I struggled with whether or not to leave this review but I feel like ultimately anyone signing up in the future should know.
I really appreciate that things are difficult all around during the pandemic. I would never want to make things harder for a small business or local business trying to survive. But I was very disappointed and left hanging after booking this tour. I drove in from DC, it took me two hours to get there and when I arrived I could not find the tour at the meeting place. When I checked online it said it had been canceled so I called the operator. I had checked the night before and had not received any notice of cancellation.
I initially called using the number listed in the email I had received. This took me to a strange answering machine in a foreign language. I then googled the company and found a different number where they did answer the phone. The lady I spoke to confirmed the tour had been canceled more than 24 hours before hand.
I absolutely did not get any notice of this. I actually had three other food tours in the DC area cancel during my trip but every single one of them provided adequate notice, or notice at all !!!
My anger is not that the tour was canceled but that it was handled extremely poorly by this company. I did not receive a text message, I phone call an email etc.
I certainly understand things are difficult right now with Covid. The lady on the phone said that the tour guide had been exposed to Covid and that’s why they had to cancel. That is 100% the right thing to do and I completely understand but all I wanted to know was that it was canceled before I drove two hours from DC for this tour.
The lady I spoke to insisted that she had canceled it through TripAdvisor, mind you I actually booked it through Viator. I never received any notice through either one of these platforms. I never received a direct text message email etc. or anything from this company. She said she had already processed the refund but I had not received an email saying that yet.
However, after I got off the phone with her I got an email for the refund within an hour. It’s very hard for me to believe that she had actually processed the refund the day before and had I not called I’m not sure what would’ve happened.
The company kept saying that it did notify me and tried to blame the platform that I booked it through. But again I have booked other tours through that platform and did receive emails no problem saying that other food tours had been canceled during this trip. It’s very hard for me to believe that the blame lies with someone else. I really think this company just failed and drop the ball to give me notice. And again, every other company also sent me a direct text message to notify me.
I think most people are working very hard to support small businesses and the food and restaurant industry during the pandemic. This is certainly my intention But I do think that this company needs to do a better job from a customer service standpoint. The responsibility to ensure that the customer is notified lies with them. And they should have followed up to make sure with a text etc. that I had adequate notice the tour has been canceled. When you’re on a trip you have a limited amount of time and schedule to ensure that you get to see all the things you want to on your trip. If I drive two hours for a food tour in Baltimore, that’s a waste of time energy and money.
That being said the lady did try to give me some food recommendations on the phone which I appreciated although quite frankly didn’t you know good because those restaurants did not have immediate availability for me to just walk in. Hence why I signed up for a food tour.
That being said, this area is absolutely beautiful and you should definitely visit. There are amazing restaurants and just an amazing atmosphere.
I would recommend triple checking your reservation especially if you’re driving from DC.