I've done more than 10 tours via Viator, and this is the first and only bad experience I've had so far.
Most tour companies understand that visitors from overseas might not have a US number or may face language barriers, so they provide clear instructions.
Let's start with the meeting point and time instructions:
In the meeting point photo, you can see it shows 7:20 AM as the meeting time, but that's wrong because the actual meeting time is 7 AM.
As you can see in the other photo, my pickup was confirmed for 7:00 AM - 7:15 AM. They also asked me to be at the location by 7 AM. To me, this means "Please don't be late, we'll wait for you until 7:15 AM."
I contacted the tour guide at 7:03 AM. No response, no answer.
I got to the meeting point 4 minutes earlier than the time I mentioned in my text message. So, I was there at 7:08 AM. Guess what? They weren't there.
Now both the tour company and Viator won't accept my refund request because they believe they told me to be there by 7 AM.
So hope you do not go through the same thing I have gone
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Aug 2024
It's unfortunate that you chose to leave a 1-star review because Viator did not approve your refund request after you missed your tour. On that same day, we had 15 other guests who received the same confirmation details you did and were able to arrive at their designated location on time. Our office took all the necessary steps to ensure you wouldn't miss your tour, but unfortunately, it still happened. This was not due to any oversight by our staff or tour guide. We make every effort to send written confirmations, reminder messages the day before, and text messages the morning of our Mountain Tours. We also ask that each guest contacts us before their tour date to confirm the final pick-up time and location. We wish you well in your future touring with Viator.