Ace Limousine Service

This was the weirdest limo service I’ve ever used. I was told to look for car 72 at the pick up area. There was no car with that number. We waited for at least 15 minutes. Finally I called again and was told that the driver was sitting there — but now I was supposed to look for a specific license plate number. OK. Driving to our hotel room the driver was talking on his cell phone the entire trip — with the other hand on the wheel. No blue tooth. We had to listen to his conversation. He was speaking a language I did not understand. Very unprofessional and actually illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving. When we arranged for the return to the airport a few days later the driver was over 15 minutes late. I called the office but was told that the driver was stuck in traffic. Drivers are not supposed to be late — they are supposed to leave early enough to be on time. That is why we hire professional car service! In the car I felt very uncomfortable. Again, he was taking calls on the cell phone. I was told when I made the reservation in the first place that the driver would be able to take a credit card. However, he told us he could not and that I would have to pay him cash. Again, this was the most confusing car service I have ever used. Will not work with them again.

A HORRIBLE service! I was charged TWICE for charter service 3 months ago a STILL have not gotten my money back. Not to mention, the charter was rusted with a broken tail light! Small claims suit was filed yesterday so by any means, I will get my money back. NEVER use this company!

They were terrible! We hired a limo and they cancelled the day of the wedding with no apology and no refund. Stay away from them!

Their gimmick is the forty-​five dollar airport limousine ride. I say take a cab instead. Ace actually consists of a bunch of limousine freelancers, so on any given day you could get either a discreet, acceptably clean town car or an embarrassing stretch limousine prom-​mobile still replete with last night’s cheap perfume.
The drivers also run the gamut from pleasant and well-​versed in the city’s traffic patterns to so confused that one almost made me miss a flight, even though she picked me up three hours prior. However, the major drawback by far is when they pick you up from the airport. They will not wait by the baggage claim with a sign bearing your name. Rather, you must call to confirm after your flight arrives and they will meet you in fifteen minutes. Or twenty minutes. Or thirty minutes. And you must wait for them outside, so there is no shelter from the elements and no help with the baggage. The last time I arranged for an Ace pick up was on a cold winter night, and I stared longingly at the cab line, where the wait was no more than five minutes. My advice is to either pay twenty dollars more for a genuine car service or take a cab.

They didn’t show up to pick up 10 of us for a concert then it took 4 months to get a refund. Every time I tried to call or email them they would answer the phone, realize it was me then give me lip service and a promise they didn’t fulfill. Just AWFUL!!!

WORST service/​driver ever! Doesn’t know his way around city AT ALL. Doesn’t know main streets. Doesn’t understand English. Took me entirely wrong way and wouldn’t listen when I corrected him. And his Euro trash club beat is thumping the whole time in the car. So unprofessional Go Elsewhere.

Limo driver was courteous and on time going to the airport. The car was not exactly clean but my family had an early morning flight and it was a sunday morning so I’m sure he had been up all night with another client. We were told we would have a town car and if they had it available the limo would show up. We were pleasantly surprised. When we came back from our vacation we had the town car. We did have to wait 15 minutes but it didn’t kill us. I mean it’s not magic. A car cannot just appear out of thin air. Ohare doesn’t allow you to wait curbside if you are a livery so I totally get this. Drivers are great and they don’t engage you unless you engage them first.

Clean new cars and prompt pickup. I appreciated the driver’s ability to get a stretch limo through rush hour traffic on a Friday night, but it unnerved three of our six passengers. A booking error for one of our four excursions was immediately corrected and emailed in advance along with an apology. The final SUV contract ride from the Loop to the airport included some confusion about payment at the drop off, with the driver not knowing it was a pre-​paid ride. This same driver was a prince of patience however when an unexpected delay of a few minutes sent one of our three passengers into high anxiety. This is one of those jobs I am glad to never have, and am glad for someone else, like Ace, to do it.

Would have had 5 stars if the 3 out of 4 limo pick ups and drop offs weren’t a Mario Andretti race, where you feel like a wet towel in a dryer. The 3^rd limo driver announced he had a wedding to get to and was wipin’ us all over the highway… we all belted up. However, the other 3 pick ups were professional, comfortable, and very nice.
!!

Instead of re-​writing a review, I will just post the email I sent to Ace Limo. I would not have posted this review, but considering I haven’t received a reply, I figured I would let the public know.
I would just like to send an email expressing my disappointment in my service on Thursday night. Due to President Obama coming in town, my car service was 45 minutes late. I understand that these circumstances couldn’t be avoided, but I only got a call 30 minutes before pick up time to be warned. This was very inconvenient as it was the night of my engagement and things has to be done on a timely basis (which is why I needed a car service in the first place). Further, I was originally told the Limo would be 20 – 30 minutes late, when it was actually 45 minutes late. To be perfectly honest, I would have completely gotten over the fact that the car was 45 minutes late if the service was great, but that wasn’t the case. First off, the driver did not apologize to us for being late, I actually had to bring it up once we got in the car. Second, the driver didn’t know where we were going, which wasn’t a huge deal, but considering the destinations were a surprise it was a little frustrating. And third, I have never taken a car service where the driver didn’t have the courtesy to open the door for us. Again, not a huge deal, but I would think after being 45 minutes late, the driver would do everything he could to accommodate us.
So you get the gist. I won’t be using Ace again.

First things first: You need to know they are like the pimp of limo companies; they do not own any of the cars, they hire independent contractors.
That being said…
Our wedding day came and the bride’s (my) limo showed up. He was very nice, assisted all of us in the car. 15 minutes later, I got a call from the best man… their limo didn’t show up. Not what I want to stress about. I now have my mom calling Ace and our limo driver on his cell phone trying to figure out where the car was and when it would be there. My mom was manning the 42 passenger air conditioned bus for out of town guests (which was 15 minutes late, but showed up) and had to leave the hotel where the men were to get everyone to the church on time. She was told the car got a flat tire. Did anyone call to tell us this? No. Did anyone call to say it was going to be late? No. The men then had to jump in 3 cabs and speed demon themselves to the church so they weren’t late. They even told the cab driver they would pay for his speeding tickets and any laws he broke on the way. This is all a half hour before the ceremony. But they got there, it could have always been worse.
The contact at the hotel tells us later that the driver showed up at the hotel around 2:30PM (45 minutes late and a half hour before the ceremony), there was a beer can in the front seat, the driver was not dressed properly and the back of the car was a mess from the wedding prior to ours. Sweet. My husband was robbed of his limo ride to the church. He even made a CD for it. Dreams were crushed. Instead he spent it plastered to the windshield of a cab. Makes for a better story, for sure. Again, it could have been worse.
After all of this, we still had reservations from months prior to take and pick us up from the airport for our honeymoon. I was a little scared (read: anxiety-​ridden) they wouldn’t show up at 4AM but always had cabs as backup. Both drivers were on time. The one to the airport was dressed fairly sloppy for being a limo driver (untucked t-​shirt and pants) and the back of the limo had warm bottles of water and Bud Light, obviously from another client. It was dark so I couldn’t see anything else. The driver home was the same one that took me and the girls to the church — his car was clean and he was very friendly.
While we were on our honeymoon, they charged my parent’s credit card an extra $ 250 for an extra hour for the air-​conditioned bus when it was late in the first place and a no-​show limo. Really?
No error goes uncontested: To correct all of this, Ace was contacted to get some refunds because there is no way we were going to pay for a limo that didn’t show up. They were very nice about refunding for their contractor’s messups, including refunds for our limo to the airport and unexpected cab fares. They refunded everything back but it took several phone calls to get everything squared away.
Would I use them again? No.
(They get an extra star for not forcing me to jump in a cab on my wedding day.)

I’m writing in add to my last rating (which was filtered) to say not to use Ace Limosine. They never picked me up for my wedding and gave us so much trouble when asking for our refund. It has now been over 2 months and still no refund. Absolutely horrible.

I booked Ace for a ride to the airport — the booking process was painless, didn’t even have to give a credit card number, and they were responsive to questions via email, which is always a plus for me. The car arrived at least 10 minutes early (didn’t charge extra time — I just happened to look out the window & see he was there), the driver was very courteous and quiet — always a plus since I’m not a morning person. The car was nice, clean, and had no weird smells of excessive air freshener or anything else. He drove quickly and safely in the rain & morning traffic. I will absolutely use them again.

I hired Ace Limousine to pick up a client of mine and drive him and his guest to a holiday dinner party and then to one destination within a one mile radius. From the beginning, Ace did not follow the written instructions submitted two days prior to the event, including calling the CLIENT to ask for final payment once a deposit was made. The driver showed up in a white stretch Lincoln limo, not black per the reservation, the driver had no idea where he was going, despite explicit instructions given as to the location of the initial pickup and drop off. The client was taken back to his home in the western suburbs at the end of the night, at which point the driver tried to get cash from him in the amount of the total reservation! My client had to call me at 3am (how absolutely embarrassing for me!!!) to let me know that the limo driver/​company I had hired to take care of him was trying to shake him down on his front lawn, in raining 20 degree weather, for approx. $ 500 — and wanted cash only!!! After about 10 minutes and multiple phone calls, I told the limo driver to leave my client alone, and return to my downtown Chicago home to resolve this. The Ace Limousine dispatcher on the phone was completely mental, and said that the driver was right to expect payment from the client, despite the dispatch sheet in front of him saying «PP» which meant that the ride was Prepaid. When the driver showed up at my house, he at first said he was an Ace employee, but then immediately changed his story when I gave him my reservation receipt showing that the deposit was paid, and the balance of $ 384 (minus tip, which at this point was out of the question) was paid the day prior. He said that he was in fact a contractor to Ace, and was just told to pick up my client and collect money at the end of the night from him. Thankfully this was all done through our corporate American Express, who I called immediately to check on all this with. They said that despite the $ 480 total charge for the service contracted for, Ace had billed me $ 96 as a deposit, and and additional $ 552 — and that all this had posted the day before the event, so there should have been no confusion as to who paid or was supposed to pay. AMEX stopped payment pending resolution… DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY — they are shady, they are unorganized, they could care less about fulfilling their contractual obligations, and leave it to the customer to sort out their messes.

* Reasonably priced, clean cars, professional service *
Considering a cab is around the same price, this sedan service is quite the steal at $ 45 to downtown from O’hare.
The dispatch reservations agent on the phone was not terribly professional as I could hear him yelling at someone in his office. But it wasn’t terrible.
The driver was there to pick me up within 5 minutes of me calling after getting out of the gate. It was a comfortable and very clean car. The driver was extremely professional and made sure to offer to help even with my small carry-​on bag.
The drive in from the airport was loaded with traffic, and the driver handled it really well. He got off and took some side roads and was not complaining about how long it was taking, etc. I was very happy with his service. He was extremely friendly and told me about his family, immigrating to the States, his life in Chicago, etc. I get the impression he would have been quiet if I had wanted him to be, but he was an interesting guy to chat with to pass the traffic away.
The return trip was much less traffic, but with an equally helpful and professional driver that arrived at the hotel a few minutes before my scheduled pick-​up. He also was chatty, and in his case I think he wouldn’t have been quiet even if I had wanted him to be! But that was ok as he also had an interesting life story. We got to talking about discrimination experiences he has had in Chicago. I always am interesting in hearing about these types of stories to get a feel for what life is like in a place I’m visiting.
The charges for my 2 trips (from and to the airport) have not appeared on my credit card yet, so if I have billing problems as some previous reviewers have experienced I may change this rating.
Overall I would give the drivers and price 4 stars, and dispatch 2 stars for an average of 3.

Beautiful car, clean, driver was ok (he didn’t really say a word but that’s fine with me), and he got us to the airport on time. Is it worth $ 45 instead of paying for a weeks of parking, paying more for a cab or taking the El, a bus, and then another El… I’d say so.
Things they could improve on
Calling when you’re going to be late -(I have a big problem with this one, why should I call (being the customer) to find out where the driver is. When I say sharp, it means get to us early and wait till we come down.)
Take routes you know that work –Instead of taking 90 (which I understand it’s rush hour but it really doesn’t take that long to get to the airport from Lawrence) he went all around this other way and we got stuck by 3 trains in two different locations, not smart.
Warn your customers if you’re going to drive recklessly –If I think that we are going to be late I’m all cool with you getting crazy but at least give us a heads up.
I would use them again, but I believe in second chances.

I selected Ace for my wedding based on reviews. I’ve been in limos before for friend’s weddings, so this isn’t my first time. On the plus side, the driver was on time. That’s pretty much where the pluses ended. The driver was sloppy, wearing a faux Kangol cap, white Member’s Only jacket unzipped halfway exposing his equally atrocious black tank top. The only thing he was missing were the Z. Cavariccis The limo was filthy with half drank water and juice bottles. He had no idea how to get to the ceremony location and told us he needed us to direct him on how to get there. Ever hear of Mapquest? When my mom told him where to exit the highway, he had the nerve to yell «I got it!» at her. When he picked us up after the reception, the half drank bottles were gone but there was no champagne as Ace promised (we had our own anyway). We were probably better off there wasn’t because it would most likely have been a half drank bottle of swill. It’s worth paying a little more for a company that hires more professional drivers and actually maintains their limos.

I was pleased with the Ace Limo Services. The driver was on time and was accommodating to the time change I had upon my return home. Where was my bad experience? The company charged me twice and then refused to return my money after I left three messages and an email. Someone finally emailed me back to let me know I would get my credit back but then I received a phone call from my driver. He began to scream at me and tell me I was not charged twice. I was then forced to fax my bank statement showing that I was charged twice although when I sent my first email I sent all the proper information. No one likes to be yelled at and I certainly will not go back to this service.

The ride itself was great. Nice car, smooth ride, very courteous driver. So far, so good, right? But then I was charged $ 10 more than their rate sheet online indicated. When I called to ask what the deal was, I was told, «oh yeah, online isn’t updated yet.» Unlike the driver, this guy on the phone couldn’t have cared less about me and was completely uninterested in the price discrepancy. I told him he was losing a customer for life, and he said, «OK.»

Courteous, prompt and competitive rates. What more could you ask for?