Free Enterprise System – Charter Bus Service

I/​m an event planner who hired Free Enterprise to take my group from our hotel to the Final Four in Indianapolis in their large corporate charter bus. The bus was in very good condition, the driver was very prompt and courteous. He could’ve been a bit more knowledgable about getting out of the stadium traffic, but not too much could be done at an event like that, traffic is a part of life. I was hesitant to hire them at first, but was very pleased with the outcome.

While it was a great deal to just pay $ 25 bucks to get good transportation to the Speedway for the 500 and avoid walking three miles in crazy heat, the trip back was a nightmare. It was the first time my future father-​in-​law and I went to the race together, his first time, my third. He is over 60 and had heart surgery a few years ago so the last thing I wanted was for him to get heat stroke. When we were dropped off we were told to find any bus that wasn’t the blue line to get back downtown. Across from the track, there were busses that were clearly marked with each color. We hoofed it to the black line which was going back to IUPI. As we attempted to board, the man said that these busses were only for the «elite» passengers who had paid $ 15 more than us. No where anywhere was anyone holding up a sign that said elite passengers only. Plus, he gave my fiancé crap because he bought a round trip ticket but was going back and had his online reciept instead of a physical ticket. He argued with me for at least five minutes then ordered me to go across the road and tramp across a gravel parking lot, where we nearly were hit by several busses on the one day that the 500 had the hottest weather ever. Once in line, we got free water and got right on the bus, but not a single person took our tickets and the bus stopped at every single stop downtown so it took us an hour to get back to our car. What a crock of bull. How greedy do you have to be to put people’s lives in jeapardy on the hottest day in race history just to make a few extra bucks. Sadly, I will probably use them again because they’re the only company that does race shuttles, but now I’ll know better to not expect any fantastic customer service.

If I could give negative stars, I would.
Over the weekend I stayed at the Omni downtown to attend the 500. Awesome race, btw. When I booked, I was told there was a shuttle service, the Free Enterprise Inc. that was $ 24 per person, round trip, that picked up at the Hampton Inn, just 4 blocks away (the purple line.) Sounded totally worth it. No waiting in line for hours to park a mile away, and someone to actually drop us directly in front of the Speedway — can’t be beat, right? WRONG!
Getting to the Speedways was a breeze. We walked up, there was a line of empty buses just waiting to take race enthusiasts to the Speedway. Great! I was so happy! Things were going perfectly. The seats were comfy, the AC was kicking. This really seemed the way to go.
The shuttles have their own parking lot, so we didn’t have to wait in insane traffic to get to the Speedway. Another plus.
Now onto the bad… first we were dropped at the exact opposite end of the Speedway from where our seats were. Not a big deal. Totally understandable, the Speedway is huge and the shuttle could not possibly drop everyone in their sections. But we were basically running so we could catch the fly-​over. Again, not the shuttle service’s fault, just a bad way to begin our trip.
Fantastic race. 100^th anniversary of the Indy 500. Totally exciting race — andwow, what a finish!
Just as the race ended, we got up and started moving towards the shuttles at big city speed — you know — walking as if we had some place to be. The trouble was, we had to walk half the track, but this time we were outside the Speedway in the street, which added distance, It was 90 degrees and the sun was beating down like mad. We got to the parking lot where our shuttle dropped us off, finally, after weaving through crowds of slow walkers, and there are hundreds of people clustered — no organization, no staff helping direct (there were several different lines that took people to different parts of town). I really have no idea how we found our purple line, but from time we entered it, to the time we actually got on a bus — it was 2 hours. 2 hours of chaos and misery. No shade, no staff giving updates, no water being handed out. And there were literally hundreds of people behind us, just in the purple line. Don’t get me wrong — I expected to wait, but not like this. This was completely unacceptable. No regard for the patrons whatsoever. People were actually being taken away in ambulances due to medical emergencies. Elderly people and children were waiting in this mess. My man and I are very fit, active people, and even we were suffering, so it was heartbreaking to see the children with bright red cheeks and the elderly sitting in the gravel lot, asking to be assisted both down and up b/​c they were incapable of dong it on their own. For a moment, I contemplated a fake vaso-​vagal episode, so we could get the f’ out of there in an air conditioned ambulance. But the hospital was not the way I wanted to end my day… In the track we got almost no sun, by the time we boarded our shuttle, we were both sunburnt, severely. I mean charred. It was a grueling, uncomfortable, ridiculous experience. Buses were sitting, running empty. Why not start loading the hot people so they can sit and AC and shade to cool off? I mean seriously. Moronic. Instead, sit there with your diesel fumes shocking us in the already disgusting 90 degree air. I seriously was on the verge of vom for a while. When we finally got on a bus — there was no AC running, but at the very least we were out if the sun. We had such an amazing day, even our 5 hour drive from STL to Indy was fun. This was bad enough to completely ruin anyone’s experience. Thankfully, after a shower, a decent meal, and a couple manhattans, we were able to be thankful for the amazing parts of the day, and try to put the shuttle fiasco out of our minds for the remainder fo the evening.
I will be calling management tomorrow to demand a refund. You don’t run a business that way, with no organization and no respect or thought for your customers. This was easily the worst customer service experience of my life. Easily. I bet my man that by next year, this company has changed their business and domain names, because there was not a single satisfied customer. If I could I would report them to the BBB, but since we actually received the service we purchased, I don’t think my complaint will be filed.
It would have been preferable to sit in our air conditioned car, wasting gas, in a parking lot for hours, attempting to get on to the road to sit again in ridiculous traffic to the downtown area. We decided for our next Indy 500 adventure, we’re hiring a car service to drop us as close to our section as possible, and pick us up after in the exact place so we can sit in the AC and re-​hydrate. I would have gladly dropped several hundred to escape that misery.