First Charter Bus Rental - Syracuse West Reviews 73

TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

4.4

300 Spencer Street, 13204 Syracuse, NY, US


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Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Our contract indicated a pickup time of 3:30. As the father of the bride I was already at the venue for a 4:30 ceremony start. I started receiving calls at about 3:50 that the buses were not yet at th... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Everything about this Charter was great. We had the same driver for the way up on Friday and he returned on Sunday for our return trip and he was fantastic. Driver was safe, on time, courteous and... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The driver was on time and attentive, we had a smooth 2 1/2 hour drive there and back!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Bus to the venue was right on time with no problems. The 2 busses going back to the hotels were great. Lots of singing 😂


Company details

  1. Bus and Coach Company
  2. Bus Charter

About First Charter Bus Rental - Syracuse West

Written by the company

Think Yellow for your next event.

From field trips and party buses to corporate events and conventions to national organizations and non-profits, choosing yellow is the fun and flexible choice for all types of groups and destinations. School bus rental prices range from $85 to $125* per hour.

First Student is North America’s largest and most trusted provider of chartered yellow school bus transportation because we have the best drivers, buses and customer service.

The best buses

Because we have North America’s largest fleet, we are able to provide you with the best, newest and cleanest buses in the industry.

The best drivers

Most of your experience comes down to the driver, and we take our responsibility to provide you with a safe, respectful and caring professional driver, very seriously. We have a thorough screening and selection process to ensure we hire only the best and a continual training program to make them even better.

The best customer service

First Student has dedicated charter centers across North America, staffed with transportation professionals who know your region and are ready to partner with you on your most complex transportation needs.

*Location prices vary. Minimum trip time and other restrictions may apply.

Your Event
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Contact info

  • 300 Spencer Street, 13204, Syracuse, NY, United States

  • 800-774-3135

4.4

Excellent

TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

73 reviews

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4.4

All reviews

(73)

1,482 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Bus was 30 minutes late picking up our…

Bus was 30 minutes late picking up our wedding guests from their hotels to the venue. Making my daughters wedding 40 minutes late. Driver waited, when our guests told him everyone was on board. Customer service was extremely poor. Very disappointed. Hoping to be 100% compensated, doesn't make the time lost any better, but compensates us for time lost at venue.

March 21, 2022
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Complete disappointment

I urge you to look elsewhere for your wedding transpiration needs.

On our wedding day, one of the buses arrived 30 minutes late to the hotel for pickup. The worst was once they got there, the bus driver started arguing and yelling at our guests. They were scolding our guests saying that we didn’t book them for two pick-ups (when we did, and even confirmed over the phone on the week of.) The lateness of the bus was a problem, but yelling at our friends and family was beyond unprofessional and left a bad impression on our big day.

Because of the delay, at this point well over 45 minutes late, we had to start our wedding without key family members and friends. One of them was even a key part of our ceremony and it broke our hearts that they weren’t able to be a part of our ceremony.

November 16, 2021
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

First charter- thank you!

First charter was excellent. Not only did they complete every trip booked exactly on time but even completed an extra trip at the end of the night for the last of our guests!! Thanks so much!

October 17, 2021
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible Wedding Day Service

First Student Charter is not worth the money or time. Initially we had contacted First Student Charter in March, 6-7 months, before our Wedding Day.They explained the process and ensured us it was simple. The representative gave us a rundown on how we could make changes until 5 days before our Wedding. We ended up contacting multiple different customer service representatives with updates, notes, essential details, and information. Every time we contacted them we would need to reconnect with them after they filed these changes with the coordinator, and re-sent a booking, and this was because our notes were never updated. I spoke with a representative around the 4th time of contacting them and explained my frustrations with the lack of customer service, and the constant need to repeat ourselves. I was rudely muted, and ignored by this representative, and informed they did not have enough representatives, in which I replied this still is not explaining why we have to constantly call back and repeat ourselves multiple times about the same details and updates. After finally having my wife call and get the updates set/reviewed to cover multiple hotel(s), trips to each hotel due to the number of guests, and removing one bus completely we received a contract that was correct. We offered to pay early and were informed by the representative we could after the contract was updated by the coordinator, this was incorrect as we were later informed we could not pay until 5 days before our event. This caused first student charter to lose business as we declined a second bus, removed it completely, and paid roughly $1,000.00 less to use only one bus. Also this was a nuisance to us as we were paying as much up front as possible so on our rehearsal and Wedding Day we did not have to worry about vendors and payments. On our wedding day the bus showed up. The driver is completely rude as she stated she was only making one trip to all hotels, and the venue, then one trip back that evening following the reception. The guests that were at the Hotel informed her, no there were more guests than could fit on one bus, and a return trip was necessary. Regardless she rudely closed the door and left guests at the hotel. My wife and I contacted the first student charter company. My wife (on our wedding day) had to leave a message stating the issue was urgent and we needed to be called back immediately. We did not receive a call back so my wife called the second number we had listed. Luckily someone answered, and my wife demanded they review our contract in which it stated multiple trips were listed.
This representative proceeded to inform us the coordinator would have to be contacted first then the bus driver. We demanded this be fixed immediately, and we did not have time to communicate with multiple people as we were celebrating our wedding day and needed to go get our pictures taken. We also informed this representative that we would be speaking to this driver when she arrived at the venue. No tip was provided to this driver, and our Limo driver offered to stay late to shuttle people for us because of first student charters unnecessary issues. (Thank you Walkabout Limo excellent customer service by this company and driver). This all could have been avoided had the driver communicated internally with the representative or coordinator and ensured she understood the contract. It specifically stated multiple trips and listed number of guests showing these trips were essential to make sure everyone arrived. I will never recommend First Student Charter to anyone. No one needs to deal with the constant back and forth, lack of customer service, poor system of taking notes down, horrible communication between company employees and drivers, and/or cleanup on the Wedding day when this is a day for celebration. The amount you pay for their services is extremely high in response to the customer service that is provided. This company has not offered any assistance.

October 4, 2021
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The day-of service and drivers were…great

The day-of service and drivers were great, and everything went perfectly for our wedding. That said, I was worried at times in the 1-2 weeks before the event when it seemed to take a while to get updates to our charter confirmed and even then it was unclear if the “confirmations” we received were actual confirmations from the actual operator. The customer service reps I dealt with were friendly and helpful but there seemed to be a disconnect internally between the central booking system and the local operating group. I would (and will) still give you an excellent review — service was as good as it gets on the day it mattered — but you should think about working on the disconnect described above.

October 3, 2021
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

First student was an excellent company…

First student was an excellent company to work with. They went above and beyond to accommodate our needs. Our bus driver was professional and very kind. He was at our disposal the entire evening. I would recommend this company to any one looking for quality transportation!

August 30, 2021
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great experience

Great experience

the bus was on time everyday. drivers were nice and attentive. No issues will definitely use again in the future.

August 21, 2021
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Do NOT use this company.

I gave them 2 weeks to make it right and still they haven’t been able to get it together. This company is a nightmare to work with.
1st: getting in contact with them is a huge pain, if you choose to get on the list, you never know when you’ll get a call back, sometimes it’ll also be after they're closed and they can’t do anything but say call back again.
2nd: specifically used this company for my wedding and I have 4 copies of our contract, all with the correct times, I was supposed to have one bus at 3pm and then it was supposed to go back for a second loop at 3:30pm, instead I got two at 3pm and 10people missed my wedding ceremony, at the end of the night I had a pickup at 10pm and 10:30pm, it’s a 20minutes drive, they didn’t end up doing the second pick up till 11pm, where the hell were they!?
3rd: when we let them know they needed to go back, the driver informed us they do not reverse the bus… what?… you heard me right, the driver hired can only go forward and proceeded to make us empty our parking lot so they could turn around also 15min later when the second driver finally started to move she informed us the first actually decided not to go back.
I hired this company to drive people to my wedding, make sure everyone got to the wedding and back safely, 10 people were 45min late and missed my ceremony, when we called to find out what happened we were informed a manager would call us back, but they couldn’t give us a name or phone number, the “manager” then called and said they needed to look into it, gave us the main number to call, and days later still no answer.
My venue is ready to put them on the do not use list and if I don’t get an answer and some sort of refund soon I’ll tell her to go for it, unbelievable. Do NOT use this company.
And I’m about to report them because a hired driver needs to be able to safely drive which includes putting the vehicle in reverse.

August 18, 2021
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Our driver was late for our pick ups

Our driver was late for our pick ups 2 out of 4 times. I’m not sure if the GPS was not working, but he took 55 minutes to make a 25 minute return trip. We were happy to get all our guests to our wedding with 5 minutes to spare.

August 16, 2021
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Birthday Bus Charter

The bus charter my wife and I reserved was very unique. We rented a short bus for two hours for our son's 2nd birthday. The bus driver we had was very accommodating. All the kids had a blast and even the adults. We drove around the neighborhood and sang wheels on the bus with all the kids. First Student Charter Bus did a great job at making our son's 2nd birthday very memorable and one we won't forget!

June 7, 2021

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