Blacklane: Private Chauffeurs

This car service came highly recommended from trusted friends and yet we had a horrible experience. After I made my reservation, I was notified via email that I should change my pickup time to an hour earlier based on my flight arrival time. I went into the app and tried to change it but got an error message saying “try again”. So I tried again and got the error. I then got notified by my bank that they thought there were some fraudulent charges on my account. Apparently, Blacklane “pre-authorizes” (which means your bank account is negative that amount) not once but twice per booking. And apparently every time you try and change the pick up time, they “pre-authorize” those amounts again…twice. So in total, my bank got “charged” 6 times abd those funds will be unavailable to me for 5-7 business days. This is how I’m spending the beginning of my vacation…having all my time and money go to a car service. In addition, the app then randomly cancels my reservation and, when I call and speak to someone (who is not kind btw), I’m told it’s not canceled but they can’t find a driver. I asked what happens if they don’t find a driver by the time I land, then they’ll just cancel my reservation. So…I’m potentially gonna land in a new country with no travel accommodations from the airport even though I booked something in advance, got confirmation of my reservation and then paid 6 times for it. This is ridiculous! Don’t use them!

TL;DR Easy, professional and trustworthy. Highly recommend. I found out my train for the next day was cancelled while in London at 11pm and needed a way to travel for Christmas. I searched a bit and considered a black cab or Uber, but was looking for something I could plan (I’ve had terrible experiences with Uber). I found Blacklane and decided to go for it based on reviews and comments from people. I had a car booked to pick me up at 11am the next day, it was early and they were happy to wait until the start time no problems, we ended up leaving early and I made a connection in minutes that saved me 2 hours. Worth every cent. Used them again to the airport and got an upgraded car; there’s not really any better way to travel than a 7 series, I even had a rare nap. Again, worth every cent. Drivers in both cars were professional and friendly, both times they arrived early and were happy to wait to the agreed start time to even start waiting 15 mins. I don’t often leave reviews, but good service deserves it, and I’ve not had better service in 2022 than with Blacklane. Look forward to this being my go-to in 2023.

This is not an honest or reputable company. I tried to update the payment info for my ride pickup at Heathrow airport hours before the ride was due. When I updated the payment with the correct credit card, the Blacklane app suddenly informed me my ride was cancelled. I was in the middle of boarding my flight to London. So I quickly rebooked a new ride, confirmed it had gone through, then I had to shut off my phone as we were about to take off. When I landed in London, 2 rides had shown up. Both drivers are calling and texting, as is Blacklane customer service. I explained to all of them that the first ride had been cancelled by Blacklane. I was not sure why they had shown up. At this point, I had to get off the plane and go through customs. So I told customer service I would call them back as soon as I was able. After I hang up, I get emails saying my first ride had been cancelled outside the 1 hour window and now I owed for both rides. In my ensuing conversations with Blacklane, they refused to take responsibility for the glitch on their app and even went so far as to patronizingly explain to me how time differences work. Please spare yourself the trouble and never use this company. I had been a loyal customer for years, but recently, their tech (particularly their app) and their customer service is so bad it's honestly not a company to recommend to anyone.