I booked this tour for my son and his girlfriend, who accompanied me on a work trip to Austin. I booked this tour along with several other tours. We had no issues with the tours the other two days. But this one has proven to be a nightmare.
The morning of the tour, we received a call from a someone claiming to be a representative of the company saying the tour was canceled due to the record heatwave and other rider cancellations (they were told they would be the only two on the tour so they had a choice to get a full refund or go just the two of them - they chose a full refund), so believing the trip was canceled, they ended up staying at the hotel with me instead.
However, the refund never materialized, so I called to follow up. Devin (not sure if that is the spelling) answered the phone and said that the ticket holders were a no-show and that we would not receive a refund. When we explained the situation he refused to believe that we had received a call so we provided the number the call came from. Unfortunately, it turned out to be some other business (after he called we also called to verify this). Instead of being apologetic that there had been a mixup and providing a refund or a compromise, he accused me of attempting to defraud the them!
There are several issues/red flags with this particular experience that make me wonder if they are, in actuality, the true scammers.
First, the provider was immediately belligerent and even rudely hung up on me after I provided the phone number where the call came from. He called back after checking the number, but simply proceeded to accuse me of lying and attempting to secure a refund under false pretense. Second, he was strangely unconcerned or uninterested in investigating the call we had received… but the only reason anyone would have had our contact phone number in Austin would be because I provided it in the booking for the tour! If they did not cancel the booking, then this security breach is quite alarming! I am concerned about the lack of security for customer information!
This is all very suspicious. I don’t know if this company has some disgruntled former employee or the tour provider themselves are scammers, but buyer BEWARE
I filed a complaint with my credit card company, but even if I don’t get my money back, I don’t really care at this point. (I’m sure they will be even less likely to do the right thing, given that I am sharing what happened here). I just want to make sure that others don’t have this terrible experience.
Having a mixup or a disgruntled employee is hard for a company to control, and it happens. But accusing customers of being liars IS in their control and is inexcusable and offensive. Consumers should be aware that if there is an issue, they won’t address it but instead treat you as if you are a criminal! I hope this review helps others avoid ruining their Austin trip! There are many other providers of e-bike tours. I would go with another company just in case.