Posts Tagged ‘International bus group’

After much moping, silance and dumbfoundedness, and hours of waiting at a gas station stranded in Nebraska, we pulled it together. 

We called a toe company and waited for them 3 hours to come and tow the van into a repair shop in Omaha. Then thanks to Rob and his kind friend Dick, Steve and I got dropped off at the airport to rent another car, drove to the repair shop and picked up Greg, Dan, our stuff and the puppies. Then we found a hotel and spent the night watching comedy central. 

I’m not really seeing the lesson here since we’ve done this excersise 5 times now in 3 weeks. Yes we can rent a car, yes we can find a mechanic, yes we can stay together. I get it. The same blow is starting to get annoying. All we want to so is just get to these gigs, why is that so hard? 
 
We had to cancel the next 3 shows so we can just drive to Milwaukee. In a couple of hours we are gonna leave and just get there. We’ll figure out how to get around. It’s a holiday weekend so they won’t get to look at our van till Wednesday. Once they figure out what’s wrong with it and fix it and we figure out how to pay for it, we have to figure out how to get back to Omaha and get it. 

Don’t get me wrong, no amount of bullshit will make me give up, but Im getting tired of the same issue stranding us. This has turned out to be a $14,000+ piece of shit van. If we can sell it for anything, Im just thinking we should get a minivan with good gas milage and either rent a hotel every night or stay at peoples houses. That would seriously be cheaper. 

Thank you guys for donating time and time again and being kind and caring. You’re keeping me sane. 

Next gig will be among friends and family at the Greenroom in Sheboygan, see you there. 

Geri X

Roken down AGAIN in the middle of nowhere. I give up. I want my money and my life back. Are you listening International Bus Group?

866-287-4768

A mechanic is on his way here as we speak. He will take a look at the van and see what needs to get done. Chances are it going to be another hefty repair bill.

I hate feeling robbed, sad part is you guys ( our fans and donators) have been robbed as well, because only with your help were we able to pay for the repair the first time.

So many people have been telling me to repost the donate button because they would like to help again. I am starting to feel a little bit like a helpless baby, but I know when I need help, even if I hate asking for it.

Geri X Needs Your Help!

Here is the donate button again. If any of you guys out there still would like to help us, please donate. We all have been shames and swindled a few too many times with this van situation. We can thank The International Bus Group company and make them aware that what they are doing is effecting not only me, not only my band, but our fans, our well being, and our livelyhood.

I will have to cancel the show tonight because we have no way of getting there. Tomorrow, we will probably have to rent a car to get to the LA show and see what happens tuesday.

Love you guys,
Geri

So here is another one of those “against all odds” scenarios.

Against all odds, we made it to joshua tree. We literally put putted our way into California. Reason being, we were broken down in an unknown city, no one was willing to help and we needed to play the festival and be around friends at least.

We drove at mind blowing speeds of 35-55mph, the car kept smoking and we would pull over to give it rest but we needed to get there. Had we not, we would have owed the festival $500. The entire drive (of about 8hrs) I inhaled just smoke from the exhaust. At the end of the drive I felt like I was dying (not to be dramatic or anything, but it was horrible).

We got there, pulled into camp and rehearsed some songs and went to sleep.
Woke up early this morning to do an Interview over the phone with a radio station in Madison to talk about the Steel Bridge Song Fest, and our terrible luck with the van. The DJ and the audience liked what I had to say about the crooks that sold us the thing. Im hoping somehow magically they grow some hearts and help us out.

Then we soundchecked and played an INCREDIBLE set. The crowd was big, responsive, listening to every word I sang. I also had the honor of being able to invite on stage Wally Ingram and Eric McFadden to join us for a few songs. It was amazing. Lots of great great vibes. I also talked to the crowd about the bus company and our luck with the van and had a handful of people with some mechanic information approach us.

Now I am sitting in Wally’s house with Jerry Joseph, sipping some coffee and enjoying the air conditioning (finally). Greg is driving our drummer Matt to the airport in LA and I am trying to wrap my head around our situation.

Here is the breakdown:(of the breakdown)
We contacted a mechanic in town that deals with rebuilding transmitions-30 years of experience. He will need a least 3-4 days to do what needs to be done to the van just by our explanation on the phone. Tomorrow we will take it to him and leave it.
Now, we have 7 days booked solid with gigs, which means, we need to rent a van to get to the California gigs this week. That will be over $1000 easy. Also, rebuilding the transmition will cost a fortune, but we need to get it done. I just don’t know where to begin. How do we get to the gigs? how do we get the fan fixed and back?

Again these stupid corporate companies that claim to be your friend have taken all of our money. We have spent over $1000 already on gas because its running so bad and straining that its just eating up the gas.

It never ends. If anyone has ideas of quick solutions that don’t require money, or any other kind of help, Im so sorry to beg again, but we need you…again.

Wish we could find an energy drink to sponsor us and give us a goofy looking van that works.

Love you guys, we feel totally stranded in the pits of hell but I do feel you out there and I know you’re keeping us in your thoughts, don’t ever think I don’t notice. i will never take you for grated, you are all we have.

much love and tears from the desert,
Lil X.

The International Bus Group has completely SCREWED and neglected us. They are not humans with compassion but money thirsty jerks.
We have finally broken down in Flagstaff AZ, with no place to stay or go. Sitting in a parking lot at a hotel.

They will not give us our money back, pay for past and present repairs, or help pay for a rental van. The piece of shit we bought from them is the reason we are moneyless and stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I give up. Ford motors and international Bus Group are bad business dealers. Do not EVER deal with them or purchase from them, you’ll end up $12,000 in the hole and homeless.

If anyone has connections with car/vans, we need your help. It’s 40 degrees out and we’ve nowhere to go.

Calls us: 813-453-7035

homeless

Geri X

The record is officially released!! You can now order it physically online here, which I will mail out with a signed poster and sticker, or you can download it digitally from the download page!! I am so excited for you all to hear it. Please feel free to give us some feedback on what you think about the new songs and the re-vamped sound. We worked very hard. Its already reviewed you can read the review here.

And tonight we get to celebrate the release at New World Brewery! CD release show starts at 9pm, its $8 ( $2 a band, what a deal!) and it is 21+. On the bill we have the absolutely extraordinary Marksmen (Matt Segallos who is the frontman of the Marksmen, sang on “You’re Half Mine”, so if you’ve been wondering who’s angelic voice is on that song, its Matt’s.), Josh Roberts and the Hinges, and The Still Voice. All in all an amazing lineup.

On a not so sunny note, our tour van is completely caput. The International Bus Group (the place we bought it from) destroyed our van. We paid $1000 for them to service it and they neglected to fix absolutely everything and due to that, now the van is undrivable and sitting in a Ford Dealership in St Petersburg FL, and they are telling us that it will cost $4,300 to repair. We are completely out of money because we gave the bus company all the money we had, so we are hoping that they will be decent people and will cover the repairs seeing as though it is completely 100% their fault the van is undrivable.

We have in turn had to cancel a few of our tour dates. I will post cancellations tomorrow and we do apologize to you (our fans) and to the venue owners and promoters-this one is completely out of our hands. Unless we win the lottery and get $4,300 by monday, there is nothing we can do to get out there. I will keep you guys posted.

If you care to help us with this costly venture, all donations are greatly appreciated!

As always, love you all and thank you all for the undying support and belief in what myself and my boys are doing and creating. We do it for you.

Keep your fingers crossed and keep us in your thoughts- we hope to be out there on the road on wednesday if all goes well.Until then, check out the record, its up for sale now in our store tab!!

Geri X

In the course of very few days ,very many things have happened. I apologize for being away and not keeping you guys in the loop but it has been certified crazy for a while. 
Got the van, got the dropcards (they look AWESOME), got the stickers and got the posters. Then van started making strange noises and we scheduled an appointment for Monday to fix the noises. Waited for CDs and tshirts to come Saturday but no luck. Played Inman park festival Sunday and it was a blast! Said goodbye to everyone and drove by myself with the pups to FL. Got home, had veggie burgers with the fam and when to bed. Woke up and things started going south. 
Greg took the van to get fixed. We were told it would take a couple hours till they could get him in and that the repair itself would take two hours and would be in the $250 range. Instead, Greg got there at 8:45am and waited till 5pm for them to get the van in. In the meantime had to walk two miles to get something to eat and was freezing. Such horse***t!!!
 I picked up Steve from the airport in Tampa  and went directly to practice. Practiced till 9:30 came back to moms and got a call from Greg. They “did” fix it but he got home to pack and after tuning off the van it won’t start again. Started was aparently shot. Called AAA to come and tow him out of the back alley because he was blocking a parkinglot exit but the towtruck couldn’t tow him with the equipment he had. Called another towtruck and around 12:30am he tried to tow him but couldn’t. Towtruck driver called dispatch to get a tow dally to help, dispatch informed him that “we don’t do shuttle buses”. That’s horse***t #2. 
At 1:30 am Greg calls, exhausted and fed up. and ends up sleeping in the van. 
This morning I woke up at 7:45 got coffee, got ready for tv. Had to go on acoustic because Greg was stranded in Atlanta due to the van not being usable. Went live on tv to promote for the record- always a fun time at channel 10, such awesome nice people. Messed up some chords and words but eh, you know… It was waaaaay early
Called Greg after we got out of the tv station, he talked to the service department manager and the sales lady who said they were beside themselves,couldn’t believe that the mechanic didn’t fix anything, said they were going to send a tow truck and fix it for us today. Took the van in while Greg cleaned the apartment and went to the studio. We both agreed that due to the fact that before buying it we gave them an entire day to do a thorough inspection to make sure everything is ok and we were assured 100% that there was nothing wrong with the thing, they should fix it at no cost to us seeing as though they completely inconvinienced us, and greg wasn’t able to make shows and dealines because of their mistakes and had we known there was something wrong with it we would NOT have bought it. Regardless, they made us pay them $900.00 . Horse***t!
  Steve and I had acoustic practice, I started getting sleepy and loosing my mind a litle bit so we took a break. Then went to full band practice at 7pm and got out at 9pm. The practice space owner creeped me out a bit but what are you gonna do. Called Greg to see if he left…
He made it about 50 miles out of Atlanta and all the noises that they had “fixed” came back. The van wouldn’t accelerate past 60mph and the headlights were flickering on and off as he was driving. Oh, and did I mention that 3 times they said the van had gotten an oil change ? I think not! Greg had to stop and by quarts of oil because the level was below the red line. It’s pretty crappy. I don’t think it’s morally right. 
All horse***t aside, we got the CDs and although I haven’t seen them yet cause Greg has them, he said they are BEAUTIFUL. I can’t wait to open the first one and smell it! I am so pround of this record. Also got the tshirts and they look fantastic. So… Yeah. Packing like a maniac and dealing with all of these little disasters has been very disorianting. I’m hoping it’s a way to get all the bad stuff out of the way before we go on tour. 
We are oficially going to make a van fund to help pay back the $10,000.00 that we sunk into this piece of junk. Donations at shows will be greatly appriciated and needed. 
Cd release show Friday can’t come soon enough!

Crazed,frazzed,disorianted,deranged
Geri X.