Skywalker: A Big No, no!

Dear Online Diary,

We got in-touched with Skywalker through Ronnie, the person behind Flytomanila, whom we first heard from W@W e-group.

When we called Ronnie to rent a van for our out-of-town trip early this year, he said he’ll give us the driver’s contact details the night before the scheduled trip, which is not ok but, fine. We can’t do anything about it. Eventually, the driver gave me a call to collect all the information about the trip and so on.

The transaction turned out great. We also learned from this particular driver that Ronnie works as an "agent" and if we want to rent again, we can call them directly (handing out their calling card) instead of contacting Ronnie. Since we like their van, the driver’s attitude and their service, we called them directly and rented a van for another out-of-town gig. This is when I asked them if they could also provide a car and/or vans for our wedding. A couple of days after that, I received a call from Arnel, the owner of Skywalker. I gave him our budget and requirements, to which he promised to provide a bridal car (8 hours) and a van (12 hours) for our wedding. This was about four months before the wedding.

Fast forward…

A week before the wedding, Arnel did not return any of my calls/messages until two nights before the wedding (even with the help of our OTD). He requested to meet us next thing in the morning so we could talk about our requirements. Despite our hectic schedule, we decided to meet him (we have to!). Turned out, he can’t give us a bridal car for 8 hours (he can only provide it for 3 hours) so I asked for alternatives. Since he can only provide vans, hubby and I agreed to just rent two vans for us and the entourage. We asked him if it’s ok and if we need to make additional payments but he said we don’t need to. To quote him: “Regalo ko na lang sa kasal nyo.”

So, we ended up with two vans – the first van was rented from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM (service of entourage and family members) and the second van was rented from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM (used as the bridal van). He even made note of it.

{Skywalker vans}

Here’s the issue – the first van was late for an hour so our families arrived at the hotel past 10:00 AM. That's ok, but we have reservations regarding that. After the celebration and when we were about to go home, Ms. Beth (out OTD) came to me and gave me the bomb – the drivers do not want to accept our payment and they were asking for additional cash. She can’t tell me the reason why so I talked to driver#1 (while hubby talked to driver#2). He said their boss (referring to Arnel) asked them to do so. I told him we (Arnel, hubby and I) had an agreement and if they could just tell us what the additional cash is for, we’ll give it to them. But driver#1 can’t even tell what is so he called Arnel on his mobile phone. Here’s what transpired:

Driver#1: Tol, eto si ma’am. Kausapin mo na. (silence... seems like he’s trying to listen to Arnel from the other line)… Eto na nga, kausapin mo na si ma’am! (showing signs of annoyance)
He then gave me the phone…
Me: (I can hear him talking from the other line but I can’t get a hold of whatever he’s saying) “Hello po…”
Arnel: “Hello...”
Me: “Hello, kuya Arnel, para saan po yung additional na hinihingi...”
I did not finish my sentence because...
Arnel: “Ay pu…” (the line went dead)

I gave the phone to driver#1 and told him that the line was cut. He called Arnel again. They talked for a while (it looks like they are in some kind of argument) and gave the phone to me. After I said “hello”, the line went dead, yet again. On our third attempt, same thing happened. Driver#1 called him again, this time, he did not give the phone to me but they talked for a good 10 min. To me, I felt that he doesn’t want to talk to me but he’s asking the drivers to deal with us. The problem is, the drivers can’t tell what the additional payment is for (or they didn't dare to say so).

We asked the drivers if meals were provided (at the hotel, only for the driver of the first van because the second van arrived at 2:00 PM) and if they went inside to eat during the reception dinner. The drivers said yes, they did eat. It’s not yet past 9:00PM so it’s a big puzzle, especially after what Arnel did to me. What he did was unethical and plain rude.

After knowing what Arnel did, hubby asked driver#2 to call Arnel so they could talk. I was very disappointed to know that this Arnel shouted “Sige na, ok na!” then disconnected the call. Imagine our frustration to this (foul, rude and bad-mannered) person.

After what happened, driver#2 said he’ll talk to Arnel so we could (finally) go home and drive away.

The next day, I sent a text message to Arnel asking what happened and told him he didn’t need to degrade anyone. Hubby and I did not appreciate what he did and that he has no right to act that way since we are (were) his clients. He then sent foul text messages one after another. The only information I could relay here is that the drivers told him that meals were not provided and “wala man lang kaming malasakit sa drivers nya”. I replied explaining that our OTD gave them meals, the same set of meal we (hubby, our families and other suppliers) ate at the hotel preps. One of our OTDs asked them to go inside and eat, another one saw them do what they were told. We gave a big chunk of cake to driver#2 (for his family since we came to know him, being our driver on previous occasions) and cash to driver#1. Is that what he called “walang malasakit”? I also told him to verify the information with his drivers and stop texting foul words. Instead of stopping, well, you know what he did.

Evaluating the issue, I think there’s an internal problem going on between Arnel and the drivers. Driver#1 (the driver assigned to drive us back to the hotel) said awful things about Arnel and his (mis)management. I understand why he had to deny saying such, it might just cost his job. I do not understand why Arnel reasoned out that his drivers weren’t “fed” despite us asking the drivers more than enough if they ate and they always said “yes”. We did not know who’s telling the truth. Sila-sila na lang ang naglolokohan at nagsisiraan.

More importantly, I didn’t understand what this Arnel showed to us – his clients. Simply put, he’s the most bad-mannered, rude, foul, ill-educated, unprofessional person we’ve encountered. Believe me, you do not want to have anything to do with this person (people) unless they change their attitude toward their clients and co-workers. Good luck to that.

Here’s our rating:
Supplier: Skywalker
Stress level: Stress to the highest level
Customer Service and Satisfaction: Super dissatisfied
Overall: Horrible. Highly NOT recommended.

X.O.X.O.,