As the Internet becomes more popular we are starting to notice a plethora of other companies offering the same service as we do.
This is good for us as it stimulates competition and makes sure that we are "On our toes" when it comes to customer service.
However looking around at our competitors websites at first glance they all seem to be the same nice front page nice graphics perhaps a catchy little .mid file playing in the background or some other way of getting your attention.
They are also doing exactely the same as we are submitting pages to the search engines in the hope of getting more hits and more customers.
BUT!!! have a close look at their websites you will notice they all share one thing in common lack of information and content oh they may tell you the price but what else virtually nothing at all.
And the biggest Con of them all is that if they show you a price and then somewhere near the bottom of the page they add a "meet-n-greet" charge how stupid!!! if they actually knew and understood their business the business of airport transfers they wouldnt do this.
As a prospective customer purchasing a service I know I would want a little more detail How reputable is the company what are their vehicles really like are there any hidden charges what are the drivers like? all these questions need answers and the information you get from our competitors is either non-existent or very sparse indeed it makes us wonder why they don't want to give this information out perhaps they don't really care that much?.
Here is a little fact you may not be aware of did you know that a lot of our rivals make their money NOT from the customers but from the drivers themselves.
What they do is charge the drivers a circuit fee or a rental each week what this means is that it doesnt matter to them if the drivers are good/bad or just plain stupid what it means to you the customer is that your contract is not actually with the company you use but rather with the driver it doesnt really matter to the car company if the driver doesnt do his job fails to meet you or his car is in an appalling condition or even if he has a licence or insurance (and ordinary insurance is not legal for the carriage of passengers) the car company still get their money from the driver regardless.
We however as you might have guessed do things differently we do not charge the drivers a rent or a circuit fee we pay the drivers only if they do the job and things like dress code insurance (the correct type) vehicle roadworthiness certificates and Driving licences are all checked weekly to make sure that they are all in order.
Try this little test if you use another company ask the driver to show you his insurance if he does make sure it says "PRIVATE HIRE AND REWARD" on it if it doesn't its not legal!!!
At the beginning of this year (2000) we actually booked and took rides with most of our competitors (unknown to them) you should have heard some of the rubbish we heard when we asked the drivers to show us their insurance certificates we were told things like "The law says i do not have to carry it" (true very true but why doesnt the driver carry it?) "It's in the post" (yeah right!!!) "I havent got it but I am insured" (of course you are and we trust you completely) "I am not a licenced taxi so I dont need special insurance" (RUBBISH!!! hire and reward insurance is a legal requirement for anyone carrying fare paying passengers)
All of our drivers carry this certificate of insurance with them (if they do not use our block policy) However most of our drivers are on our "BLOCK POLICY" which is openly available for inspection at any time
On the front of each vehicle clearly displayed should be a Tax disc it shows the month of expiry on it if you cant see it or it has expired DO NOT get into that vehicle to obtain a valid tax disc a driver must show his Insurance certificate and vehicle roadworthiness certificate if the vehicle hasn't got a Tax disc or it has expired then there is a good chance the driver is unable to produce these documents which could possibly mean the vehicle is unroadworthy or the driver is uninsured.
At this point we will State that not all of our rivals are this slack with their customers in fact one or two quite surprised us with their high standards but we are sorry to say over 60% of the cars we travelled in left a lot to be desired either because they couldnt produce insurance they were not taxed in poor condition or they were filthy or the drivers rude or scruffy.
We realise that for a first time visitor to the UK or a first time customer of ours these questions need answering thats why we believe we have the most comprehensive FAQ in the business today we try and answer very question and give as much information to our customers as we can.
We are currently working on an airport guide to give you the traveller an idea of what its like when you arrive at any of the airports in london how and where to meet your driver what happens next etc.
The first pages have already been completed see Terminal Guide This is all about meeting your driver at the airport or dock.
We are also going to photograph each and everyone of our vehicles as well as each and every one of our drivers we have nothing to hide we want you to see what you are getting.
Its been a company policy for over two years now to be "up-front" with our customers there are too many people in this business that just care about the money (we like money too but we all also love doing our jobs)( Many of our drivers have been with us for a long time they love London they love meeting new and different people from different cultures and they love driving thats why they do the job as a driver the money they earn isn't the best in the world (That's the nature of this business) but they do get great satisfaction from doing a job well.
This is reflected in the amount of repeat business and referals we now get and this policy starts from the first moment you visit our websites we think we have covered every question that you want to ask and if we find we havent we are more than happy to answer them.
before you book a car have a look around the web see what we are talking about then have a look around our site have a read of our FAQ (Frequently asked questions) you will see we have plenty of information for you to look at.
This is our policy "The price you see is the price you pay" and this is also reflected in the way we advertise on the internet we give you all the information you need.
If you feel there is anything we haven't covered on our websites please send us some FEEDBACK and if we can cover it on the web we will.
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