OK, but who is Tony Hinds?

[TDR32]

If you know the name of the service you used why can't you get the contact info from the hotel?

Thanks. I got it all sorted.

 

[Disney Ron]

No, and it's not clear when, or if, it will resume. You always get a few posters with issues with any service. Search and you'll find guests who were issued taxi vouchers when DME didn't show.

Mears towncar service gets virtually no complaints, excepting price and abscene of a free grocery stop. Until recently Tony get no complaints. Maybe a handful now. Tiffany Towncar and FL Tours no complaints, that I remember.
Mears bus service gets a handful of complaints but generally runs smoothly.

Tony, and others, probably need to just tell potential customers sorry but we're fully booked. Car service complaints seem to occur when the company subs out the job to drivers they don't use as much.

The vehicle Tony Hinds had picked us up in last week wouldn’t even be allowed on the road in the state I live in.

OK, get your tinfoil hats out here, but I wonder if someone hacked his website or somehow got the information without Tony knowing. This "dirty white van" played a part in an earlier story on this thread IIRC. It seems strange that a cancellation (AND refund) in May still had pickup information for a driver in August. Is it possible Tony cancelled the pickup, issued the refund, but still dispatched a driver three months later? Yes, but it seems strange.

I went back in this thread and read the post about the older white van with no headlights. The poster said when they called Tony about the terrible situation Tony called the driver who admitted he was having trouble with his headlights, so it wasn't someone who hacked his website it was a driver he uses to do pickups because he obviously knows him.

One other thing after I canceled with Tony a poster here a couple of months ago asked me who I was now using? When I told her she booked the same company and had a great experience with them. Well this poster also had Tony booked and then canceled after reading some bad reviews. Well the other morning they were preparing to leave WDW for their return trip to MCO when a driver for Tony called them to confirm the pickup. So now that's 2 of us in the last 2 weeks that had canceled Tony but a driver was still being sent to do the pickup.

 

[Mabel67]

I canceled with Tony, after requesting an invoice via email and not receiving it within a week of request. Still haven't gotten a reply back acknowledging the cancelation. Fortunately, I had not provided any payment. Last time I used him, I paid cash to the driver as all other forms were not permitted. Hopefully he gets his business sorted, because I appreciated the concept, even if the execution wasn't always stellar. Supply/demand issues are a concern everywhere it seems these days.

 

[Realgrumpy]

The vehicle Tony Hinds had picked us up in last week wouldn’t even be allowed on the road in the state I live in.


I went back in this thread and read the post about the older white van with no headlights. The poster said when they called Tony about the terrible situation Tony called the driver who admitted he was having trouble with his headlights, so it wasn't someone who hacked his website it was a driver he uses to do pickups because he obviously knows him.

One other thing after I canceled with Tony a poster here a couple of months ago asked me who I was now using? When I told her she booked the same company and had a great experience with them. Well this poster also had Tony booked and then canceled after reading some bad reviews. Well the other morning they were preparing to leave WDW for their return trip to MCO when a driver for Tony called them to confirm the pickup. So now that's 2 of us in the last 2 weeks that had canceled Tony but a driver was still being sent to do the pickup.

True story. After cancelling with Tony, His driver called me the morning of my departure to finalize pick up. Crazy. Again, thank you Ron for recommending Panda! They were amazing!

 

[Disney Ron]

True story. After cancelling with Tony, His driver called me the morning of my departure to finalize pick up. Crazy. Again, thank you Ron for recommending Panda! They were amazing!

You're more than welcome. Really crazy what's happening with Tony Hinds, but we have a new service from now on.

 

[js]

Here's my Tony Hinds story from last week. We've used Tony twice before the first time was very good the 2nd was ok so we booked him for our trip last week and this week which ended yesterday. We prepaid but then started reading bad reviews so in May we canceled and Tony reimbursed us the next day. We booked with another company and last Monday August 1st we flew to WDW. Once we landed we received a text from the driver of the new company that he was almost to MCO and would call us in 5 minutes. We were told when we booked them they had Mercedes vans and Sprinters. Well 5 minutes later we are outside and we get a call from a driver saying he was there in a white minivan. We couldn't believe it!!! We see a 20 year old Dodge Caravan which wasn't what we were told so I said to the driver "Are you *****?" I said the name of the company I hired and he says in broken English YES. This van is filthy and I found out after we arrived at the resort that the second row seat my wife was in was shaking all over and she said if we had been in an accident she would have gone flying.

So the driver is taking us to our resort when my cellphone rings. The man on the phone says that he's the driver from the service I booked and wanted to know where we were? I said what do you mean we are in a white minivan and he says, that's not us! So I'm in the front passenger seat and even my wife later said she sees me turn toward the driver with my right fist clenched. I have no idea what is going on and I'm about to take this guy out while cruising down the highway. So while I'm still on the phone with the driver from the company I hired I said to the driver in the minivan I thought you were from *****? He said Tony...Tony...!!! I then remember Tony Hinds and I said are you driving for Tony Hinds? He said yes and showed me on his cell the info concerning our pickup and drop off. I said I canceled him 3 months ago and why did you say you were the other company I hired and he said sometimes they call Tony for help. The driver for the other company who was still on the phone said we've never asked Tony Hinds to help us with anything in the past.

We then get to our resort and I still tip the driver because he did drive us there. He was going to tell Tony we had canceled and that he shouldn't have been there. Now before people come at me it's my fault we got into that van. It's not even close to what the other company told me what we'd be picked up in. That is totally on me not on Tony Hinds. But am I glad we canceled him. That van was an absolute mess and a disgrace. My wife couldn't believe it. Yesterday for our return to the airport the company I hired picked us up in a new Mercedes Sprinter that was so clean you could have eaten off the floor. The lady driving it was tremendous and this will be the company I use for our trips now on.

Thank you.
I used Mears their first week of doing the resort stops. As most people did, I was fine going but leaving to go back to MCO they were so late, other people called Uber and I was next. They showed but it was a very stressful way to end the vacation. Not doing that again in October.
Was thinking abiut Sunshine Flyer but will have my 14 month old grandson, who needs to be in a car seat.
I looked up reciews of Panda and just sent them a quote request.
Thank you so much!

 

[appleorchard]

Just back, and have a negative story about our trip from the airport to the hotel. I hate to hurt anyone‘s business, and a person from Tony’s office did call to find out why I canceled my return trip. But our experience was pretty unpleasant, and in the interest of helping others void this issue, I’m going to tell our story in a somewhat vague way, so as not to identify us or anyone else. If you want specifics, please PM me.

We arrived on a stormy afternoon and waited three hours for Frontier to get the luggage off our plane. Three hours. We were fairly cranky when we got the luggage, and I’m sure our driver wasn’t thrilled either. The minute we got in the car, he asked if we were fans of a certain politician. I said no and my daughter said, no political talk, please! He just didn’t let up. Showed me cartoons and stickers he had related to politics, skirted with some potentially racist comments, and we did our best to remain pleasant. Got to the hotel and immediately canceled our return trip. The next day someone from the office called and asked why. I initially wasn’t going to say anything, but I did tell him the story.

We did Mears Connect on the trip back to the airport. Trip back went fine, the driver didn’t say two words which was fine with us lol. If you want to the driver’s name or any other details, PM me, like I said.

 

[keishashadow]

Just back, and have a negative story about our trip from the airport to the hotel. I hate to hurt anyone‘s business, and a person from Tony’s office did call to find out why I canceled my return trip. But our experience was pretty unpleasant, and in the interest of helping others void this issue, I’m going to tell our story in a somewhat vague way, so as not to identify us or anyone else. If you want specifics, please PM me.

We arrived on a stormy afternoon and waited three hours for Frontier to get the luggage off our plane. Three hours. We were fairly cranky when we got the luggage, and I’m sure our driver wasn’t thrilled either. The minute we got in the car, he asked if we were fans of a certain politician. I said no and my daughter said, no political talk, please! He just didn’t let up. Showed me cartoons and stickers he had related to politics, skirted with some potentially racist comments, and we did our best to remain pleasant. Got to the hotel and immediately canceled our return trip. The next day someone from the office called and asked why. I initially wasn’t going to say anything, but I did tell him the story.

We did Mears Connect on the trip back to the airport. Trip back went fine, the driver didn’t say two words which was fine with us lol. If you want to the driver’s name or any other details, PM me, like I said.

I’m stunned to read this as it’s absolutely out of character based upon my interaction with Mr Hinds.

Unfortunately, I can’t imagine any driver waiting at the airport for three hours after a flight has landed. Most are just scheduled too tightly.

that could very well be the reason you may have had what sounds like a ‘fill in’ sort of driver As in the originally assigned one may have had other prior commitments.

Curious:

did you keep in contact with Mr Hinds updating the luggage status?

did you ever hear ‘why’ the luggage took so long to offload from the plane?

did you ever get any sort of explanation from the company as to ‘why’?

my understanding is it’s not uncommon for the smaller transport companies to help each other out in a pinch such as this. However, this is such a bizarre interaction. Surprised the driver didn’t read the cue that you didn’t want to exchange pleasantries. Most in a tipable position are quite attuned to that

Regardless, sorry to read this. I’m absolutely not making excuses here for that particular driver. The owner, Tony Hinds, needs to know what went on here so he can set things right….whether it was his own driver or one from another group

 

[appleorchard]

I’m stunned to read this as it’s absolutely out of character based upon my interaction with Mr Hinds.

Unfortunately, I can’t imagine any driver waiting at the airport for three hours after a flight has landed. Most are just scheduled too tightly.

that could very well be the reason you may have had what sounds like a ‘fill in’ sort of driver As in the originally assigned one may have had other prior commitments.

Curious:

did you keep in contact with Mr Hinds updating the luggage status?

did you ever hear ‘why’ the luggage took so long to offload from the plane?

did you ever get any sort of explanation from the company as to ‘why’?

my understanding is it’s not uncommon for the smaller transport companies to help each other out in a pinch such as this. However, this is such a bizarre interaction. Surprised the driver didn’t read the cue that you didn’t want to exchange pleasantries. Most in a tipable position are quite attuned to that

Regardless, sorry to read this. I’m absolutely not making excuses here for that particular driver. The owner, Tony Hinds, needs to know what went on here so he can set things right….whether it was his own driver or one from another group.

The luggage was delayed due to thunderstorms that kept the baggage handlers from removing the bags on all the flights around our time period. it was an awful mess. We were in contact with the driver frequently during that time. We were his last pickup of the day. I’m sure he, as well as all the rest of us waiting in baggage, was not happy with the delay, but that had nothing to do with the trip home. I do think he may not have been one of Tony’s regular drivers, and the person I talked to the next day made it very clear that their policy forbade talking religion or politics unless the passengers brought it up. Believe me, we didn’t.
i hesitated bringing this up here at all but I would have wanted to know. A different person than me probably would have shut him down firmly from the start. We were very tired and I didn’t feel like dealing with any more than we already had. I would give Tony another try in the future, but I would discuss this Incident with him and make sure there wouldn’t be a recurrence.

 

[MinnieMSue]

We once had a driver named Mike in a black minivan who talked politics and skirted too close to political things we did not want to discuss. We just did not talk to him and sat silently in the car until he moved on to discussing things neutrally that we were driving by. He did get the hint pretty quickly but I was already annoyed with him. Have never gotten him again. Actually we have lucked into Tony himself most of the time and couldn’t have been happier.

 

[keishashadow]

hesitated bringing this up here at all but I would have wanted to know. A different person than me probably would have shut him down firmly from the start. We were very tired and I didn’t feel like dealing with any more than we already had. I would give Tony another try in the future, but I would discuss this Incident with him and make sure there wouldn’t be a recurrence.

Thanks for coming back and elaborating on your unfortunate experience, talk about a cluster of events. Surely, not the way any body wants to start out a trip!

 

[Diane Kompan]

We've used Tony for several trips over the past 5 years. I'm glad I found this thread as I too was waiting to hear back after an initial text a few weeks ago in which he confirmed our request. Now that I know he may have been on vacation, I'll wait just a little while more to email him again about an invoice. Oh and I do know of that particular driver that is pretty vocal about his political thoughts as we've had him too. By chance though, if anyone has the name and phone number of who it was that is doing Tony's dispatch at this time, if you could PM me the information I'd appreciate it. Not quite ready to give up on Tony as we have had very good service. Thanks in advance!

 

[DaviVascaino]

We've used Tony for several trips over the past 5 years. I'm glad I found this thread as I too was waiting to hear back after an initial text a few weeks ago in which he confirmed our request. Now that I know he may have been on vacation, I'll wait just a little while more to email him again about an invoice. Oh and I do know of that particular driver that is pretty vocal about his political thoughts as we've had him too. By chance though, if anyone has the name and phone number of who it was that is doing Tony's dispatch at this time, if you could PM me the information I'd appreciate it. Not quite ready to give up on Tony as we have had very good service. Thanks in advance!

but even when Tony is not on vacation, there is a high chance you might get one of his drivers. It seems TOny got way too busy lately.

 

[Deb1993]

As an update, we just got back from our trip and we had the very vocal driver. We ignored what he said and switched the conversation (which was happening whether we wanted it or not) to Epic Universe and new construction things since last year, etc. It seemed to us that he was a little lonely. We did appreciate that Art confirmed with us the day before and that the vocal driver texted and called me to make sure we found him, etc. He was on time and got us from A to B efficiently.

 

[maui2k5]

I recently had to cancel our trip to WDW in late July after we came down with COVID right before we were scheduled to fly to MCO and were scheduled to use Tony for our ride to the hotel. I contacted Tony that I needed to cancel and he said he would send the refund. A few days passed and I did not get my refund. I got in touch with him again and did get my refund.

Regarding the drivers, for both pickups the drivers did not "know" my ride was cancelled and texted me they are on the way to pick me up. I let Tony know and he got in touch with the dispatcher.

We will likely use someone else in March 2023 for our rescheduled trip.

 

[The13thLetter]

As an update, we just got back from our trip and we had the very vocal driver. We ignored what he said and switched the conversation (which was happening whether we wanted it or not) to Epic Universe and new construction things since last year, etc. It seemed to us that he was a little lonely. We did appreciate that Art confirmed with us the day before and that the vocal driver texted and called me to make sure we found him, etc. He was on time and got us from A to B efficiently.

we had that guy on the way home as well. talking about woke disney. steered the conversation another way.

 

[mmackeymouse]

In your earlier post, you said you contacted him and gave him all the flight information. I don't remember if we always got a reply after sending this info to him. Have your checked your spam folder just in case the emails ended up there? I hate my email spam filter. It always sends important stuff there.

I booked with him for October and he sent a Google form to fill out with the info and on that email it said we would receive an invoice 48 hours before our trip to pay. I just booked last week.

Last year, there was a time period when Tony had raised his prices but if he quoted the lower price to you because you booked earlier, you paid the lower price. I know this because we booked close to the trip and other people going to same weekend paid less because they booked early.

Hopefully, you'll get a reply saying all is good with your booking.

So, I finally got the link after asking for the umpteenth time. Sure enough, the invoice is $60 higher than it was when he quoted.

I was right in the middle of sending him an email, getting ready to attach the quote he sent us; I remembered what you had posted from months ago and was hoping he would honor the quote.

But, I thought I would come back to the thread, because I couldn't remember if I needed to say anything specific or anything like that. And, reading the last few most recent pages, it looks like things have sort of devolved into a s-show.

It has me questioning if I should cancel altogether. Which 2 weeks out from the trip is not ideal timing but it is what it is. My dad had his heart set on taking the kids on the Sunshine Flyer. I kept having to explain that no, we already have private transportation, it's going to be great. It also give us the chance to be dropped up on the side of the ticketing counter, instead of dropped off on the other side of the airport and having to cross over to ticketing with all our luggage in tow. It's even a little bit more economical than Sunshine Flyer.

I had also heard some iffy things about Sunshine Flyer, so I was happy to stick with what we planned for.

Anyway, if we end up paying the same, or more, than Sunshine Flyer, with the price increase...I don't think that will go over so well with the family, especially Dad. But....if we end up getting some rickety old hoopty van, an erratic driver, or worse yet, a no-show...I don't think there is any amount of convenience that will salvage the transportation situation.

And I don't know if I really have the chutzpah to ask Tony not to send the white van or the political driver, after asking him to honor the quote that he gave us. I'm bold, but I'm not that bold.

 

[Best Aunt]

And I don't know if I really have the chutzpah to ask Tony not to send the white van or the political driver, after asking him to honor the quote that he gave us. I'm bold, but I'm not that bold.

I don't know if Tony follows this thread. In case he doesn't, I think people should tell him about the shabby white van and the political driver. If he's losing business, and there's something that he can do about it, then he should want to know about it. Even if he's not losing business (yet), those two drivers are "tarnishing the brand" so to speak, and he has worked hard to create that brand.

I wonder if he even keeps track of his price quotes. Maybe he doesn't even realize that he's not honoring them when he's sending out the invoices.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't know if Tony follows this thread. In case he doesn't, I think people should tell him about the shabby white van and the political driver. If he's losing business, and there's something that he can do about it, then he should want to know about it. Even if he's not losing business (yet), those two drivers are "tarnishing the brand" so to speak, and he has worked hard to create that brand.

I also wonder if people were letting Tony know about the issues they're having. I highly doubt he's reading a thread on a random message board. Based on past experiences, I feel bad for Tony, it sounds like he's having some kind of business issues. I hope he gets them fixed (even if it means cutting back on how many drivers he can provide).

 

[tigerlilly]

After reading this thread for the last two months I cancelled my Tony Hinds reservation. It is a lot of drama man. Good luck to everyone in their transportation quests!