Anderson Coach & Tour

Review: Part of a conversaion I had with [redacted] at Andersons'. I would love to provide the full conversation; However, your complaint space will not allow this. RE: Your comments are valued! I truly am sorry that you are so disappointed. I do apologize on behalf of my entire organization.I regret always to loose any client. I wish you only the best. Sincerely,[redacted] Vice President Anderson Coach & Travel [redacted], Being there before and knowing the tour, I guess I assumed even with the shut down there was going to be more of Gettysburg to take in and explore. I guess I gave Anderson the benefit of the doubt that since we were still going, that was going to happen. I guess I should of called and cancelled. I thought that since Anderson did not cancel that we were going to get a full tour anyway. We were not told until we were on the bus for a couple of hours that, that was not going to happen. Therefore, I feel taken advantage of for not getting the chance to cancel what I feel was a total waist of the money I spent to give my son an experience he did not get. But I guess shame on me for not calling and asking, and assuming since in Gettysburg there are no gates to close or lock down that we were going to be fine. I can not even begin to explain the sick feeling I got when they did tell us on the bus that we were not getting the assumed tour. I know that the book did not mention free time, but I did ask if there would be and [redacted] said, "yes". Maybe she was mistaken. Dear [redacted], I am truly sorry that you see it this way. I saw no value in defending what occurred. As noted, I do see your point of view and wanted you to know that we are truly giving all of your comments value for the future. I am not sure what it is you are looking for from me/us. (ran out of space for the rest)Desired Settlement: I am requesting at least a 1/2 refund of my trip plus my trip insurance cost. I feel we should have been given the opportunity to cancel our trip if we felt it was not worth going on. I feel taken advantage of by not telling us we would not get a full tour until we were already on the bus for a while. Guess there is no turning back now, is how I felt. I feel like once we were on the bus we did not have the chance to cancel anymore; which exhausted our refund opportunity. Very unprofessional.

Business

Response:

We are in receipt of the complaint from Mrs. [redacted], who with her son [redacted] was a guest on our recent Gettysburg & Apple Fest Tour in Gettysburg, Pa. on October 4 -5, 2013. Having been in business since 1937, we recognize that travel is not a perfect art, but we are proud to say that we serve with integrity and we try very hard to deliver the product that we advertise. For your information, please find our full copy of this tour (Exhibit A) from our January book. We produce 5 other tour books throughout the year arid in these books we ha’ce bulleted the highlights of the tour (Exhibit B). This trip was last represented in our ? 5th tour catalog. As you may easily see this is not a full history trip as the lovely National Apple Harvest Festival is not historical but we have successfully operated this tour yearly as our clients have enjoyed this nice autumn festival. Please note that at no time in any of our marketing do we indicate that there will be~~Urne in Gettysburg. On a 2 day trip, there is limited time and we make operational decisions as to what we will offer and then this is advertised appropriately for our client to know and understand what they are purchasing. In all business ?????? — client relationships, there is some ownership as to responsibility that needs to come from the client as well as the business. As you will see from the e-mails that occurred from Mrs. [redacted], she nicely critiqued our tour on each item that was important to her (See E-Mail Page D). We always appreciate our guest’s point of view as it allows us to learn and grow and improve for the future. This is what I said to Mrs. [redacted], in my first e-mail response to her. This tour was out of our control with the closing of the Gettysburg Battlefield thanks to our politicians. Our operations put together a very comprehensive historic tour with our local hired guide on the many historic and significant sights that surround the Battleground. We received not one complaint from any other of our 46 travelers on this tour. Mrs. [redacted] is the only one. When she wrote her e-mail as you can see from my response, I thanked her (See E-Mail Page C) and apologized that she was not happy. I saw no reason to waste her time and mine with comments that would only be disputed by her and gain neither of us anything. I was trying to certainly salvage the client relationship. As you can see (E-Mail Page B), my apology was not enough for her. She then responded on 10/15 (E-Mail Page B) to infer that I did not care enough to discuss why we chose the Round Barn, why we selected our dinner stop, how the day did not allow for the pooi to be open for her son to swim etc. etc. So, then as you will see in (E-Mail Page A highlighted) I said, I am not sure what it is you are looking for from me/us.

Consumer

Response:

I would like the chance to respond to the letter that was sent to you by [redacted], Vice President of? ? Anderson Coach and Travel. I also thank you for the privilege in doing so. First I would like to say I am not trying to question the integrity of the business or of Mrs. [redacted]. However, I am questioning the morality of my experience on this particular tour. Having been in business for 76 years does account for something, and I am hoping that she comes to realize that this is not a personal attach towards the business or her, but more of a, “what is really right here”. I do agree with all of her points; however, I feel she has no heartfelt understanding in what I was trying to do for my son. I am a little confused with exhibit B. I am not sure if she was stating that the tour date was changed, or outlining a typo. We did go on the tour from October 4-5. Mrs. [redacted] did state to me there was no mention of free time. I did mention to her that I asked Pam, my travel planner if there would be some free time because it was not mentioned in the tour book, so I thought I would ask when I called, she said yes. I believe this was a misunderstanding for both of us. I do take ownership in my responsibility. I did ask questions. If a call was made to me, I would have cancelled because I knew what my goal here was for my son. If the tour guides told me upon my arrival in Sharon that there was a chance the tour was going to be modified, I defiantly would have saved my money. When questions were asked, and there were several not from me, we were told that we would be informed later. Then, like I said, we were on the bus quite a while before being told about the modifications. Question? What was I suppose to do then, ask the driver to turn around and take us home? It was too late. On our way to dinner, several passengers asked questions, and we were told we would get the answers on our way back from dinner. I do believe no one else has complained; however, I did hear some, and I was sitting with people at dinner complaining that I never even said a word to, I was just listening. I also witnessed several people complaining while waiting for the bus to come back to the Apple Festival who I never said a word to as well. I do believe however, that [redacted] (my son) was a real highlight of their trip; everyone just loved having him there. I also understand that their complaints are not my own, and I cannot speak for them. My comments on what I felt the tour should be, and what it really was, was not to complain because I cannot read or research. The comments were separate form my complaints and were just suggestions. Below is part of the email correspondence that I feel most bothers me: Being there before and knowing the tour, I guess I assumed even with the shut down there was going to be more of Gettysburg to take in and explore. I guess I gave Anderson the benefit of the doubt that since we were still going, that was going to happen. I guess I should have called and cancelled. I thought that since Anderson did not cancel that we were going to get a full tour anyway. We were not told until we were on the bus for a couple of hours that, that was not going to happen. Therefore, I feel taken advantage offer not getting the chance to cancel what I feel was a total waist of the money I spent to give my son an experience he did not get. But I guess shame on me for not calling and asking, and assuming since in Gettysburg there are no gates to close or lock down that we were going to be fine. I cannot even begin to explain the sick feeling I got when they did tell us on the bus that we were not getting the assumed tour. I know that the book did not mention free time, but I did ask if there would be and Pam said, “yes”. Maybe she was mistaken. I have also attached the Welcome Aboard flyer sent in the mail. Let’s call it exhibit E. Why even make mention of the pool, fitness center, or nearby restaurants if we were getting no free time. So shame on me for assuming we were going to get to use the pool, and feeling guilty knowing my son wanted to use it. I, by no means was referring to Mrs. [redacted] not caring about the stops, and I am very hurt by her pool comment because my son was excited. I know she said she was not sure what it is I was looking for. Well truthfully, I was looking for morals and wanted to give her the chance to try and do something to make it right without having to sound like my complaint was immature, that I had no grounds to stand on, and simply just demand a refund. I really wanted to know that Anderson was the type of company that truly did care that I was taking a 10 year old boy on an adventure, and that they cared about that. I went to Gettysburg last year without him. He was really bummed out I did not take him. When looking through my tour book I stumbled upon the trip, I thought, “perfect”. I can take him, just him and I. Yes, I was very upset with how it turned out, so I pulled out all my receipts from last year, my driving money, hotel, spending money, all the sights and museums’ I went to, and then I noticed I only spent $100.00 dollars more doing it on my own with one other person, and I was just so upset, and I do feel like it was money wasted because now I have to take him back to get a better experience. Yes, yes, I would have loved to have the chance to cancel and use that money towards a better experience. Last, Mrs. [redacted]’s email comment about “seeing no value in defending what occurred,” bothered me the most. Anderson gave me no indication before we left that plans were changing. I felt that comment was also said out of anger towards my comments, and lacking a lot of morality towards my real concerns and again to what I was expressing I was trying to do for my son. I feel taken advantage of that by the time I knew what we were really getting; it was too late to turn back. Thank you for insinuating that I was not smart enough to do my reading or research the trip. The truth is; I was not smart enough when I assumed Anderson would let me know prior to leaving that plans had changed, and not smart enough by giving you that benefit of doubt. [redacted] I thank you for your time in this matter. Very truly yours, [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

Good Afternoon [redacted]

Per our conversation, this email is to inform you that ID9764510, between myself and Anderson Coach & Travel has been resolved.

Have a great holiday,