My expectations for the So-Cal Sidecar tour were very high, and I’m disappointed to say that they were not met on my tour. At the end of the day, all that SoCal Side Car offers is a pretty cool mode of transportation to a handful of Temecula’s wineries. That’s it. I expected a bit more of an inside tour of wine country with a knowledge and wine-passionate tour guide who’d spend the afternoon with my partner and I - we didn’t get that. In fact, our driver referred to our tour as a “leapfrog” situation, meaning he was running two private tours at the same time, dropped us off at vineyard, then went to pickup another couple at the previous one to bring them to the next and then come back to get us. Basically, what was billed as a private tour was not. This became even more concerning for us given that it was during COVID and was clear that they didn’t sanitize the vehicle or helmets between guests. Also, the guide didn’t wear a mask, which was concerning. When our guide did drop us off to the vineyards, he left us to figure out anything about the wine and vineyard on our own. Eventually, we found out that our guide was 19 years old — not old enough to drink wine, let alone be a credible source of information for us on the vineyards he took us to. The icing on the cake was that at the second to last stop, our guide met up with a group of his friends there and spent the time socializing with his friends, which caused him to loose track of time and ultimately we made it to our last stop after the vineyard closed, making us loose out on the third tasting.
While the Sidecar vehicle is cool, the price is definitely not justified for this Temecula wine tour, at least not for the guide that we got. They don’t even bring you to the best vineyards and it seems that they’ve recently been banned from a few vineyards in the area, actually. One of the vineyards we went to (Bella Vista) was rundown and hadn't been a common destination for wine tourists for decades.
While I had very high expectations of this tour, in retrospect, I’d recommend you finding another tour company, or just visiting the vineyards in Temecula on your own until SoCal Side Tours get the kinks worked out in their tour program and up-levels their guides.
Response from Host
Oct 2020
Hi Cory,
Thank you for your feedback. We take our customer service very seriously and always strive to improve on every aspect of our company.
With that being said, we want to apologize for your lackluster experience during your tour. While our drivers are assigned to specific tours, they don't stay with our guests for the entire duration of every tour as it doesn't align with our business model. We do, however, understand where you're coming from and want to be completely transparent with the service our company provides. We strive to create fun, immersive experiences and hope to make each visit memorable for our customers.
We've made note of your concerns and will clearly communicate the proper behavior that should be conducted by our staff. Thank you for your time and we hope to reaffirm your faith in us as a top-notch tour business.
Sincerely,
Socal Sidecars