Travelconsolidator.com review: Bad travel agent

I am writing to let every know of my supreme disappointment and hot displeasure at how our tour to Israel was handled by Tim Lange of The Inter-National Travel Connection, Ltd.

When I signed up and paid for this tour, I did so based on the itinerary that had been prepared by Isaac Levy. To which I understand it was shared with and agreed upon by everyone involved in putting this tour together. That is travel agent Tim Lange and Phillip the tour guide in Israel. When we signed up and gave our deposit, the cost of the tour started going up. If memory serves I gave our deposit when the tour was $3200 and by the time things were said and done, the price had edged to $3700 per person. We gave our deposit and were committed to going, so we had no choice but to pay the difference.

We took the trip with understanding of what to expect based on the itinerary only to find out that the itinerary had been changed and turned upside down without our consent or approval. The hotels kept changing, the places to visit were changed, even the bus drivers and buses were changed four times.

Our guide showed no respect to Isaac Levy who planned and was leading this trip and to the planed itinerary. The guide had the audacity to keep talking to Isaac about what kind of tip the group was going to give at the end of the trip. He would not put Isaac in touch with the ground manager or anyone else to try and resolve the issues at hand. Our guide did not even go with us into Jordan as was previously agreed. We ended up with another guide on a smaller bus and this guide did nothing but fish for tips for himself and the bus driver. Even coming back to Isaac and letting him know we did not tip enough. Further we had no clue who our guide would be till the moment we met him at the border. What kind of nonsense is that?

There were sites we were to visit that were supposed to be paid for in advance but were not, Philip kept saying that he is shelling money out of his pocket to pay for entering into some of the parks such as Mt. Tabor, Mt. of Beatitudes, the underwater museum/aquarium, etc. Our stay in the Eilat was a total waste of time and expense as there was nothing of Biblical relevance in the context of our trip. That aside, our visit to the underwater museum was supposed to be included, but Philip demanded $30 per person. By then our patience was short after the long ride into and out of Jordan. The hotel we stayed at was terrible with the noise going late into the night and morning. There was teenagers playing indoor soccer and there was loud music that could be heard and felt not allowing any of us to sleep all night. Our trip also was cut short by one night in Tel-Aviv leaving us no place to shower or cleanup thanks to the way Tim planned it out.

Adding salt to the wound is the fact that our travel coordinator copped an attitude from the first phone call about these issues to finally just not talking to Isaac. The guide had total control of what he wanted to do with no regard to us, to the itinerary, or to Isaac the person who brought us to Israel. At best I would say those involved in putting this trip together for Isaac Levy are incompetent and unprofessional. At worst I would say they are thieves pocketing as much profit as they could get away with at our expense. The price was too high for the bad service and the torment we have endured. I made a demand through Isaac for a refund that was not acknowledged by Tim Lange or his company. In fact he did not even call me or my wife to apologize let alone any of the other travelers in our group. I am out my time and my first impressions of what was to be considered a trip of a lifetime; the changing itinerary and hotels was a constant distraction that was robbing us of what should have been nothing short of awesome.

I will never use Tim Lange or his colleagues at The Inter-National Travel Connection, Ltd. Who planned and coordinated this tour in the future for any of my travels needs.