Blackberry Cars vs Simply Airports from LHR

We are arriving on Sunday night, around 22:00, at LHR. To get a saloon car for 2 adults to Charing Cross we were quoted GBP91 by Blackberry, and GBP37 by Simply Airports.

 

Am I missing something? Is the Simply Airports quote simply too good to be true? Or is the Blackberry quote simply telling me that they don't want the business? I looked at Taxi-Fare Estimator and it said GBP76, so I don't know what to think.

 

Any feedback from those in-the-know? Thanks, ADB.

The Blackberry price is totally out of whack. It would be cheaper to get a taxi from the rank than their price. I've never taken a car service from LHR, but the Simply Airports price is in line with prices I've seen quoted here.

Wow - thank you Twickenham. Based on your feedback I emailed Blackberry, asking if they really meant it when they quoted me GBP91. They emailed back and re-quoted me at 42.

 

I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they made a typo in their original quote email. Just goes to show that it pays to pay attention and question things that look a little strange, even if it is in a foreign country. I wonder how often things like this happen? :eek:

 

Thanks again.

My quote from Blackberry cars from the airport to Doubletree Westend was 42 GBP also. It must have been a mistake.

There's actually a town in Kent called Charing. It's entirely possible that if you requested a price 'from Heathrow to Charing Cross', someone at Blackberry looked at it fast and quoted you a price to go to Kent, rather than Central London.

Or the habit that some people have of shortening a name in haste:confused:

Your new price now sounds correct. We are also coming in about 22:00 next month, but with 3 and we were quoted 47 GBP. We reserved with Blackberry, because by reserving via e-mail (not on their website) we were able to reserve with no money down, just cash on day of service. Just to make sure of our ride, we have let them know that we will be re-confirming via e-mail about 24 hours before pickup.

Several years ago, we booked Simply Airports to pick us up at a time specified in the morning at our central London hotel and take us to Heathrow. Everything was set up by email and the booking time was correctly stated in the emails. Shortly before we arrived in London, I reconfirmed the booking by email, and then, once in London, I called Simply Airports and reconfimed the booking over the phone.

 

Well, the appointed time came and went, and no one from Simply Airports showed up to pick us up. I called them, and they claimed our booking was for nearly an hour later, which was nonsense and belied by the emails.

 

Fortunately, the hotel concierge was able to get us a car in five minutes, at about twice the price Simply Airports had quoted us. Obviously, needing to get to Heathrow and make our flight (and fortunately we'd left ourselves plenty of time), we took that car.

 

Once we got home, I emailed Simply Airports to complain. I don't recall that they even had the courtesy to respond.

I have used them twice. They are reliable, excellent drivers, who show up on time. Prices are good. I have friends who used them too. Never a problem.

We booked an estate car in September with Blackberry and the rate was 40 GBP from the Premier Inn - County Hall so I am guessing the OP put in the wring info. We were extremely pleased with Blackberry, the car was very clean, the driver was in a jacket and tie, they were 10 mins early picking us up and we got an email from them 10 mins before the car arrived.:)

As others have said, the Blackberry quote is clearly an error. The Taxi Fare Estimation you got almost certainly refers to a black cab off the rank at Heathrow, which illustrates the advantage of pre-booking a private hire vehicle.

We used Blackberry in December and I highly recommend. The driver picked us up and was super friendly. Gave us lots of great and helpful info on our ride to London proper

We've used Simply aAirports several times, and we've always had great service. Last fall our flight arrived 3 hrs. late at 1am (a which involved special permission from LHR for the late arrival) and our driver was there waiting for us.

 

They've taken us from the airport to our hotel, to Southampton, and in town to visit a cousin's house.

We just booked Blackberry for a July LHR to Thistle-Trafalgar trip at 42 GBP. Is an appropriate tip rounding up to 45, or should it be a bit more? We are bringing two large bags...

 

Thank you!

Edited June 3, 2016 by LoriPhil

I am looking at booking Blackberry also for a few rides connected to our cruise in August and have found great reviews of them on Trip Advisor. Their prices seem quite reasonable and everyone seemed happy with their experience with them. Hope this helps!

We just booked Blackberry for a July LHR to Thistle-Trafalgar trip at 42 GBP. Is an appropriate tip rounding up to 45, or should it be a bit more? We are bringing two large bags...

 

Thank you!

 

Rounding up to £45 is fine.

We've booked Blackberry to take us from Heathrow to Greenwich, which is farther than London. Their price with luggage is 59 pounds.

Sounds about right. Hopefully, your driver will take you the short route through town, rather than, what is today, the quickest route via the M25. This is due to an "incident" on Chelsea Embankment, so fingers crossed it will be okay when you come.

Hopefully, your driver will take you the short route through town, rather than, what is today, the quickest route via the M25.

A friend who lives in Canary Wharf was surprised to be taken home from Heathrow around the M25 one evening a week or so back, but even more surprised that it was quicker than she expected the journey through town to be. She's a frequent traveller, so she has lots of journeys to compare it with. She said that she just got her head down and worked in the car, and all of a sudden she noticed that they were passing the Marriott in CW.

 

The downside, though, is that the drive around the M25 is not as scenic.

Years ago, I used to commute regularly from Woolwich to Heathrow. The M25 route is quite often the quickest, but incredibly dull. And very counterintuitive to set off to Heathrow by initially heading towards Dover :)

 

 

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Hi everyone - I am the OP and even though this post was from almost a year ago I am happy to see the renewed interest because it means people are getting ready for UK cruising! I will say that we were very pleased with the service from Simply Airports. When we arrived at LHR and exited the secure area into the arrivals hall it was quite crowded. Initially we couldn't find our driver so we made a call to the dispatch number and it turned out the driver was already there, we just hadn't seen him. He took us to his vehicle and we got going straightaway to our hotel near Charing Cross. We would use this company again. -ADB:)

I am glad that ADBark got a good service, but I think that this is pretty much what we all expect, whichever car service we use. As you can imagine, this area is enormously competitive and with social media and forums, they all know that a few bad experiences can ruin a company's reputation.