Honestly I am very disappointed by this whole experience and will not only not book with Viator ever again, but I will post in every executive assistant blog I am a part of warning others not to book (in addition to telling all my friends, family, and colleagues).
I booked a Washington DC nighttime monument tour for my group of 11 (I am an EA and book social activities for my executive team frequently). Our reservation was for 8pm; we arrived at 8:12pm due to some road closures in DC because of an upcoming music festival (to note, I did try to call but couldn't get anyone on the phone). My group SAW the tour guides and then witnessed the tour guides driving away as we pulled up in our Uber (tried to shout to them but they didn't hear). I then attempted to call the local number again and couldn't get anyone on the phone. I found a second number and called that (it was the general line). I did get someone on the phone who told me I should call the local number (yes, I had already tried that twice). I explained to her that we saw the guides departing and could they just loop around and pick us up and we would be totally content with a shorter tour. Apparently this wasn't possible...I have no idea why since I had PRE-PAID for the tour @ $85/pp (so around $900 total for an 8-10p ET tour). It was 8:25p by this point so still 1 hour, 35 mins until the end of the tour.
Once I realized the guides wouldn't come back, I asked for a refund. I was told I would be contacted by email. I received a short and terse email back to which I responded. Then I received this email:
"Hi Alison,
Thank you for your patience as we reviewed your refund request. While we understand that you were unhappy with your experience, the tour was provided as advertised in the tour description.
Their tour guide waited until 8:14 PM.
Unfortunately, we are unable to offer a refund for this booking. We have noted your concerns, however this decision is final. No further consideration will be given to this request."
Excuse me? What HORRIBLE customer service. This makes me feel like this whole company is very shady. I PAID FOR TIME and we didn't receive anything other than they had "noted my concerns". This is very unprofessional in my opinion and up there with the "customer service" at Xfinity. I feel like I was scammed.