was a scavenger hunt with the Bus) or have him leave. So, I paid him $ 100. I have never seen such unprofessional behavior, it was borderline abusive and definately beligerant and rude. This experience ruined the beginning of my daughter’s party, all the girls were traumatized by George yelling at them and on top of that, Robert, who is from the company was on the phone when all this happened, was not even concerned that such violent behavior was exhibited by George, the driver. And by the way, there is no AIR CONDITIONING on the bus. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE, YOU WILL REGRET IT! Everyone I spoke to at this company, Mike, Robert and George were rude and unprofessional.

This business is NOT a business, but a scam. Don’t even think about booking with them! I wish I could leave them –1 038 483 stars! Just wanted to help you guys out. Absolutely don’t use them. Our party got left stranded on the beach for no apparent reason, and if you look at the other reviews you will see this story is very common. Enough said!

This service was HORRIBLE!!! DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT HIRING THEM! They left us stranded, left all of our belongings on the side of the street, where a homeless person told us what the driver did. When we called their dispatch, they said the words, «You are trash.» The bus itself had a broken cracked window, holes in the seats, & duct tape over the bar. My friends birthday ended on a sour note! Our group of 11 had to catch cabs to get back home.

Just received an unusual message via Unilocal from someone who claims to be with the company and asked me and any one I know to never book them again. That will not be a problem. The message was mean-​spirited and rude. I regret having given them 3 stars to reflect the actual service experience. Given this message from the company, I have no problem reducing the rating to one. Very strange experience.

Do yourself a favor and hire Limo4me they were awesome and professional. My party stretch hummer was very reasonably priced and very new looking. Best price in town;)

DO NOT USE THIS BUS ‘SERVICE’ FRAUD JOKE
BEWARE!!!
My girlfriend booked the short bus party service for my 30^th birthday party. She booked it through Living Social. They said the bus will not travel more than 20 miles. We told the moron running it the drop off address we were going. They confirmed on the phone our pick up address and location we desired to go and could accommodate us. When the bus arrived, we immediately suspected the day would be a mess. Three of the windows on the back of the bus were broken and the paint was totally faded. Complete amateur work.
Then when we started to load our food and drinks on the bus the driver, ‘Mike’ who looked like a meth addict hick from Fresno, immediately and rudely yells to us, ‘I hope y’all aren’t going to Hollywood, I just map quested it to here and its 22 miles.’ So it then escalated into a he said/​she said argument and he ended up sprinting to the driver seat and recklessly speeding down the street at about 40 mph. Yes, our alcohol was still on the bus.
The fact of the matter is that we told this idiot where we wanted to go a week prior and our pickup location and they were OKd on the phone. He ruined the plans for the party. Reservations were made and people had already been waiting at our meet up location where we were heading and they had to go home. The funniest part of the whole thing it how the idiot on the phone who was originally ‘setting it up’ asked us to tip the driver 100 dollars up front. Gee, I wonder why…
CON ARTIST HICK LOSERS!
We are getting out money back from Living Social and requesting for them to not pay this guy for his share for our day.

Claims to be a party bus, claims a fully stocked bar, that’s actually not true. They don’t serve alcohol and apparently don’t tolerate drinking… so what’s the point? If I have to be sober, I can drive myself.
Trying to get my livingsocial coupon refunded…

We booked Short Bus after seeing a Living Social deal… David is HORRIBLE!!! He picked us up and left us stranded downtown. Then would not answer any phone calls. I would never book Short Bus again…