Is it just me, or are the limo services going the way of the taxi companies?

I've been using a service for at least ten years. They've gone through a couple changes of ownership and are now part of a big conglomerate of some such. I've about had it with them. The drivers now tend to be Eastern European and very often have a poor command of English and a very poor sense of direction. They also tend to be smokers (not when I'm in the car, but the cars reek) and love their cell phones. They also drive one notch below taxis. I've complained more than once -- and when I asked them to send me an "experienced driver", they sent me a really nice guy, but he was about 75 and needed a cane to get around. I imagine that the dispatchers had a good laugh...

I had one guy yapping on the phone drive over the 290 on 25th Ave., get to North and 25th and ask me when the expressway was. I told him to keep going north. He then drove past the 190 exit on Mannheim and we ended up going in to the airport from Bessie Coleman. He thought he was going to the limo lot. Guess it's easy to forget you have a passenger when you're yapping on a cell phone the entire trip.

Another guy picked up one passenger and then me at ORD. The other guy's ride was pre-arranged by the organization that he was speaking to and he was informed that it was supposed to be a private car. Unfortunately, no one told the driver which building at Loyola Medical Center this guy was supposed to go to. And the driver had never been to Loyola before and wanted to drop the guy at the front door of the Hospital (plus he was already running a couple hours late from an international flight). The guy was speaking to the Medical School and had a brochure, so we went around the back of the Medical Center and finally found the right building. The guy was p-o'd, rightly so. I wasn't real happy because I shouldn't have had to give directions.

I don't mind directions for the last few blocks to my house. But, if I say "get to Ogden and Maple in Brookfield, by the Dunkin Donuts, I at least want the guy driving EAST from 294, not WEST, like one guy did.

My company wants me to use O-M, but they won't do shared rides south of ORD and their price south of ORD is superpremium. I've heard similar complaints about the quality of their drivers.

A friend of mine suggested Boston Coach. They are quite pricey, but they have an excellent website where you load all your information, including payment information, then do your bookings online. When you get to the airport, you just get out of the car, rather than fooling around trying to pay the guy. They are only single ride sedans, but they are supposed to be excellent for the price.

I suppose that if you have a regular driver who owns his or her own car, that is another option. My Dad did that in retirement and you can at least get consistency, but the trick is getting a good service that has backups in case your regular guy is booked.

So, I usually end up having Mrs. P1 drop me at the Kiss n Fly...