Ideal Charter

Look, I went through an arduous experience with them trying to come to grips with exactly what I would need for my event. They were patient and kind throughout and very consultative. As it turns out, we negotiated a price and a service model that was perfect and then my situation changed. I did not even get to use them. But my customer service experience was so good, that I would definitely recommend giving these guys a call. Prompt, Courteous and On Point!

The only bad part of our wedding; do not trust this company with any time-​sensitive occasion. They were very late in delivering our guests to our wedding (delaying the ceremony by nearly an hour) and stopped answering the phone when the BRIDE called!!! When someone else finally reached them (from a different number), they were unapologetic and refused to give an ETA. When they did finally arrive, the driver let everyone off and began BLARING MUSIC TO COMPETE WITH THE WEDDING MUSIC!!! This was truly a disaster and was the only off note to an otherwise amazing event.

Can I give them zero stars? We recently used Ideal Charter for wedding transportation for guests to and from the reception and cannot recommend them at all. Buses on the way to the reception were supposed to back each other up so there was no wait, yet one driver told overflow guests he would be back in 45 minutes, so they all called cabs, not wanting to be late to the reception. Ideal says they ALL must have misheard the driver. At the end of the reception, they were almost 45 minutes late picking up guests for the first 10:30 run, and then refused to start the shuttle «until more people showed up», so they did not get enough trips in to transport all our guests. The driver told our guests that could not fit on the last shuttle that he was not coming back unless someone called him, yet they had no idea who to call. About half the guests at the end of the night ended up having to call cabs/​Ubers, even though we paid a lot of money to provide the transportation. Ideal Charter did not stand by their service AT ALL, despite us following all their recommendations as to times and numbers of buses needed. They in fact thought we needed fewer buses than we did, and then they ended up not transporting half our guests at the end of the night, and some at the beginning. According to Charter, none of this was their fault. Definitely look elsewhere for transportation needs. It was embarrassing that we had let our guests know transportation was provided, yet the drivers were rude, there were long waits, and then many guests had to ultimately find and pay for cabs after waiting over an hour for a non-​existent shuttle. And again, Ideal believes that they did nothing wrong in all this and does not stand behind their service. What ever happened to good customer service? DO NOT USE IDEAL CHARTER!

I recently was a guest at a wedding who used Ideal Charter and can’t warn people enough NOT to use this company.
The driver was over an hour late picking guests up. At the end of the night many people had to take cabs to get home because the driver poorly planned the timing of his night and never came back. After the wedding, we asked for a refund and they gave us $ 75… What a joke.
Additionally, the driver was extremely rude to the guests at the wedding, stating he couldn’t drive them until he talked to the parents of the bride.
Do NOT use this company, it is a scam. They are not friendly and do not provide good service.

MOST IMPORTANT REVIEW OF IDEAL TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT, LLC:
One must always be careful — even very suspicious — of any company that includes in its contract the following wording, the way Ideal Transportation does:
«Customer expressly agrees to refrain from any disparagement, criticism,… of Ideal Transportation Management, LLC, including but not limited to comments or postings on the Internet. Ideal Transportation Management, LLC shall be entitled to immediate injunctive relief against Customer… Customer hereby waives any right to assert a defense the enforcement of this clause. Any beach of this clause shall be deemed material in which event Ideal Transportation Management, LLC shall have the right to recover, as liquidated damages [sic] from Customer a sum equal to the Total Balance of the Charter Contract as well as attorney fees and costs arising from the enforcement of this clause.»
Who knows how many stars I would have given Ideal Transportation Management, LLC — instead of a strictly neutral 3 out of 5 possible stars — had it not been for the foregoing paragraph? And what might I have recounted about our experience with Ideal Transportation Management and our wedding?

My athletic department has uses Ideal for all of our far transportation needs. They are reliable, always early and easy to communicate with.
We had several last minute changes and they were able to accommodate all of them. One in particular, was when we needed a van for an overnight trip in 24 hours. They saved me and made it happen!
In the past, we have used other transportation services that were SO MUCH more expensive. They have an exquisite fleet (trust me, we have ridden in almost all their vehicles) but for so much less!

I booked a limo-​style charter bus with Ideal Charter. We paid for a set amount of time in which the company was to provide this service of taking the bride and the wedding party to several destinations, and the wedding venue.
After reading their website boasting their «unrivaled level of quality service,» I paid over $ 500.00 to them in advance. Our first portion of the day was great, the driver was quite friendly! However, while at our second destination, the charter bus broke down.
We were delayed for approximately ½ of an hour. It was rather warm outside, and since the vehicle wouldn’t start we sat without air conditioning. The vehicle was jump-​started by a company representative and it began running again. It was stated by this representative to our driver that he (driver) would not be able to turn off the vehicle for the rest of the day, and that while we were at our next stop he should leave the vehicle running so it didn’t die!
While finally going to our wedding venue (after being more than ½ an hour late to the last destination due to breaking down and having to rush), the driver stated (once we were already driving) he would need to turn off the air conditioning so that the battery to the vehicle didn’t die.
The motions of the vehicle were jerky and uneasy, the inside of the bus began to smell like a junky old car and we were coasting at stoplights, the driver placing the bus into neutral, etc. It was horrible! (and very hot!)
After the wedding we requested a partial refund due to the delay and the lack of air condition and poor quality of service (why couldn’t they send us a new vehicle — any vehicle?!). I was told I could only be refunded for ½ an hour of service. As the person who answers the phone (who was rude, to say the least) stated we were only broken down for «10 minutes» and the driver stated the air conditioning worked the entire time.
I have 6 bridesmaids who can vouch for otherwise.

A group of us went back down to our Alma Mater for the weekend and we used Ideal Charter. We had a group of about 40 people, and we brought food and beer but also plenty of trash bags. When we arrived at both our destination and then again home, we all threw out any trash we saw that was laying around the bus. A few people spilled on the floor, but our bus driver explained to us that we didn’t need to worry about it as they had a cleaning crew coming the next day to take care of any additional cleaning. He was very nice and a good driver. He also told us that we were a very respectful group — we had a great trip and we had him to thank for getting us there and back safely, as well as stopping along the way at our request as there was no bathroom on the bus.
The next day, however, we were told by the owner of the company that we owed $ 1000 in damages even though there was nothing broken or damaged, just messy. We ended up having to pay almost double what we originally planned because the owner seems to take advantage of any opportunity to make some extra cash.
I would not recommend this service to anyone unless you want to get fined a grand for NO damages or broken items. I hope our bus driver John finds a job with a company that doesn’t swindle their customers the way that this owner does at Ideal Charter.

Perfect! No complaints! We used Ideal Charter for our wedding in late September — they shuttled the wedding party, and transported guests from our West Loop venue back downtown after the party.
I arranged the transportation with Tom, the owner, and he was efficient and the pricing was very reasonable!
Frankie was our driver, and he was wonderful! He was kind enough to provide some treats for us, the bus was clean, he played our music, and he was flexible and happily scooted between locations on the fly.
Pricing was consistent throughout the process and included the taxes and fuel charges (and was the best rate I was quoted).

We used Ideal Charter for our wedding day. We needed a limo bus to transport us (Bride and Groom) as well as the entire bridal party, photographer and videographer. We also used their services to transport us from our reception hall back home. From initial contact, our driver Tom was a pleasure to deal with. As most of you that are married and planned the entire days events yourselves know, the day can make you a nervous wreck. I have heard of stories of limos not showing up or them being entirely trashed or broken (no A/​C). None of this was the case with Ideal Charter. We scheduled Tom to pick up the Bride and bridesmaids and drive them to church. Tom showed up exactly on time and arrived to church with no worries. After the ceremony we had a number of spots in the city for photographs. Tom was very knowledgeable and knew how to get around the city even though some streets were closed for city events. He even did additional things like help my Bride in and out of the limo bus. Given that it was a wedding and we were all excited and most likely obnoxious, he showed no sign of being annoyed at all, very professional. At the last minute (the night before) I called Tom and asked him to give us a ride after the reception at 1:30am. He told me not to worry about a thing and that he’ll be there to get us. Sure enough he was there on time and professional. We loaded up our gifts and he took us home. He even helped us unload into the house as well. It’s not often you need a limo bus but if I ever do, Chicago is fun to party in after all, Ideal Charter will be my first call.

I’m using Chicago Mini Bus for my affair instead. The prices are on par with every other service I’ve spoken with and they don’t give you one estimate only to turn around and jack up the price on you.
I needed buses to transport my guests to and from our wedding venue to their hotels and then take our guests out for dancing in Chicago. The first guy who I spoke with gave me a great quote and was really friendly. I thought «Totally the charter service to hire.»
The winds shifted when I called back to book the buses. The estimate they gave me the second time around was hundreds of dollars more than the initial estimate and when I told the guy how much I had been quoted initially he gave me a line about how there are taxes and fuel surcharges that probably weren’t added in. When I let him know that I had been informed about the taxes during my first call the man on the phone started back pedaling and told me that they were booked up on the date I was looking to rent their bus and that they were going to have to move things around to accommodate my wedding party and the schedule shifting was going to cost me extra money.
I knew that renting a bus wasn’t going to be cheap, but I recommend going with a company that isn’t going to try and swindle you.

We needed transportation for ten of my son’s friends to a paintball party and used Ideal Charter. I had never used them before and really didn’t know anything about them, but their quote for the job seemed reasonable and their response time to my question was the most prompt of any service I looked into (they actually responded to me on a Saturday; everyone else waited till Monday to respond).
I couldn’t have been happier with the experience. Tom (the owner?) was personable and courteous on the phone, and even called me the day before (unasked) to confirm the time and location of pickup. He drove the van himself, showed up promptly, got us where we needed to go on time, and was very mellow with a mini-​bus full of thirteen year olds. The van was pristine and didn’t have any weird smells like old cigarette smoke or chemically cleaners.
I’m always nervous about using new services, but Ideal came through with shining colors and I’d use them again in a heartbeat.