Capitol City Crawlers

Dirty and hazardous, Capitol City’s buses offer rides from hell. We booked a bus to take us, at 8:30am, to a hike at the west cave preserve, then to Lake Travis, then back home by 5pm. The old yellow school bus is shoddily painted in all black and outfitted with a sticky floor. The seats are not only tackily vinyl, but also not properly attached to the ground. Which means they will go FLYING OFF the ground when you’re driving, and that you’re FLYING too if you’re sitting on it! Underneath the unattached seats is a great collection of garbage, trash and dirt. If disgusting, unsafe rides are your thing, Capitol City is the bus for you.
Also, they’re an interesting collection of staff. The inept manager, Chris, double booked our bus. Luckily we were still able to make our trip, but it was only because of our flexible plan — not Chris’ ability to work with our schedule. Our driver, Gloria, drove at breakneck speeds on the windy roads to the lake — without seatbelts, it’s alarming. With flying seats, it’s plain dangerous. Also there was a safety alarm going off as we were hurtling through the hills. When asked about the alarm, Gloria said it was a safety alarm but she couldn’t turn it off until she turned off the bus, and she couldn’t do that until she stopped at a red light. …what…safety alarms exist for a reason people… (FYI: they’re also known as VIP Party Bus)
We were so disturbed by the trip that we provided Gloria with a nominal cash tip. So I was pretty surprised when Chris charged an additional hundred plus dollars for Gloria’s tip on my card (without my approval). Turns out Gloria lied and said she never got any tip from us. While calling for a refund, Chris got pretty rude. He seemed to think that broken seats, safety alarms and dripping ACs (oh yeah, that happened too) wasn’t an issue. Also, he accused us of being drunk and confused (at 8:30am in the morning??? however he lives his life, my group does not booze up at 8am before a nature hike). After way too long on the phone, not-​so-​cleverly barbed insults and innuendos, he finally refunded the unapproved transaction. That, however, does not make up for the terrible, dangerous experience that is Capitol City Crawlers.
Ride at your own risk!

Great bus, driver, and experience! Our group took the 40-​person bus to float the river on memorial day weekend and had a great time on the bus. The driver was on time, friendly, and accommodated all our needs. The driver didn’t try to pull any last minute price/​time/​destination changes that other services do. Also, they didn’t try to tack on any bogus fees for cleaning or gas. They held up to their end of the deal.
The bus was clean, big, and had great sound system to get the party going. Overall, this was one of the best bus services we’ve used and everyone in our group was happy with the experience. It helped us have a fun and safe 2014 Memorial Day. We plan on using them again.

I have always been a huge supporter of Groupon since I heard about it when visiting Chicago regularly in 2009. I have purchased many Groupon since then and have been thoroughly satisfied until I experienced probably my last Groupon ever on July 13^th, 2013. I had seen the Groupon for the Capitol City Crawlers in the spring and mentioned it to my friends thinking it would be a great deal and summer activity. The Groupon sold out when I originally mentioned it, I checked back to see if it was offered periodically and finally it appeared. I rushed to forward the message to my friends to purchase immediately. We all had our Groupons purchased and figured out date that fit everyone’s schedule. I contacted Capitol City Crawlers, left a few voice mails and finally got a hold of Chris (pretty sure the number is just his personal cell phone). Scheduling went smoothly, I told Chris how many we had in our party (7 including myself) he told us we were good to go and when/​where to arrive. The day came of the trip, only 6 of us ended up going and we met with other Grouponers at the designated area. The bus pulls up and a charity group is already on it – not aware of all about 15 others joining the ‘party bus’. The ‘party bus’ looked right out of the children’s TV show «The Magic School» nothing like the picture on the Groupon or posted currently. We boarded the bus without anyone checking our Groupon. Good thing only 6 of us ended up able to go; since two of us had to sit on the floor of the bus with NO A/​C. No A/​C for a hour hellish bus ride in over 100 degree heat not worth $ 39. After getting to the tube rental, we were told our Groupons were not valid. We asked the bus driver numerous times if he was going to stay at the bus (so we could leave personal belongings) one person in our group went back to the bus the driver was no where to been seen and anyone could open the bus door. After getting that straighten out we floated the river and waited an hour plus for the charity group to return to the bus even though they started before us. THIS WAS HANDS DOWN THE WORSE EXPERIENCE EVER. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM CAPITOL CITY CRAWLERS. They should be out of business.

My recent experience with Capital City Crawlers was not too great. I was not the one who was paying, but was a guest invited to join the fun. The people were what made the party fun, the bus had nothing to do it with it. The bus looked like a child had painted it and had a really disturbing fuzzy lining on the inside, I avoided getting anywhere near it. The AC did not work so we had to open the windows. It was hot outside but still cooler than inside the non air conditioned bus. There were no handles or overhead bars to hang on to while the bus was in motion and if there was any type of lighting, it was dismal. They also showed up an hour and half late and took forever to get from one destination to the next. I would definitely never use these guys for my own purposes nor recommend them to anyone wanting a party bus.

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. OWNER DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS. GROUP OF 10 PEOPLE SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED AND WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYONE. BUY DEFINITELY BEWARE!!!
i tried to book the event when first purchased the groupon but the owner had told me because of past early reservations made where overtime people forgot or canceled last minute the company will not accept any reservations made before the monday prior to whichever saturday chosen to have the event on.
from this i told him my full name and that i planned to have a group reservation of 10 people for june 8^th and that i will be calling june 3^rd the moment they open at 9 am. he was very nice on the phone and i didn’t have any problems with him at that point…
that being said i called last week to ask him if we needed the groupon vouchers in hand when we call to book the reservations and if those without the group on needed to pay over the phone or on the day of. he said nothing was needed until the day of and that i could book the reservation first thing on monday and i wouldn’t have a problem saving the spots…
monday comes i call 9am on the dot no answer so i leave a voicemail because the company doesn’t seem to have an actual business line and leave all my info with everything i wanted along with a request for a call back. 10am comes along no return call so I call back, nothing. call again at 12pm no answer again so I go as far as messging the company through their facebook page no reply. I then send the owners number which is on the groupon to my friend tara and Christine both are on another groupon for this event (75 $). A man picks up for tara and he tells her he already spoken to me WHICH HE HADNT and that the owner was out of town and he wouldn’t have an answer for us until later that day, we finally get told that «by the looks of it» they already have 2 parties and were full for Saturday june 8^th. Funny because this makes no sense to me because I strictly followed the owners rules and if I called first thing Monday morning there should’ve been full availability which i was told there would be. What the owner told me was false, we were told by the man on the phone that he is talking to Chris (owner) and the owner would call us back to try and fix everything. calling back everyday since we were told the SAME THING everytime and nothing was resolved. WE NEVER ONCE HEARD FROM THE OWNER OR EVEN GOT A PITTY APOLOGY… all the nonsense they’ve put us through, the running around, our ignored phone calls is just beyond unprofessional.
The company definitely screwed me and 9 other people over and we are all furious with them. We now have to car pool 50minutes to the tubing place which obviously having a party bus wouldve been that much better to be able to pregame and enjoy the time before/​after the tubing adventure. I couldn’t be more upset than I am currently and I am beyond disgusted with the way the owner handled business which was non existent to say the least. Dont tell people you don’t accept early reservations and then when I call opening hour on the monday prior to the saturday booking (in compliance to your rules) turn around and tell me after hours of trying to get ahold of CCC that you’ve already overbooked and will try to fix things. then disappear.
WE ALL RETURNED OUT GROUPONS, no hate against Groupon or Comal Tubes but buyers take your money and spend it on a reputable partybus company instead!

BUYER BEWARE! Be careful of the Groupon listings and Living Social deals to wine country!!!
We purchased a deal through Living Social for a group of 8 to Fredericksburg, TX. The deal read: «On this bus you’ll travel in style; with decked-​out LED lighting, comfortable seats, a killer sound system, and even a dancing pole, this ride is designed so you’ll have as much fun on your journey as you will when you get there.»
Once purchased we received email communication from the company. They came from Chris, who I assume is either the manager or the owner. He made additional promises for the morning of the tour saying there would be breakfast tacos, etc.
When we arrived at the designated meeting location, the bus was not there. The bus did not arrive until well after noon, though we were due to depart at 11:30. Naturally the number of wineries we could visit was predicated on leaving promptly so we could maximize and see 3 vineyards. Since we left about an hour late, we only got to see 2 wineries. That aside, there were no breakfast tacos. EVERYONE on the tour purposely didn’t pick up much food or eat knowing there would be those for us to purchase or to have. Chris brought doughnuts, tossed boxes at us, shrugged and made some excuse which I failed to listen to.
That aside, let’s talk about the party bus. The one that was described above, and the one that sold us on the experience was NOT the bus we got. We got a piece of garbage in its place. The bus was an old hippy painted school bus. The interiors were multi colored vinyl, stick and peal tile floors (which were coming up) and filthy old gross purple fur along the walls. The AC barely worked, no LED lighting, no dancing pole and DEFINITELY no killer sound system. The sound system was in fact so ghetto, there was not even a USB connection for us to use our phones to play music. Instead there was a book of mix CDs made by Chris that were a joke. When Lil Wayne is the best option of them all, you know you’re in trouble.
If you’re a frat house looking for a party bus, this would be fine, but we were all grown adults who purchased what seemed to be a state of the art fun mode of transportation to wine country. We were not 20 year old boys ready to suck on a beer bong and throw back some jäger shots.
When I contacted the company (Chris), he was rather rude and not at all accommodating. He made a million excuses for why we got a different bus, why they didn’t have a USB cord for music, why we didn’t get what was advertised, etc. He said he would not refund our money since «You can’t get your money back after you’ve eaten the meal» but he offered to send me an email with a «killer» deal for the future. He said he was going to get to it the next day as that particular day was his girlfriend’s birthday and he had to get to things planned for that evening. He never did follow up with me, nor send me any email with any sort of compensation. Another person in our party called him this past week and he was equally rude.
I wouldn’t recommend this company in any way. They are unprofessional, use bait and switch advertising methodology and have poor customer service.
Shame on Living Social as well for not protecting their buyers nor doing their homework ensuring their merchants are delivering what they are offering.

We used capital city crawler for a river trip and it was a blast. The driver was great and on time; Chris and the driver were also extremely accommodating to anything we asked of him. The sound system on the bus was pretty sweet also. I have been on a few party buses with other companies before and I feel like it is always stressful getting on the bus and getting situated, but that wasn’t the case at all. If you need a party bus use Capital City Crawler… you won’t regret it.
P. S. This is the second time we used them. I went on a wine tour with another friend and that was equally as fun!

My friends and I purchased a coupon for a 6 hour wine tour for $ 350. We scheduled our tour for Nov. 19. On Nov. 14 less than a week before our tour we received a call from the owner stating he double booked us with a wedding party. Even though this threw a kink in my birthday plans we were allowed to rebook for Jan. 21.
On Jan. 17 the owner calls again with the bad news that we are to receive the bus with the broken karaōke system. Once again we were fine with this at least we still had the tour.
The day of the tour 16 total friends met for brunch to wait on the bus to pick us up at Noon. We received a call at 11:30 am claiming the bus got into a wreck. The door would not close and therefore wasn’t street legal. He claims to have been in contact with a welder that would repair the door, which would allow us to have the bus at 3pm, but we would have to end the tour at 6pm. We would now be getting the bus for 3 hours, but still pay the full $ 350.
This was not acceptable to us so we asked for our money back. After 2 weeks we finally received part of our money back. The other part we would have to call the coupon company from which we originally purchased the deal. The company had no problem giving us the rest of our money because they had had several other complaints about this particular bus company. This was in no way the coupon company’s fault; therefore, I have left out their name completely.
This is however Capital City Crawlers fault. Yes, I purchase coupons to get a good deal. However, if I have a good experience with the company I come back to them, and gladly pay full price for their services. I will definitely not use Capital City Crawlers in the future, and I highly discourage anyone else from using them.