The Student Shuttle LLC/New Life Ministries

I have requested a refund for transportation services that I never received for my child who is in kindergarten. I was a new customer of the Student Shuttle/New Life Ministries, LLC who hired the company to assist me in transporting my little one from school. I paid all the necessary service fees via the company's *** account in advance, which was their policy for payment. I provided the school with the necessary documentation to inform and authorize the school to release my child to The Student Shuttle upon dismissal. Nevertheless, my child was left behind at school on more than one occasion which resulted in much stress and hastily adjusting my work schedule and drive through gridlock Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia rush hour traffic to ultimately pick my child up myself or make on the spot pick arrangements with my husband to handle pick up.

On more than one occasion, a driver employed by The Student Shuttle would arrive to the school, pick up other students without taking attendance or verifying with The Student Shuttle operations/dispatch team whether my child was to be transported and leave my child behind at school. The drivers did not even realize their error until I called inquiring about my child's whereabouts. By then, the driver is approximately 45 minutes in his/her route dropping off other students, well away from the school. On each occasion, my child had to be placed in the school's aftercare as a result of not being picked up on time.

I requested in writing for a refund in September and have been ignored. I have also called, emailed and texted requests for a refund and have been unsuccessful. All calls to the company phone number listed on its website are answered by a automated message. I've sent correspondence to the Student Shuttle company email address as well as correspondence to New Life Ministries, LLC and to managers of The Student Shuttle. My text message requesting for a refund was also ignored.

I used The *** transportation service for the school year 2016-17 and paid via monthly invoices. In the summer of 2017, I decided to pay in full (via ***) for the 2017-2018 school year. However, in the beginning of the 2017 school year, there were many issues with the transportation. I decided to cancel services and take my business elsewhere. On the Paid In Full email/invoice, it clearly states the company would issue a refund if we decided to cancel. The *** (Mr. Shawn McB***) understood yet begged (yes, beeged) me not to ask for a refund. He claimed he already spent the money. Of course, I still requested my refund as I had paid a over $2500. In Dec 2017, after months of emails and reminders, I finally received a check for $1000. After that, the payments stopped and many emails and text messages were sent. In August 2018, Mr. McB*** finally agreed to 5 monthly payments of $250. Unfortunately, I've only received one payment of $250 and he denies ever agreeing to pay my refund even though I have the emails and text messages to prove it. PLEASE HELP!

On October 17th I requested a refund of payment from the student shuttle due to information that was brought to my attention regarding the vehicle that picked up my (asthmatic)child smelling of smoke as well as being informed that my 5 year old had rode home in the front seat of the student shuttle vehicle because the door was unable to open to allow entry into the vehicle on the passenger side. Prior to being notified of this my son received several nebulizer treatments for his asthma that started during the weeks he was driven home by the Student Shuttle. I contacted the company by email outlining that due to my son health and safety I would immediately have to discontinue use of there service. However I received no response to my email other than a cancelled invoice for the following month(November). I had paid for the complete month of October $340 and cancelled service October 17th. Upon following up two weeks after my initial email I received back the response below pointing to the Company's policy of giving two weeks notice in advance of cancellations. I was not ask if my child's health was OK but only directed to their refund policy. I am left to wonder if a child who has severe asthma, which cigarette smoke is a trigger must continue in those conditions for two weeks.

The Student Shuttle response:
Good morning. Per our billing policy we require two weeks notice to cancel service.

Please see policy here:

We prepaid for two months of shuttle service for our daughter, for September and October 2018, for a total of $1320. In early September 2018, we were notified that The Student Shuttle could not provide a driver for us, and our money would be refunded. We have not received a refund. I have called numerous times. The calls are sent to a voice mailbox which is full, and you cannot leave a message. Most of my emails have not been answered. One email, sent in mid-September stated we would receive our refund via check, to be sent to us October 2, 2018. No check has been received. Other emails have not been answered. I have visited the business twice, and on one occasion spoken to an employee who stated that the accounts were not her job. On my second visit to the business no one was there, and I left paperwork reminding them that they owe me a refund. As of today, October 26, 2018, I have not received the refund.

I enlisted in this transportation company because my son started a new school that was farther away than right up the block.

The first issue I encountered was on the day of the Open House for new parents I drove all the way to Bowie just to find out the Open House was cancelled, and I was not notified. After arriving and being sent to a different location I reached out to Rev. McBride for him to tell me that it was cancelled, and he apologize saying they don't normally do business like this. Once the Open House was rescheduled I explained to him the time was inconvenient for me he stated no problem he was send me an email with the pertinent information. I never received that email.

The second issue I encountered on the first day of school my son arrived a half hour late for school. According to the driver, she was never informed that she had to get an ID and have to spend most of the time at the gate that morning. She was also not aware that the pick up time was 7:25 am. The driver was ready to quit the first day because of the lack of communication from this company.

The third issue on four separate occasions in a month’s time. The driver failed to pick up my son. Every time I called Rev. Mcbride he would say he didn’t know as he doesn’t do the schedule he had to speak with his staff. On another occasion when I called him because we were informed by the driver that she would no longer be doing our route so the next day no one showed up. When I spoke to him he stated that he would personally pick my son up the next day to ensure he got to school and again no one showed up. No PHONE CALL from the company on any of these occasions.

The fourth issue I experienced is my son attends an aftercare. He gets out of school at 2:40pm on three occasions the aftercare called me and told me my son had not arrived by 4pm. I called Rev. McBride to explain what was going on and he proceeded to tell me my son doesn’t get out of school until 3:10pm. I then told him I am sure when my son gets out of school then he stated well I don’t know as I don’t do the schedule and put me on the phone with the lady that handles it.

My final straw was when I had just send in the Oct 1st payment and NO ONE showed up to pick him up and AGAIN my husband had to go in late to his NEW job to take him to school. I reached out to the driver and no response. I cancelled my service on the 9th of October and basically paid for a month of service that I never received. No apology from the company, No I will give you a refund.

This company is unorganized, unprofessional, and lacks communication. Any information that was provided to me or reassurance was never followed up on. This is negligent. What if I would have left him home waiting on this company. Anything could have happened like him missing every day of school this month. I WARN YOU to not do business with this company. I thought because this was Christian run I could put my child in their hands but that was my mistake. They were full of false promises. Every time, I called it was some excuse as to why they failed to do their job.

I paid this company a total of $1,350 of my hard-earned money to get almost non-existent service. Run while you can, don’t let the CHRISTIAN title fool you.

I registered my son for door to door pick up prior to school starting and received a confirmation email stating my registration was confirmed and that I would be receiving an invoice by 4pm Sept 3rd. I received my invoice, but no instructions on pick up or drop off times so referred to the schedule for my area on the shuttle website. At 545am this morning (the first day of school) I received a phone call from one of the drivers named Annette Figaroa stating that the drivers had been trying to contact me regarding pick up. She then states that my son needed to be ready in the next 20 min (which would have been 605am) despite the website posted schedule stating that he should picked up between 645 and 7am. 2 hours and 45 minutes before his school was supposed to start. After much back and forth about where he would be going ,I asked where he would be going so early, why it wasn't told to me until now and the woman replied to the center which I was unfamiliar with. Because the morning travels plans for my minor child were not in accordance to what I signed a contract for I chose to take him to school and discussed that he would still need to be picked up after school.The conversation made me very uneasy about after school pick up, so I called Annette and the facility multiple times throughout the day and got no answer. I finally reached Annette about 2pm. She assured me that my son would be picked up and dropped off at home according to my paid service contract and what we discussed earlier in the day. My son called me after school stating he didn't see the bus so I instructed him to ask every driver if they were with the student shuttle and if his name was on their list. I stayed on the phone while he did so and no one said he was he was listed. I then called the main number and got the owner who stated that if a child doesn't ride in the morning then they aren't on the list for pick up in the evening, which is not written on the site or in their contract. Additionally he told me I should just be patient with them and that they could have someone to him by 4pm (he got out of school at 255pm). I expressed how upset I was with his service and he tried to tell me that I shouldn't have expected everything to be smooth because I just registered him and that they know the school like the back of their hand. I paid for a service and didn't receive them, then the owners sends a condescending email about me registering days before school started.

Student Shuttle offers a discount to parents who pay in advance for school transportation/before-after care services for the upcoming school year. They provide a guarantee that if your child changes schools or the service is no longer needed a full refund will be provided. We paid in full for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year in May 2018. We informed Student Shuttle via email of our decision to change schools for the 2018-2019 school year on June 18, 2018. We would therefore no longer need their transportation/ before-after care services. We received a reply saying our payment had already been spent on a new bus and they would have to refund us in 2 installments, the first to be on July 15th. We quickly agreed because we believe in supporting small businesses. The fifteenth came and went with no refund and no contact from Student Shuttle. We reached out to Student Shuttle and new refund instsllment dates were promised. Yet again the date came and went with no refund and no contact from Student Shuttle. We finally spoke to the owner on the phone and he PROMISED the first installment would be in our account by August 30th. Well that day has come and we have received no refund or conversation from anyone employed by Student Shuttle. The company has severely let us down and we do not recommend their services.