This tour company needs to get its story straight and UPDATE all its information on the websites it uses (its own website, viators, etc) so it accurately reflects the tour. THEY ALSO NEED TO STOP BOOKING tours with WASHINGTON MONUMENT ADMISSION once they have no tickets left for it!!! Long story short, for our out of state visit for our college bound nephew (a one time chance to do this) we did not get into the Washington Monument which was to be the highlight of our visit!!!!!
I booked this tour to take my nephew up the Washington Monument. We travelled 4 hours out of state to DC and this was to be the highlight of the trip. He is going to college next fall and I wasn't going to get another opportunity to take him. Since I could not get the regular 1.00 tickets through the park service I booked this tour figuring that a guided tour of the rest of the monuments would be a nice addition. I was only half right.
First, Viator sent us info that said to be at the meeting spot at 10am. The TOUR COMPANY NEEDS to correct this with Viator. Everyone who booked directly with the
tour company was told 9:30AM. We were also told to look for a DC signature tours sign. When we exited the metro at the Archives stop at 10am we found ourselves on a very large square with other tour groups but no signs. When we walked the 400 yards to the large intersection we saw a white DC Signature bus across the street. We had to get to a cross walk down the road, wait to cross a lot of busy lanes of traffic, and then walk back down to the bus. As we were doing so we passed another tour bus, black and orange that had DC Trails written on it. It was also pulled over. No signs around it or people. We walked up to the white DC Trails bus and saw the door open and a man there and expected to get on the bus only to be told that the tour was leaving only to watch the black bus behind us pull out. IF we had been told WHAT bus to look for and IF there had been a sign for DC Signature at that bus we wouldnt have walked by it but waited at its door to be let on. POOR COMMUNICATION all around!!
Next we were chastised by the man at the white bus for being there late that even if the meeting time was 10 why were we there at 10:10 (really 10:05). Well we were there at 10AM but couldnt find the SIGN they said would be there. And why are you chastising your customers? Bad business. Three other people also walked up then because they had also been told 10am but couldnt find parking. I dont recommend trying to park. Take the metro! So all of us waited for this guy to decide if he could take us to join the tour. He did finally take us but we missed most of the first stop at the Capitol building. Usually tour companies will wait when they are missing 5 people who have not checked in. They may even call the number on that persons reservation. Especially when you pay that much money. They did not. They left at about 10:07.
BTW, when I found out the black bus was the one it was at the stoplight 200 yards from us. I walked frantically toward it and waved but they didnt stop.
So we did finally get on the bus. The tour stops are not exactly as outlined in the description. I will say once we were on the bus the tour was great. Our tour guide Tyrone is one of the best. He also agreed the info on the websites and in the emails sent out needs to be updated (AND HE HAS MENTIONED THIS TO MANAGEMENT). Listen to your star employees please. They are your direct contact with your customers.
So we got on the bus at the first stop: The Capitol and then drove through DC and got a good narrated tour from Tyrone. Never did see Kennedy Center as the description mentioned. Next we stopped at the White House. Then the WWII memorial where he also pointed out the bathrooms (thank you!). Our next stop was at the FDR 4 rooms monument. Tyrone really knew his stuff here. We walked from here to the MLK monument. A longer but not too bad a walk and Im old and stiff. From here we boarded the bus and was taken a short drive down to the Korean War Memorial.
Our guide Tyrone explained then that we would start at this memorial, then cross the street for a short walk down to the Lincoln memorial, then a short walk to the Vietnam memorial where Morning Tour people would end their tour and Full days would get back on the bus to be taken to Georgetown.
What!?!? Okay, where was the Washington Monument stop? This is where I fully expected to get on after this stop and be AT LEAST taken to the Washington Monument by the bus. We were a good 10 to 15 minute walk from it. I expected the bus to take us and to be handed our tickets where we would self tour the monument. The description sure makes it sound that way!!
Okay, so we have to walk. But what about our tickets? I asked Tyrone and he said "The guy checking you in didn't give you yours?". Nope. So he calls and after some back and forth the tour management guy says he can get us tickets for TOMORROW. WHAT? HUH? But we booked this tour for today. This is our last day in DC. We had to leave that Sunday afternoon. We booked this tour well in advance. WHY WERE WASHINGTON MONUMENT TICKETS NOT HELD FOR US??????? Its the only reason I booked this tour!!! FALSE ADVERTISEMENT and POOR PLANNING on the part of the tour company. THEY SHOULD ONLY SELL THE NUMBER OF TICKETS THEY HAVE!!!
So we were left there at the Vietnam Memorial with no tickets for the one thing I had promised my nephew we would do. And with his schedule and college coming up no chance for us to come back to DC to do this. It is heart breaking to me.
The only thing good I can say is our tour guide Tyrone was great and both of us did enjoy the parts of the tour we did do. BUT TOUR MANAGEMENT STINKS. GET your act together on your communication and reservations or lose customers like me. You have great guides and part of your tour is well planned but you need to fix the rest!!!
Réponse de l'hôte
Apr 2023
Thank you for taking the tour with us and really sorry for any inconvenience we tray to please everyone and we know that we can’t .the only thing we can do that continue serving people .
Your tour was on the busiest day in the year and it’s true like you said you arrive at 10:10 that was after all the buses lift but we did take you to one of the buses to make you happy and about the tickets for the Washington monument was close since April 6 for Maintnsnce and impact the tickets
And we understand your are not happy again sorry about that. And hopefully Next time you can join us again with better experience