We turned up at our designated meeting spot just before 1pm. Another three people waited with us for Neal to arrive. We waited... and waited and then one of the group rang him, by this time it was after 1.30pm. He told her he would be along āin a few minutesā. Twenty minutes later he turned up, no apologies and blurted out that the Apollo Theatre visit wasnāt going to happen, that he had spoken to a person there who told him it was closed. My heart began to sink at this point in the proceedings. He did ask if any of us could come and meet him tomorrow as he thought he might be able to get us in The Apollo then. The other three people couldnāt make it but I said that my husband and I could, and I was completely ignored at this point, obviously he didnāt want to meet us the following day. So my heart sank a little further.
Our āguideā then took us inside the Schomberg Centre for Research in Black Culture (where we had already been inside to wait for him), itās free entry so this obviously didnāt cost us or him anything. We must have spent about a whole ten minutes in there with our guide just pointing at photos and not really giving us any insight into anything there. He then took his phone out and started taking photos of things āfor himselfā he said.
So then he took us out of the building and we walked along the streets for a couple of blocks listening to him talking about himself and when he was young. We have stayed in Harlem for our last three New York holidays and we could have given the other three tourists in our group a much more informed tour of the area.
By this time my heart had reached rock bottom. We had paid Ā£50 each for an informed guided tour of Harlem and a visit backstage to The Apollo Theatre which wasnāt going to happen.
At no point was it suggested that we could get our money back because part of the trip had been ācancelledā with no notice given and not even a reasonable explanation as to why it had been cancelled. The tour was supposed to last for three hours but after less than half an hour of trudging the back streets I suggested to my husband that we break off from the group and go our own way, which we did. I doubt weāll see our Ā£100 again. Total waste of our time and money.
When I told our host who we were staying with in Harlem about what had happened she said a similar thing had happened before with two of her guests, same tour and same āguideā.
After reading previous āone starā reviews on TripAdvisor I notice that Neal has a ready excuse for all of them. I expect heāll have one for my review too.
Response from Host
Nov 2018
Ny name is Neal Shoemaker and I was the guide for this tour, and firstly I apologize that the Apollo was not available for the scheduled tour, It happens sometimes that programming there prevents us from getting access. Upon arriving to meet the group I was a little rushed because I had just left the theater trying to get us in. I immediately apologized and asked all if they could come the next day, with all honesty I meant that offer, I never intentionally ignored anyone. I was trying to please both parties at the same time and truly feel that there was a misunderstanding. I always refund my guests when services are not fully rendered, but after walking only three streets, the guests left and I never had to opportunity to reschedule or make the refund happen. We usually have a great time on this tour, and I do wish to make it up to the guests in the future.