Problem w/ Tauck
November, 2013, I signed on to Tauck’s May, 2014, Spirt of the Desert Tour, small group of twenty-five people … I needed the small group because of poor hearing and discussed this with the Tauck reservation person. My first morning at start of the tour I learn I am on a tour with 45 people on a large noisy bus. Immediately I contact Tauck. They kept saying there was no such tour and I was wrong… I did find a ride out of the mountains of Moab, UT to Salt Lake City and came home. Tauck eventually refunded about 80% of my tour and refunded no airfare. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOUR RESERVATION IS PLACED. I more than double checked on my reservations. The reservations clerk accidentally clicked on the wrong box is all I can figure out. I lost thousands of dollars and in the seventy hours I was gone from home traveled almost 6700 miles.
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Comments
Did you book directly with Tauck, a TA, or with on online company? The websites of many online companies really mimic the Tauck site, but are not Tauck.
Did you check the documents included with the "Confirmation of your Tauck Reservation" email Tauck sent you the same day you booked your trip? Near the very top of the "Summary of Purchase" (PDF) attached to the email, just below "Journey Ends," should have been this statement:
"Itinerary Exception: You have booked a small group departure averaging 26 guests."
It has been on the Summary of Purchase for all three of the Tauck small group departures I have taken or am scheduled to take. The same info is also included under "Additional Info" on the "Summary of Purchase" page of the booklet you should have received in the mail 60 days prior to the trip.
Though a small consolation, Tauck small group departures often travel on the same size buses as regular departures and may be just as noisy if you have a happy, outgoing, communicative group.
I do make my own airline reservations because I typically use miles and can't do that with Tauck. I double, triple, quadruple check those reservations, and more. My biggest fear is to make a reservation error in either the tour or flights and any extra hotels I might make on my own. In fact, I am leaving on Thursday for two back-to-back trips and am still checking reservations and putting together paperwork to make sure everything is correct. It doesn't mean I can't make a mistake, but it certainly helps to cut down the chances.
Add to that the suggestions that AlanS made about checking your itineraries (and they send many of them to your travel agent and to you) especially the first one and the booklet, you might have missed that this is not a small group tour. I've only had two problems on Tauck tours and they took care of them IMMEDIATELY, or at least their vendors did. On one of them I wrote to Dan Mahan and explained the problem but he didn't answer me in a timely fashion (it was their annual company meetings and I figure it got lost in shuffle). I wrote him again, copying Peter Tauck, and I had an answer in 30 minutes. They resolved the issue in favor of my request both times. Mine weren't as serious as I think yours is, but it was serious enough to have the top administrators make it work.
I have no idea if you have contacted either of these men, but think you should before putting this in a community post. Hopefully, you used the "chain of command" before going public. Once you do that (and you may have already done that) then going "public" is appropriate. Since you didn't say that you contacted the main office, other than a supervisor, I assume you didn't. Correct me if I am wrong, please.
I am willing to bet that the Tauck Tim and Emily are working on this as we speak (write). Hopefully, if you have been wronged they will correct the problem. Otherwise, it is on you to make sure you check all of the information you ask for and the Tauck responses to your travel agent and you. I would amass all the information/evidence I have that supports my case and email or snail mail them to the top administrators.
Best wishes....Happy Trails.
I can't find in me to have any sympathy for someone who took until they joined the tour to find out it was not what they had ordered. I can only guess that the OP was not fully informed by their TA. I simply can't see how this was Tauck's fault and the OP should be pleased that Tauck refunded monies to them at all.
Rod
It seems to me that Tauck have been very fair to you in this instance although it is unfortunate that you have been upset by your experience. I have to say that one of Tauck's strengths is absolute traveller care from point of booking to end of trip so long as you work with them - not against.
Richard
Hello SandyAlaska,
Our apologies you didn’t understand the group size for this journey. We also received direct feedback that you expected that this was a women only tour. While that sounds interesting, we unfortunately have never offered that type of tour. And finally, we were truly sorry you chose to leave the tour on Day 2, we would have loved to have shown you this beautiful part of the country.
Best,
Emily
I agree with others on this Forum. Tauck treated you far better than you deserve. Time to grow up...Leo M