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Be Wary of Smith's Car Service in London


rheasue38
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My husband and I were very disapointed with the service we received from Smith's. Simon, the driver who took us from Heathrow to our London hotel, decided to skip the highway and take all local routes even though we told him we were tired and wanted to go directly to our hotel. He even admitted he wasn't that familiar with London.

We arranged for Smith's to pick us up at 9:00 A.M. post-cruise from Southampton cruise terminal. When the driver hadn't arrived at 9:10, we called the company. They tried to contact the driver but he didn't pick up his phone and take the call. We were told he would be there by 9:20-9:25. He showed up at 9:50 and said he was delayed with a passenger who had lost a piece of luggage. We were fortunate that we were going to an airport hotel or we would have missed our flight home to NY.

Smith's should have texted us about the driver being late and should have sent us another driver.

Rhea

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My husband and I were very disapointed with the service we received from Smith's. Simon, the driver who took us from Heathrow to our London hotel, decided to skip the highway and take all local routes even though we told him we were tired and wanted to go directly to our hotel. He even admitted he wasn't that familiar with London.

We arranged for Smith's to pick us up at 9:00 A.M. post-cruise from Southampton cruise terminal. When the driver hadn't arrived at 9:10, we called the company. They tried to contact the driver but he didn't pick up his phone and take the call. We were told he would be there by 9:20-9:25. He showed up at 9:50 and said he was delayed with a passenger who had lost a piece of luggage. We were fortunate that we were going to an airport hotel or we would have missed our flight home to NY.

Smith's should have texted us about the driver being late and should have sent us another driver.

Rhea

We used British Airport Transfers a few times from the airport to London and London to Dover, and found them to be terrific. Priced right and very good service. On time. nice cars and drivers. Will use them again next time we are in London. :):):)

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I hate to read this as I have them booked from Southhampton to London next month and from the Hotel to Heathrow. I've never used them but see them recommended here on CC a lot.

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I hate to read this as I have them booked from Southhampton to London next month and from the Hotel to Heathrow. I've never used them but see them recommended here on CC a lot.

 

All these services usually use foreign drivers - mostly from Eastern Europe. Depends on the individual driver; if it's a new one that can mean trouble. If it is a driver that's been with the company for a while and knows the routes and is comfortable driving on left side, you'll be fine.

We have used 24/7 transfers several times without a hitch.

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We have used Smith's a couple of times and have been very pleased with their timeliness and pricing. And the drivers we have had seemed to be "locals". Perhaps this was just an unfortunate occurrence, perhaps the driver got caught up in a problem with his previous fare. Too bad the dispatcher wasn't able to be more proactive and you were very lucky you weren't catching a flight.

 

Mia

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All these services usually use foreign drivers - mostly from Eastern Europe. Depends on the individual driver; if it's a new one that can mean trouble. If it is a driver that's been with the company for a while and knows the routes and is comfortable driving on left side, you'll be fine.

We have used 24/7 transfers several times without a hitch.

 

When I used Smith's last year from Heathrow to Southampton, the driver was from Southampton.

 

Since they were traveling from the cruise port in Southampton to London it is equally possible that they also got a Southampton driver who may not necessarily be familiar with London. Out driver said that he usually went to/from the airports and rarely went to London.

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We used British Airport Transfers a few times from the airport to London and London to Dover, and found them to be terrific. Priced right and very good service. On time. nice cars and drivers. Will use them again next time we are in London. :):):)

 

 

 

We love batransfers. We have used them many times

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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We have used Smith's a couple of times and have been very pleased with their timeliness and pricing. And the drivers we have had seemed to be "locals". Perhaps this was just an unfortunate occurrence, perhaps the driver got caught up in a problem with his previous fare. Too bad the dispatcher wasn't able to be more proactive and you were very lucky you weren't catching a flight.

 

Mia

 

Interesting. We've had several different drivers over the years - always Eastern Europeans (Hungarian & Romanian). They were all very good.

Maybe It is just with the company we use? Used them for Southampton to LHR, London to Dover and LHR to London.

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We haven't used Smiths, although we have used other services with no problem.

 

It would seem that the organization, whichever it is, should send a driver who knows London if you are sending clients to London!

 

On our last transfer to London from Southampton (in July 2016) our driver DID know London but we had a lot of problems finding the first hotel -- it was a Tulip Hilton which wasn't allowed to have a real sign up front. After going around and around, one of us saw it.

 

And then it took them another hour to get to their hotel on the other end of town ... but no extra cost.

 

Mura

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We used Smith's to go from Heathrow to Bournemouth and we were extremely happy with the service. The driver was courteous and professional and he was waiting at Heathrow with a sign with our name on it when we got there. We would definitely use them again. Sorry you had a bad experience with them.

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Hi Rhea

 

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.

 

Personally I would not have generally used a transfer service between Heathrow and central London, preferring the convenience of a standard "black cab" taxi. A London to Southampton journey would, of course, be a different matter, due to costs. In any event, I would have expected any driver not entirely familiar with the route to set their sat nav (GPS) for their destination and rely on that. Surely that's why we have sat navs - leaving Southampton, I set mine just to get me out of the unfamiliar city and then switched it off for my remaining 200 miles.

 

Nice to have met you on Marina.

 

John (from the Flam train)

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We used British Airport Transfers a few times from the airport to London and London to Dover, and found them to be terrific. Priced right and very good service. On time. nice cars and drivers. Will use them again next time we are in London. :):):)

 

Just got a text from them about my pickup tomorrow at Heathrow - love their App!

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Hi Rhea

 

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.

 

Personally I would not have generally used a transfer service between Heathrow and central London, preferring the convenience of a standard "black cab" taxi. A London to Southampton journey would, of course, be a different matter, due to costs. In any event, I would have expected any driver not entirely familiar with the route to set their sat nav (GPS) for their destination and rely on that. Surely that's why we have sat navs - leaving Southampton, I set mine just to get me out of the unfamiliar city and then switched it off for my remaining 200 miles.

 

Nice to have met you on Marina.

 

John (from the Flam train)

Maybe it is just us, but when we get off a long haul flight early in the morning it is nice to have a driver with a sigh with our name on it waiting for us. :):):)

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Hi!

Thanks for all the good info.

Simon, our first driver, did have a sign at Heathrow. I agree that it's good to have a car service waiting for you.

We will try British Airfare Transfers the next time we're in London.

Rhea

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Hi Rhea

 

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.

 

Personally I would not have generally used a transfer service between Heathrow and central London, preferring the convenience of a standard "black cab" taxi. A London to Southampton journey would, of course, be a different matter, due to costs. In any event, I would have expected any driver not entirely familiar with the route to set their sat nav (GPS) for their destination and rely on that. Surely that's why we have sat navs - leaving Southampton, I set mine just to get me out of the unfamiliar city and then switched it off for my remaining 200 miles.

 

Nice to have met you on Marina.

 

John (from the Flam train)

 

How much does a "black cab" cost from Heathrow to downtown London?

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We've used Smith's for Airports several times and have always been very pleased. Our drivers were locals, usually from Southampton, who certainly knew the lay of the land. We last used them almost a year ago (Sept '16) and the driver mentioned there had been a recent change in ownership with a principal leaving the company. I wonder if that has affected operations?

 

Would somebody who uses British Airport Transfers please post the website. I googled and got a few different versions.

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How much does a "black cab" cost from Heathrow to downtown London?

 

Two years ago when a transfer company stood us up it was £90 but with the greatly increased traffic it is probably more now. Uber will be cheaper even in their Executive cars because it is a fixed rate.

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We used Smith's last month for a transfer to Southampton. We had three couples at three different locations in London. Traffic was terrible in town, so our last pick-up was late. The couple called Smith's and they immediately called our driver. Our driver owned the van and so I guess might be an independent contractor? Anyway, the price was the best of the several companies we contacted.

 

However, when we booked a transfer from LHR to our hotel in Earl's Court, Smith's was one of the higher quotes. We used Unicorn Transfers (recommended by a friend) and were very satisfied.

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I hate to read this as I have them booked from Southhampton to London next month and from the Hotel to Heathrow. I've never used them but see them recommended here on CC a lot.

Smiths are based in Southampton. it doesn't make sense to use them from a London hotel to Heathrow.

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Smiths are based in Southampton. it doesn't make sense to use them from a London hotel to Heathrow.

 

I don't know either, but it's a service they offer, and their price is competitive with other transfer companies and cheaper than a cab.

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There is the metro to town and then a cab.

 

The Underground from Heathrow can be a bearpit, particularly so if you have an amount of luggage. But it will be the cheapest option.

 

More expensive, but generally less crowded, is the rail option - the Heathrow Express into Paddington, then cab. Price can be as low as £5.50 but is generally £22, according the website.

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