1st Classic Limousine Service

I accidentally didn’t look at Unilocal before booking these guys, and after reading the reviews I was prepared for a disaster. Actually, everything went incredibly smoothly. My 7 girlfriends and I took 1^st Classic on a day long wine-​tasting trip. The driver, Siya (sp?) was amazingly nice and completely on time, and the limo was new and clean. We had a great time. Also, we had booked the limo until 4 and the owner warned me that we would be charged a fee if we went even a little over the time. Due to some traffic on the way home, I think we pulled in at around 4:04 and Siya didn’t charge us anything over the agreed upon price. Happy customer!

I signed up for Unilocal just to review this business. I wish I had read these reviews prior to booking! I booked a wine tour through this company because they offered a competitive price, no hidden charges (tax and gratuity included in the quote), a driver who «knows the area like the back of his hand» (per the reservation agent) and can make suggestions for wineries to visit, and champagne for the drive. Also, they didn’t charge ahead of time, and would only charge my card at the time of the event.
What they DON’T tell you is they put a hold on the full amount of the limo at the time you send in your contract (which, by the way, is riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings).
Driver showed up 10 minutes early in a beautiful limo — clean and fresh-​smelling. Unfortunately, he didn’t even make an effort to find my address, but called to say he’d just wait a block away on the street. Not ideal for a surprise for my boyfriend, and even after I tried to convince him over the phone to pull around the corner he insisted on waiting on the street. It was only after a friend met him and told him to drive into the complex that he obliged.
When we got in the limo, I immediately realized there was no champagne, no ice, not even any stemware. The radio didn’t pick up any stations and was just static.
I should have been warned when the driver had to make his first u-​turn leaving the complex. This was the start of a series of at least a dozen u-​turns. The driver had no clue how to get to the wineries I’d picked, and when we made the mistake of asking him to take us to a winery next door to the one on our itinerary, we ended up making a series of 5 loops around the same 4 blocks until we finally convinced him to listen to our directions. Just trying to find the winery next door took us nearly 40 minutes.
To his credit, he went and fetched ice for the champagne we bought for ourselves once I requested it. He also agreed to be flexible on overage charges because of the delay (not that they were needed). And in his defense we did have to go somewhat out of order because I chose 2 wineries that weren’t open on Friday. Because of this, I almost gave 2 stars… but then I tried to call to complain, I was put on hold for 20 minutes (listening to their commercials about a knowledgeable driver who is familiar with the area and will offer winery recommendations and champagne…) and had to leave a voicemail… which still hasn’t been returned.
NEVER AGAIN.

BEWARE: do not use this limo provider!
6 of us girls went on a winery tour in wine country. The driver never told us we could not exceed our hours, nor did he tell us that he was nearing our drop off time. We were supposed to be picked up and dropped off in San Francisco. We were still in Napa when the driver told us that he would not be able to take us home! He had a group that he needed to pick up for prom in Walnut Creek so he dropped us off at the BART station! NOT ONLY THAT but they charged me an additional $ 99 for going over when they has already charged me $ 92 for gratuity!
I called to complain! The manager told me that we were warned when making the reservation. I wasn’t, and I have a fantastic memory so I would have remembered this and shared with my group. He also said that we broke the A/​C which again was not true.
They asked me to email a complaint. no response, it’s been 2 weeks.
BEWARE — DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

I usually only go on Unilocal to say nice things. So this flame will be a first:
Family coming in from abroad. Took BART to the airport to meet them and wanted to ride back to SF all together in a limo.
Online booking was easy. Talking to them in advance to double-​check was easy. Getting a call from the driver a few minutes before the scheduled time was re-​assuring, especially when he said he’s waiting in the airport and would fetch us the moment all the bags were collected. ALL FOR NAUGHT. Three phone calls with promises that «five minutes», «two minutes from the staging area», «any minute» our pickup at SFO would be there. «Watch for a white vehicle.» We watched and waited while the crowd at the curb slowly shrunk as each party was picked up in cars, shuttles, busses and limos while we waited for the car that wouldn’t come. All the fun was gone when we were the only ones left on the curb, tired and wondering as evening fell. He finally showed, twenty-​five minutes later (in a black vehicle, btw). The driver had another new story: he’d been dispatched all the way from San Francisco to the airport.
Stuff happens but don’t shine the customer on with lies and bull.
Two phone messages to the firm asking for a callback have garnered no response from them in three days. I followed up by letter to try to get some resolution but got the same vague assertions; they never answered my questions.
DON’T USE THIS SERVICE. THEY WILL ABUSE YOU, LIE TO YOU, AND GENERALLY JACK YOU AROUND WITH IMPUNITY. While on hold for each call, there is the added maddening irony of listening to them brag about their airport service on the recording.
In fairness, the limo itself was spotless and didn’t smell like stale smoke, booze and puke (like the limo I was treated to once on the East Coast).
Before we booked with them, we had tried to book with another service and they were candid enough to say they were overbooked and couldn’t accomodate us. Evidently 1^st Classic to too greedy to say no and they are too dishonest and chaotic to handle all the business they are grabbing for. Help them out a bit, folks, by not overwhelming them. Don’t use them at all.