Experience with Keys Please/Driving Knights? (Designated Driver Services) - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Regular_John · 09-01-2013, 11:53 AM

Hey CP,

Did a search, came up dry, but any of you had any experience with those paid designated driver services?

We're going to a wedding downtown and the thought of wearing nice clothes/carrying a gift on the bus isn't appealing, so we're thinking about driving & using one of these services at the end of the night.

How was the service?
Cost comparable to a cab?

iggy_oi · 09-01-2013, 12:54 PM

I used drivers choice a few years back, cost is about the price of 2 cabs, but I remember being able to book a pickup so you weren't at the mercy of hailing a cab or calling for a cab.

Nage Waza · 09-01-2013, 06:41 PM

I have used Keys Please many times, always great your car is safe at home when you wake up sick the following morning.

I always tip really high for this, especially if my drunk friends are there.

jayswin · 09-01-2013, 06:45 PM

Keys please is awesome, and it's not actually that much more than a taxi, or maybe it is, I used to just drink and drive.

For example from West Hills to say Lake Bonavista is like $50, plus tip. Unfortunately for me, like Naga Waza, I usually end up tipping like $20 because I'm drunk.

But still, having the freedom of having your car all night until you're too drunk to drive and then having it at home in the morning when you're too hungover to go on a mission to retrieve it is definitely worth the $70.

JonDuke · 09-01-2013, 07:09 PM

I've used DD Kingz a few times.
Nothing bad to say at all.

$20 plus an additional $1.50 per km to client. ie (Less than 1 KM = $21.50, 10 KMS = $35)

http://www.ddkingz.com/calgary/

Jacks · 09-01-2013, 07:45 PM

Used Drivers Choice lots of times, it's fairly expensive but worth it. As said above, about the cost of 2 cabs but the drive is much more pleasant than 2 cab trips and you can book a pick up time.

TurdFerguson · 09-01-2013, 08:11 PM

Used keys please dozens of times. Good people and waking up with your car is sooo much better the next day. More expensive then a cab for sure, but a service well worth it considering the alternatives.

Northendzone · 09-01-2013, 09:47 PM

Why waste your hard earned money on a service like this. Take the back roads home. What are the chances of anything happening.

Regular_John · 09-02-2013, 07:26 AM

Ended up going with Keys Please last night, cost about $10-$15 more than the cab ride would have, but there is something nice about riding home in your own car with room for your coat/shoes and such.

The experience overall was fine, but they could step up the service a little bit, the car they arrive in is little more than what appears to be a personal vehicle with a piece of paper taped up in the back window and they didn't appear to have a GPS unit. So when I was on the phone with them explaining where we were parked there was a bit of back & forth.

Not deal breakers by any means, but don't expect quite the same level of service you'd get from a cab or shuttle company. But having said that it was still money well spent, depending on what our evening plans are I'd use them again.

bluejays · 09-02-2013, 07:42 AM

I've always wondered about using services like this, and for the most part, how much of a ripoff it can be. Why not check into a nearby hotel for presumably the same price?

KTrain · 09-02-2013, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fleury

Why not check into a nearby hotel for presumably the same price?

You're not going to get a hotel room downtown for the cost of cab ride on a long weekend.

Regular_John · 09-02-2013, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fleury

I've always wondered about using services like this, and for the most part, how much of a ripoff it can be. Why not check into a nearby hotel for presumably the same price?

I want no part of a $50 hotel room downtown.

4X4 · 09-02-2013, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaydorn

I want no part of a $50 hotel room downtown.

Why not? What do you expect to find in there? Mayonnaise? Spittle? Semen?

BloodFetish · 09-03-2013, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaydorn

I want no part of a $50 hotel room downtown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4X4

Why not? What do you expect to find in there? Mayonnaise? Spittle? Semen?

All of the above, and also bedbugs which will follow you home.

TorqueDog · 09-03-2013, 06:10 PM

I used Keys Please, was about $55 from Rusty Cage on 37th St. to my old place in Thorncliffe. The guy drove my six-speed M5, didn't kill us or get me any tickets and returned both the car and I in the condition in which they were found... me in slightly better condition as the drive sobered me up.

GoinAllTheWay · 09-04-2013, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

Book the closest car2go drive to it and drive down and can back. Nike to your car in the morning.

lol, what?? Where you drunk when you posted this?

KTrain · 09-05-2013, 07:59 AM

jaydorn? She wouldn't turn up the new NIN album?

Gun pointed at volunteer driver

Quote:

A volunteer who helps people get home after they’ve been drinking has found some truth in the adage, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

A woman who drives for the organization Keys Please was driving two men home from a bar early just before 1 this morning. While driving in the area of 10th Street and Kensington Road, her passengers demanded she turn up the volume on the radio. When she refused, one of the men threatened her with a firearm.

The two men then fled and left the area in another vehicle. Police spotted a vehicle matching the description and conducted a high risk take down. Two men were taken into custody and a weapon was recovered. Charges are pending.

http://www.newstalk770.com/2013/09/0...unteer-driver/

getbak · 09-05-2013, 03:45 PM

That's a special kind of stupid. The service drives you home in your own car. If they fled the scene, they left her with their own vehicle, which presumably is registered to one of them complete with the owner's address.

Regular_John · 09-05-2013, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by getbak

That's a special kind of stupid. The service drives you home in your own car. If they fled the scene, they left her with their own vehicle, which presumably is registered to one of them complete with the owner's address.

Look maybe some one had been drinking (hence the need for a DD) and they REALLY wanted to hear that song ok? Maybe it wasn't the smartest/best thing to do but cut a drunk some slack...

MaDMaN_26 · 09-06-2013, 01:17 PM

I'm a little late to this thread but I have used Keys Please more times than I can count. I do not agree its double the cost of a cab... its maybe $10-15 more... A cab ride from downtown to my place is $45-50 - I would pay $60 ish to keys please. Unless its become more expensive recently... I started using them years ago, when they were a tiny operation and they knew me by name, I got to know some of the drivers - lol... Ya... I drank too much back then. Now I just stay home and drink alone :P - I still use them maybe 1nce every 4 month-ish

I used the other services a couple times... but mostly Key's Please. I think its a great service and a seems like a nice way for couples or a mother and daughter etc... to make a few extra bucks... the "chase" car is a personal vehicle owned by the duet that drives you and they don't use it for this full time - so ya all you get is a sticker in the window. Boo hoo...

As for pulling a gun... wow... I don't get that at all... A) You're in your car and B) I always sat in the front seat with the driver, why would you have to ask anyone... it's my car and I often cranked the tunes. Half the time they seemed very amicable to it... no drunken conversation to entertain.