This tour company is a scam! I've traveled to more than 90 countries and this is BY FAR the worst tour experience I've ever had. I booked this tour for my family on their NY visit and I wish I hadn't - the amount of time, money, and stress this has caused me is insane. Long story short, this tour ditched my family in DC and took their bags, and then completely ghosted us, super irresponsible.
The tour dropped off my mom and my grandma at US Capitol at 11:50am. The guide told my mom (and my mom double checked with her separately) that they will spend an hour there. Mind you, they say the tour is bilingual but they pay way more attention to the Spanish speaking customers and doesn't put as much effort in English communication.
My grandma is almost 90 years old and has a hard time walking. Thus, as soon as she got off the bus, she just sat there and did not move a step while my mom was taking photos. She was at the meeting point the whole time. The guide came to her after 10 minutes, told her that they will come back and left with the tour, never came back.
If the tour was planning to leave without them, they should have AT LEAST given my grandma her bags from the bus. They were sitting on the front row right next to the guide, so there was no way she could have missed it. Since she didn't give my grandma anything and just left, my grandma just sat there thinking that the bus will come back within an hour. My mom returned at 12:10pm to check if everything was okay, the bus wasn't there, and she waited until 1:30pm believing that the bus will return after an hour. They didn't get to see Philly, and their whole day was ruined.
The guide did not provide her phone number for emergency contact so we couldn't figure out what was going on. I tried calling the tour operator ALL DAY but nobody picked up, so I had to arrange their way back to NYC separately. I also did not receive ANY replies from them after leaving multiple voice messages and emails.
When I finally got connected to the tour company the next day, the agent said she will check with the guide and bus company about the refund and bag pickup, AND NEVER CALLED BACK. Whenever I tried calling again, she said she will find out soon, but she never even bothered to reach back out and instead rejected the refund claim via Viator. This lack of communication is unacceptable when they literally abandoned their customers and stole the property. They just ghost you. I had to try calling bus company myself (and they also didn't pick up the phone all day!!!) and getting the stuff back was almost impossible.
If the guide's intention was to leave my parents in DC, she clearly took off without returning their stuff from the bus, which is stealing property. There was also no seat belts on the bus, and the front seat hardly had a barrier - my mom felt unsafe multiple times on the ride. I would never, ever, recommend this tour to any of my friends in NY.
Réponse de l'hôte
Aug 2022
Dear Amig@ Sky_L
We are very sorry to hear that this experience was not 5 stars. Investigating your case, we have verified the GPS evidence of our guide who checks your movements and itinerary compliance. According to this, our guide fulfilled his itinerary as it should be, so if the guide took the decision to move without the complete passengers it was because the clients did not arrive at the appointed time, and out of respect for the time of the other clients who did comply with the indications, we had to leave. We also have records of trying to contact them but the call did not seem to go through. We are sorry for this situation.
Dulce, Amigo Tours