My husband and I scheduled a trolley wine tour of Sonoma Vineyards. We immediately realized it was not as advertised on their website. There was NO historian on board, our driver was rude and unhelpful throughout our day. The driver, and that is ALL he was, gave us a bit of what seemed mandatory grape growing information and allowed us a five minute walk through an historic site. Self-guided of course. Was that the history portion?? I could have walked through that alone at a more reasonable pace. He never opened a door or helped anyone off the trolley. My husband and I took that responsibility upon ourselves. When we arrived at wineries, our driver quickly walked into the tasting rooms, sometimes not waiting for his guests, left us at the tasting area, and IMMEDIATELY disappeared. At the end of the day, our trolley RAN OUT OF GAS at a countryside vineyard. The driver called his headquarters. No one offered to come get us. Our driver told us to go ahead and call for a ride! WHAT!!???? . . . There is a company in Sonoma that gave us an outstanding winery tour. THIS IS NOT THE ONE!! This company has promised to reimburse half the cost of our tour, but that doesn't really makeup for an unreasonably frustrating day Sonoma.
Réponse de l'hôte
Jul 2016
Thank you for your review of your recent experience on the Sonoma Valley Wine Trolley.On this particular trolley experience, the wineries provide an excellent overview of their operation. For example, at Ravenswood the wine instructors take you out to the vineyard and hopefully fill you with pertinent grape growing information and then having an excellent tasting experience highlighting their renowned Zins. At California's oldest operating winery, Buena Vista, the guests are given a tour and a very experiential tasting; and then on to a gourmet picnic lunch outside. Both Imagery and Mayo are very laid back smallish wineries that emphasize great wine in a relaxed atmosphere. Our driver did give you a short walking tour of the historic part of Sonoma that, if you didn't see it, most people on the trolley wouldn't know to see. Further, our driver needs to alert the wineries that our guests are here and then needs to return to the trolley because, unlike other vehicles, the trolley is open-air and is not lockable, and we'd like to maintain a vigil over your personal belongings and subsequent wine purchases. Yes, our vintage trolley did have a mechanical problem and fortunately it was near the end of the tour. Rather than have the group wait 45-60 minutes for a replacement vehicle, our driver did call a local service to take the individuals in different groups safely to Sonoma, a ten minute ride vs. over a 60 minute wait in the warm afternoon sun after a day of tasting some of Sonoma's best wines. By the time we assessed the mechanical difficulties, repair shops or parts houses were closed and finding parts for a vintage trolley on any day can be a challenge. We do apologize for the trolley's mechanical breakdown and since there was only 10-20 minutes left in the 6-1/2 hour tour, a 50% refund was offered and accepted by each party as well as reimbursement for the local passenger delivery service. Again, we apologize to you that your overall trolley experience wasn't up to your expectations. We did not completely succeed in our goal and accept that responsibility.