Viator
reviews and complaints

I went on the Baja California grand tour yesterday and it was managed appallingly. When we first got on the bus the tour guide told us he didn't want to be there and he had had a fight with his boss and almost quit. He told us it was his wife's birthday and that he needed to be with her. He explained that someone else would drive us back at the end of the day from the Mexican border. When asked by one of the customers if he would stay with us until we were safely picked up by another tour guide he said yes.
Throughout the day there was no commentary or any pointing out of major highlights or significant buildings. He simply dropped us at different destinations and told us when to be back at the bus. After our last stop he drove us to the border and gave one of the customers a phone number to ring to get someone to pick us up. This was completely inappropriate. He left us to cross the border by ourselves and then we were stranded on the US side of the border. There was no one to meet us. Eventually an Uber driver came and took some of us back to the Santa Fe station. It was so badly handled and unprofessional that I think I should get a full refund.

This was booked for 2nd September 2017 at the Pennsy - Pennsylvania Avenue New York - price £38.86. When we turned up at the venue there was no show - spoke to the Manager and he had never heard of the show and was very upset that Viator had sold tickets to a show which was not at his premises - this was the last night of our trip to New York and a very big disappointment.

I am contacting you regarding this booking for my Transfer from SFO Airport, when I arrived with my family after a 10+ hour flight we followed the instructions to access the transfer, found two very young men trying to take names/surnames of bookings and allocate the transfers. The two young men could not speak very good English and were not able to manage the situation, the Queue was exhaustive and as new customers came onto the list they lost track of who should be allocated transfers next. Some customers arriving were just allowed to access the next Transfer, we were apparently 4th on the list to be allocated but after a 55 minute wait were told we could be a further 1 hour wait!.

The young men could not spell our Surname they wrote down "Mallet" instead of Moore, we were wanting a Transfer to Beuna Visto Motel, 1599 Lombard Street, San Francisco but we all got too tired from waiting in the heat. It looked like we were not going to be able to access our Transfer so we ended up getting a Taxi to our reservation. I am therefore requesting a full refund of the Transfer Cost we have paid.

ALSO:
I have just returned from our holiday to San Francisco/Las Vegas and wish to complain regarding the very expensive Activity we booked for through yourselves. The Information advertised to entice us to purchase from you grossly mislead and did not fulfill the contract :

Firstly I would like to point out we did not get picked up from our Hotel, we had to walk to a nearby hotel.

Secondly We were told to be at the Pick Up point at 7am (which we were) BUT we did not get picked up until 9am!, We kept calling the Providers to be told various explanations.

Thirdly We were expecting a barbecue Lunch, this did not materialise.

I feel, the advertising is mis- leading and did not represent the package we actually experienced. Therefore I would appreciate an element of the fee we have paid.

Hi - we booked a 5 hour riding excursion including barbecue. The excursion lasted for a total of 3 hours and no food of any description was provided. We were taken back to our hotel, arriving at midday. The time when I am writing this email id 13:20, 40 minutes before the excursion was due to end. Can we please have a full refund because we were not given accurate imformation when we made the booking. John-Paul Waite.

We booked an airport transfer from Faro airport, Portugal to Albufeira. When booking I was asked to submit all my flight details including flight number and time of arrival. I had received booking confirmation from Viator and payments were taken from my account. On Tuesday 5th Sept, we arrived at Faro airport looking out for our pickup. Nothing. Decided to give them the benefit of the doubt as new tour operators were coming through the arrivals part. Still nothing. So I decided to call the operator: Destinos Curtos Agência de viagens Unipessoal Lda. [protected] to find out their whereabouts. I was really frustrated when a man answered the phone who didn't really know what was going on but said he hasn't received any bookings come through matching my booking ref or even that day and couldn't even send a car for at least 2 hours. I felt massively let down and wasn't exactly the best start to our holiday. After trying every other tour operator in the airport, who were all fully booked too, the only option was to get a private taxi at our own cost - having waited around for nearly an hour and very stressed as we're stranded in the airport. This wasn't cheap either so just added fuel to the fire and contact Viator immediately. Well there's no surprise to find out they have appalling customer service and am still waiting for a ressolution on the matter.
Best Regards,
Wayne.

Dear Customer Service,
I have recently been on holiday to Rome. We decided to take part in a 3hr ravioli and meatballs class during our visit, which we booked through your website.
Upon arrival at the destination, there were no instructions on our booking confirmation of where to go (as it was an apartment block), nor was there any name. We waited outside the apartment block for almost 30 minutes asking passersby and locals if they knew where we should be. No one could help.
I also rang your number listed on the website for further instruction. The operator was very unhelpful, she couldn't give us any more information than we already had, she couldn't get hold of the tour guide and to my disbelief, I had been on the phone to a US number the whole time. So not only could the operator not help, but I have been charged a hefty fine for calling your number whilst abroad. I think it's disgraceful that you don't list uk or European numbers for help when you clearly have tours/classes/workshops etc to book all over the world.
I am extremely disappointed in both the service received by your customer help team and that you could not provide alternative numbers to call. There is no mention on your website anywhere that this is a US number and could incur charges.
I expect to be reimbursed for the charges I have received(£18.26), as it was due to the lack of information given on the booking confirmation which made me have to make the call in the first place.
I look forward to hearing from you, regarding this matter.

Rosie Lines

On August 30, 2017 we had a problem with our tour today. My booking reference number is BR-[protected] and my Itinerary Number is [protected]. Today we were not able to go into the villa rufolo for free. Ouur tour guide mentioned to contact Viator directly for reimbursement and a refund as the tour information in our booking was misleading as it clearly stated that the garden was included in the price that we paid.

Regards

Richard

I would like to make a complaint about Reembolso Viator #BR-[protected] - Private Tour: Cajón del Maipo with Lunch and Wine from Santiago.

I paid for a tour with termal waters, but it was unavaliable at the time of my trip, so the agency asked if i would like to continue with the ride and they would reimburse me for the difference (it was a USD81.00).

They said in 7 business days I would see it in my credit card, but i got nothing. So i sent them an email and they said there was an error and they would do the procedure again and asked me to wait again for 7 business days.

Again, the deadline has passed and i got nothing in my credit card.

Very disappointing!

[protected]

^confirmation number

I ordered this ticket but had to cancel it since my bus changed times, I attempted to cancel within 30 minutes - I was told to refer to your cancellation policy. I understand your policy, it is very clear, but also I wish that you would understand when I cancel the order almost immediately. Thank you for your time!

Regards,
Daniel Christjansen

We booked the tour with the helicopter & Colorado river . This part of the tour was good bit left very little time to see other attractions.
We were the only two people on our tour doing the helicopter & therefore told by our driver not to go to the Ranch and to bring our lunch back and eat it on the bus.
We managed 2 minutes on the skywalk after the line we were in. Went to get lunch at Eagle Rock lookout & were handed a paper plate with another paper plate on top. Didnt even have time to look at lookout
Had to leave lunch as impossible to stand in bus with paper plates.
Not happy with the amount of money it cost us to have to miss half our tour & lunch.
Had 2nd tour in San Francisco which was very good.
Very disappointed with Canyon tour.
Thanking you
Anne Edwards

I request a refund for this service on the 21/08/2017 which was not provided and stranded us at the airport in the middle of the night.We booked it for 12.30AM and after waiting for an hour were told by the Grey Line company representative that the car was not ordered by Aviatior at all yet the payment of 195& has been taken from our credit card.
Mr.Chaim Feldman

This is a complaint regarding the non payment of services by Viator to a Viator registered supplier. Payments have been received regularly over the last couple of months, however last month there was payments made late, however they still came through. This month, the payments have not been received at all, we received our last payment on the 19th July for work completed second half of April and beginning of May. We were then to get payment around the 15th of August for work done in the second half of July and beginning of August, this has not been forthcoming. The total amount outstanding is ZAR 130 000.00 or +- US$ 10 000.00
Our client number is V1034225
Thw resolution would be to pay us for our services rendered to Viator INC

I'm the owner of Soweto Fun Tours and I have been having bookings from aviator but I can't reply or comunicate with clients but messages do come to me but when I try to log on aviator I can't so what is the problem because if clients book me and I can't help them I use to tell them to try someone buit if I could I always provide my services I'm based in Soweto, Johannesburg South Africa can this problem be solved please thank you

Itinerary # IT-[protected]

I made this booking for 3 Seniors "Lunch in the Cotswolds from London" for 18 August 2017, on April 6, 2017. I paid a total amount of $336.99, only to find out that the person sitting next to me on the bus paid UK Pounds 41 for a regular ticket, about $50, and I paid more than double that for a "senior" ticket. I then asked other travelers on the bus what they paid, and was shocked to find out that they paid between$50 and $60. I have taken several tours with Viator, and always thought that I was getting the best deal, but I am so disappointed that I have been paying much more for the same trips, and I have written glowing reviews about Viator, telling all my friends and readers to book with Viator, it's a damn shame.
Priscilla Prichard
New York USA

Hello,

A few days ago I booked a full day chernobyl tour with your company.
- I've selected my tour through your website
- I've payed the full ammount
- I got the confirmation by email

Today,
- when I got up at 05:30AM
- payed for 2 subway tickets

I got to the bus where my name wasn't on the list.
After waiting 50 minutes, the tour operator told me that my booking, which was confirmed by your company, was cancelled.

So due to a cancellation on the spot, I
- Lost money for travelling
- lost precious time while on holiday
- have not received a refund
- have lost the ability to go to the main attraction of my holiday

All of this has happened even though you offered this trip, let me pay for this trip, and confirmed that I could join this trip.
I am more than dissapointed that this happened to me.

My questions:
- when do I get my refund?
- what are you going to do about this?

Tour information:
lead traveller: Chani Nuij
travel date: wednesday august 16, 2017
Number of travellers: 3 adults

Supplier: Chernobyl tour
Booking Reference BR-[protected]

Joeri Schutte.

I have booked Flexi Attractions (5 places + Universal Studios) for my trip to Singapore. My ID NO is [protected].

The rate specified for these events are all in USD Dollars. However, the same is charged in SGD. So I have ended up paying higher amt. I feel it would have been better if I had booked the tickets not from the site of Viator.com. Instead I should have purchased it after going to Singapore.

The total cost came to USD 516.68. So when I convert it to USD @ Rs.69/- — it comes to Rs.35650/-. Instead of SGD where I would have paid @ 47/-... Rs.24839/-

It is not the correct approach of Viator and it means that Viator is looting its customers.

We have just completed the two day Santorini experience trip for which we request a refund due to non-delivery of the services you promised in your advertising, effectively spoiling our holidays in Santorini.

The reason we went through Viator because we have used services promoted through this network before and have been very satisfied with the services participants in this network provided in terms of holiday destination and experience. Viator prides itself on providing quality tourist activities, efficiency and meeting the customer's needs.

Never having been to Santorini before we looked for a trip that met the timeline and activities we wanted to do. When we read your advertisement for the two day Santorini trip we really liked it and therefore booked our tickets. Upon booking the trip, we received not a lot of detailed information on the arrangements but we trusted the reputation of Viator and assumed that your organization would provide this at the commencement of the trip. Alas, this did not happen and the actual arrangements you provided were in total contradiction with what you promised.

For example, the pick up nearly failed because you provided inaccurate details on the time we were supposed to meet. We also received no details on where we were staying, who was to pick us up and there was no helpful information relating to car, hire, taxi arrangements, bus schedule designed to assist us in achieving those wonderful outings you were advertising on the Viator website. Probably because the advertised activities were not feasible in the time we actually had.

Your advertisement says that we have two days in Santorini; in reality it is only one day if you are lucky enough to go by plane or speed ferry; but since we were going on the 8 hour ferry which only left at 7.30am that morning, there was no way we were able to get there at midday as stated. We didn't get there until 3.30pm in the afternoon. The pick up you were to organise did not come - the tourist office had to ring you TWICE to finally get someone to come and pick us up one hour later. 4.30pm to be exact. We were totally stressed as we did not know which hotel you had booked and totally reliant on your (obviously non-existent) organizational skills.

Effectively we had to sort out the arrangements YOU were responsible for; valuable time was wasted on was supposed to be a seamless arrangement.

After the pick up, the driver took us to the hotel which was half an hour drive away and in some isolated corner of the island. The accommodation you booked for us was so far away from any of the sights and attractions that if we wanted to go anywhere, we had to call a taxi, taking up lots of time and organisation on our part. The sights you promised us were totally unachievable due to the location of the hotel. The sunset you raved about in the advertisement was on the other side of the island and so we missed out in our dark little corner. In view of how short our stay was to be it would have been better for us to stay in Thira to allow better access to sights in such a short time. If no accommodation was available that met our requested standard, you could have contacted us to negotiate an alternative. That's called customer service; perhaps you should familiarise yourself with that concept.

The next day we did not get to do a lot due to restrictions on timings of tours and your ferry pick up which was scheduled at 2.40pm (surprisingly arrived on time but did not bother to assist with luggage). So did we have an experience of Santorini? Yes we did. A negative one.
Your lack of care and customer service provided us with a short and miserable time on the island. All you wanted was our money and were not interested in whether we would have a good time.

We noticed the review comments for the trip on Viator mentioned similar concerns which you clearly have not bothered to address as they are still happening. Hence our belief you have no intention of improving the quality of your services and hence our request for an immediate refund.

Our request for reimbursement was rejected without an apology for leaving us stranded in Santorini. The lack of customer service is just totally acceptable. Why are you promoting such a low quality tour. I will never book through Viator again.

Booking ref: BR-[protected]
Name: Josh Critchley
Date of trip: 10.08.17

Hello I am just writing to make a complaint about the Dubrovnik - Montenegro trip that myself and my partner attended today.

The trip was going as planned until at approx 10:30AM the driver hit a pedestrian which led to a 3 hour wait at the side of the road. This was obviously very shocking and upsetting to us all.

This then had a knock on effect on the timings of the promised visits. Each visit was cut short and then felt incredibly rushed. We really wanted to walk along the old city walls in Kotor but weren't able due to the short time we had to explore and because we were so tired and hungry from the long travelling time.

Finally we didn't return home until after 11PM - 3 hours later than promised forcing us to miss dinner reservations in what was our last night in Dubrovnik.

Despite all this I would like to say that our tour guide Ana was professional and helpful.

I was wondering if we could be compensated in anyway for this disappointment?

Regards

Josh Critchley

We booked a PREPAID tour to Robben Island (Cape Town, South Africa) through Viator (BR58932574 for 10/3/16), believing it was a credible company due to its affiliation with Trip Advisor. A guide was purportedly scheduled to pick us up at the hotel and begin the tour. No one showed up; when we called Viator or its local "office" no one knew anything about it; we took at cab to the main ticketing office for the Robben Island tour--no one was there and the official ticketing office could not help us. We had traveled from Seattle, WA to go to Robben Island--we tried to get tickets from the main office--SOLD OUT for the week. I finally reached someone at Viator--after a 15 minute run around--and was simply told that the Viator tour had been "cancelled." Viator had my telephone number and my email address. This was incredibly disappointing and egregious. WORST TOUR COMPANY EVER--STAY AWAY.

Viator VIP: Early Access to Alcatraz and Exclusive Cable Car Sightseeing Tour
Janet Samson & Gisela Apeldoorn
Supplier product code: 1000010
Supplier Option Code 495
Supplier Conformation No: 1008630
Booking Reference: BR-[protected]
Supplier: Hornblower Classic Cable Cars
Tour on 3rd August 2017
Complaint reguarding substandard tour.
Main Concerns:
Not told about breakfast so the guests didn't get to eat the promised food Taken on an unscheduled tour of China Town and Union Square
Arrived at the Ferry Terminal with less than five minutes before ferry departed.
Lined up for our tickets to get on board the ferry.
Given tickets but were told when we got to the dock that we had missed the first ferry to Alcatraz.
We were then informed that if there was enough space on the 9:10 we would board but there was a possibility we would be on the 3rd ferry.
We did get on the second ferry but only because we pleaded with the ferry company personal to allow us priority boarding on the second ferry.
Reduced time on Alcatraz, only had time for one audio tour
Told we had to be on the 10:55 ferry or we would miss the cable car tour.
Back to Alcatraz dock at 10:40 as instructed
Unscheduled stop for lunch (30 minutes)
Extended stop at Palace of Fine Art Theatre
Unscheduled stop at Spy Shop
Arrived back to Taylor St early at 13:45.
We were very upset and disappointed we weren't VIP's and feft we weren't given the tour we paid for.
I spoke to Tara along with some of the other quests.
She apologised and phoned David Fischer Manager who has pre approved a refund.
We were also told it was the tour guide's first VIP tour.
At no point did we blame him for the poor service.
The Hornblower company should have better quality control of the tour guide's duties and scripts.
We also don't lay blame with Viator but we're informed by Tara we had to go through Viator to commence the complaint process.

Other issues:
Poor sound system, very difficult to hear tour guide Charles
Trash spilt out of the bin on board the bus and blew over guest as we crossed on the return trip from the Golden Gate Bridge

We are expecting a full refund as we didn't have the advertised tour and felt like Very Unimportant People

Thanking for considering our request.

Look forward to hearing from you

Many thanks

Janet Samson & Gisela Apeldoorn

Email: janet.[protected]@hotmail.com
Email: [protected]@gmail.com