Chicago’s Metropolitan Limousine: Excellent Customer Service

For our wedding day, I was arranging for some transportation to and from our hotel to the place we’re getting photos done, and then over to our ceremony site. While I’m trying to set up regular transportation for me and the groomsmen, I wanted to set up a limo to pick up Liz and the bridesmaids, to take them to and fro.

In calling around to a lot of places, I learned a lot about getting a limo. First off, most places have what’s called a “garage to garage” policy, where they charge you for your reservation window… but also for the time it takes their vehicle to leave the garage and arrive for pickup. There’s also the time from the final drop off to the car returning to the garage.

I was a little leery of this at first, but nearly every place I called had this policy – it seems standard.

One of the things I read up on involved going to see the vehicles, and ensuring you know what kind of car will be picking you up. Believe it or not, a few places refused to let me stop by and visit their cars. I’m not sure why, but they weren’t open to me seeing any car in their fleet.

In narrowing down the vendors, I happened across Metropolitan Limousine, and I have to say – they were incredible to work with. I got a lot of friendly information from one of the phone operators, and ended up talking with Chris Smith (who was as professional and as friendly as can be).

I’ve worked with a wide range of vendors so far, in getting prepped for our wedding. And so far, Metropolitan Limousine has some amazing customer service.

Walking through their garage, I got to see that all of their limos were all black Lincolns. They looked the same on the outside, and varied (slightly) on the inside.

Peeking in to the interior.

View from the back seat, looking towards the front of the car. I expected to see seats along the side, but this configuration is pretty cool too.

After answering all my questions, I went in to the back room with Chris to finalize my reservation. Inside (and man, I wish I would have taken photos there), I got to see the behind-the-scenes operations. There were lots of computers, and the main dispatch area had some pretty sweet monitors.

The whole place was a bustle of activity, and people asking and answering one another quickly and efficiently. As Chris was putting in my order, he was jumping on the phone a few times and coordinating things with some of the other workers in the room. During my time there, they were discussing a client who had missed his pickup.

Based on what I heard, it seemed a mixup on the client’s end. I was there effectively watching a “fire” being handled by their staff. And rather than have it raise concerns for me and my reservation, watching the team at Metropolitan Limousine work was an impressive thing – I actually felt more assured, watching them in action.

As I was leaving, I remarked to Chris about his computer prowess (he was working off a random computer, and set up a new printer with relative ease). We talked a bit about the limo business, and I made the comparison between selling radio air time and limo reservations – both being sales opportunities that deal with a finite inventory: once it’s gone, it’s gone.

I took a cab to get to Metropolitan Limousine, and on leaving asked for the nearest CTA or bus stop. Chris told me to wait, and went back inside to check on his drivers (his words to me were “Don’t move, don’t move.”) He told me that one of his guys was heading back downtown, and would give me a lift.

I hung around a bit, and got a ride with a driver named Cary. He was tolerant of all my questions on the ride up, and peppered his answers with phrases like “the city got to get its money.” It was a great ride back.

Having had some difficulties with some of our vendors, working with Metropolitan Limousine was a breath of fresh air. For anyone who doesn’t know me and has stumbled across this blog post… know that I have no stake or motive here, and get no compensation for making this recommendation. I’m just a guy organizing a wedding, and happened across some great folks who arrange limo rides.

If you’re looking for a limosine or chauffeur, and are in the Chicago area… allow me to recommend Metropolitan Limousine. I had a great customer service experience, and got to see a little of their business behind the scenes. Based on how I was treated and what I saw, I can’t say enough good things.

Related:
Limo Ride, Emmis Interactive