TravelingMom3693
Jan 2020
I took a walking tour with my 10-year-old son in July and had a less-than-positive experience. Our guide was Brian, and although he was very nice and kind, he was clearly new and inexperienced. His microphone stopped working at the very beginning of the drive to the Grand Canyon. Rather than trying to compensate, he just didn't give us any information about the sights along the way or do anything to make the tour feel more personalized. While on the hike (which was beautiful), he lacked basic information about the canyon and had to ask a park ranger about some of our questions (like why the layers were different colors). He willingly took photos, but they were just the, "smile and say cheese" variety. There were other less serious concerns, but basically, I felt I paid a lot of money to merely be chauffeured to and from the Grand Canyon and have someone to follow along a hike. We didn't experience any of the, "above and beyond" experiences promised on the website.
The company asked for feedback after the tour, and I mentioned that I had several complaints. The owner. Darryl, quickly responded, offered a refund (without me requesting one), and asked me to call him, but he then was unable to return my calls for various reasons. I sent a detailed email listing all of the positives and negatives about my experiences once I returned home, and he returned my email describing what the company is doing to ensure the problems don't happen again on future tours. He also again said he would refund my money but was having trouble processing it due to some problems with PayPal. It's been almost exactly six months, and I haven't received my refund. He also is no longer responding to any of my calls or emails about the issue (which have only been sent once a month).
It's difficult for me to believe all of the positive reviews about this company. I strongly recommend saving your money and using it to rent a car and drive yourself or taking a cheaper tour offered by another agency. Please also note how Darryl has responded to negative reviews (including my own) with personal attacks on other sites.