LONG REVIEW BUT IMPORTANT WARNING!!! We booked this group tour for the specific itinerary that was listed on this site. The night before the tour, we were contacted by two different people (Vince and Kentucky) about the pick up details for the tour. On the day of the tour, the driver turned out to be a different person (Solomon). Also, instead of being picked up in a tour bus with other tourists, we were picked up in a car that seemed to be the driver's own personal car, and there were no other tourists. The driver (Solomon) smelled terrible and seemed possibly even homeless. He told us that we had been "upgraded" to a private tour and showed us his "manifesto", which turned out to be almost entirely different from the itinerary that was advertised. It all felt very sketchy and like it could possibly be a bait-and-switch scam! We felt very uncomfortable and unsafe, so we asked the the driver to take us back to our hotel (we had barely left the hotel area by this point). So, he turned the car around and dropped us off at our hotel. We asked him about a refund. He phoned a fourth person (Reginald) in front of us about the issue and said someone else (not himself) from the tour company would call us later. They never called us. Instead we received texts (including pictures of the driver) from the driver (Solomon) that were very rude, insulting, inappropriate, unpleasant, and unprofessional! This whole experience almost ruined the rest of our vacation! We reached out to TripAdvisor/Viator to get a refund, but the tour company refused to give us a refund, and TripAdvisor/Viator did not offer any other refund options. We will never use TripAdvisor/Viator again! THIS REVIEW IS MEANT TO BE A WARNING THAT WE TRULY BELIEVE THIS TOUR COMPANY IS VERY SKETCHY AND MOST LIKELY A SCAM!!!
Ответ от хоста
Nov 2022
1 Epic Tour happens to be the #17 out of 359 companies on the Island of Oahu on this Tripadviser platform.
Every legal Tour company on this Island is Licensed and Insured and goes through a rigorous amount of sweat and tears to be in business in Hawaii. I have prided this company to be the best at all times.
I am the owner and I personally tried to reach out to you several times to inform you that I was out on a Family Emergency and I had someone coordinating for me as well as you were the only 2 bookings of the day. I was not going to send a 25 passenger bus to take the two of you around the Island. This company will not cancel due to the low number of guests booked per day ever.
I have never not given anyone a refund back for any reason. You will be the very first. If you would have contacted me the owner and gave your side of the story I am certain I would have initiated a refund for you. I only have the drivers side and he stated that you asked to start the tour at the Iolani palace and he agreed. He notified you that you were responsible for the fee's to enter. He said at the point the wife of the couple stated that is not what it said when she booked as she compared this tour to other tours. He pulled up the website and showed the two of you where it states all guests are required to.pay for all your activities including lunch.
That is when the complaint about not being on a bus and with other passengers. I personally asked for you not to be refunded as I still paid the driver as you decided not to ride in a 6 passenger vehicle that was provided for you. Any driver that is sent by 1 Epic is professional and capable of conducting a tour of the Island. Soloman is a local polynesian driver with tons of knowledge. In this case all you had to do was contact the owner. Which you have not attempted to do not one time.
This company is ran on Faith and my belief is and will be that if you do not take this tour you do not pay. If you insult someone and you cancel after the driver has arrived and start complaining about the vehicle that has been provided for you then at that moment the responsibility falls on you.
Refund Denied!
You are one of maybe 3 Bad Revoews out of 100's of sastified customers. If you would of given my driver a chance this would have turned out differently.
Have a Blessed day as this comapny will continue to be Blessed and Prosper.
Sincerely,
Captain Vince
"Owner"