Nowak Tours Inc.

I am rejecting this response because:Brian Thank you for responding to my complaint through Revdex.comI appreciated your replying to all of my phone calls. I have read your responses to all of our concernsMy greatest complaint is that we were LIED to by Wendy at our meetingI believe that you were either lied to or were not given all of the information. I had asked for a face to face meeting so that we could discuss the issuesYou only said that the committee was making decisionsWho was on the committee? We never authorized anyone to represent usListed below are examples of liesHad we been allowed to attend the meeting, all of the FACTS would have been open for discussion. LIE #We were told at the meeting, by Wendy, that our Yellowstone reservations at the lodge were canceled because the lodge could get three times the money from photographers and journalists who were there for the eclipse When, in fact, reservations were never made and Yellowstone said that they would NEVER cancel a reservationNow you are telling us that it was an oversight during the transition from TBI and Nowak toursThe biggest problem is that we were told that the National park canceled our reservations and that was never the caseLIE #Our question: “ One day we were on the bus for eight hours” Your answer: “The group was notified at the meeting that this was going to be the case because of changes that had to that had to be made to the itineraryWe offered alternatives to reduce the amount of time spent on the bus, but the group voted to leave it as it was.” There were no alternatives offered and a vote was never takenIt was too bad that you were not at the meeting, because someone has given you a lot of incorrect informationLIE#We did NOT go on the Yellow Safari as you indicatedHow could you allow a motor coach driver make major changes to our itinerary? Multiple times you used the the eclipse as the culpritDid you not know that there was going to be an eclipse? Had your representative done their job, they could have delayed the trip a week or twoThese are just excuses for someone not doing their job, You purchased TBI and all all of their scheduled toursYou should have immediately verified all accommodationsIf that had been done, we would not be having this discussionYour original offer of $250.00/person toward a future trip was an indication that you did not fully understand the gravity of the errorsYou mentioned that some of the issues "were out of your control"I repeat, had all accommodations schedule by TBI been verified, you would not have had to make that statementYou were "in control" the day you purchased TBISomeone lied to us, and did not do their job, and we were the victims. *** *** ***

This is a letter that my wife sent to Brian Nowak at Nowak ToursHe originally offered $250/person credit on a future tripAfter future discussions he sent us a check for $500/eaThe cost of the trip was approximatel $2,000/personWe truly feel that we were mislead and lied to and that the trip should have been cancelled or allowed us to opt out with a full refundThe $check per person is much too low for this unforgiveable experienceWe have asked for a FULL refund, but are willing to negotiate
Yellowstone National Park Tour August 22-August
I would like to say that at our meeting of August 3, 2017, or preferrably before, we should have been given the option of cancelling our reservations because of all the changes that had to be made Personally, I think that Nowak Tours should have cancelled this trip This is not the trip which was advertised, it is not the trip we signed up for, and is not the trip we paid for
My husband and I were on a waitin

I would like to address the items that you included in your most recent communication. Below are your statements and my explanation for each of them. While some of them are the same answers that you received the first time you brought the issues up, I felt I should still explain them again. “we were lied to by Wendy at our meeting”: I certainly apologize that you feel this way. While you can certainly make the argument that she did not choose all of her words properly, I do not feel that at any point Wendy intentionally lied to you or tried to mislead you. Some of her statements were exactly what we were told by vendors, but they should have been rephrased in a way that gave a clearer picture of the situation“I asked for a face to face meeting so that we could discuss the issuesYou only said that the committee was making decisions.”: I said we were not making any final decisions on compensation until we meet with the committeeThe committee discussed the trip with a number of travelers and then requested to meet with us. I did not feel it was appropriate for us to invite others to the meeting. However, Wendy and I will gladly have a face to face meeting with you. I actually think that it would be much more productive for all of us. “Who was on the committee? We never authorized anyone to represent us.”: The ILR organization has a committee for the organization as a whole, as well as a travel committee. I do not have any knowledge of how the organization chooses members of these committees, but I do know that they have been around for a number of years now. The meeting that you are referring to was with members of both the ILR committee and the travel committee. The individuals that we met with were Gene R***, Bob R***, and Judy D***“We were told at the meeting, by Wendy, that our Yellowstone reservations at the lodge were canceled because the lodge could get three times the money from photographers and journalists who were there for the eclipseWhen in fact the reservations were never made and Yellowstone said that they would NEVER cancel a reservation.”: I’m including portions of my previous response and elaborating on them in hopes that it will provide a clearer picture of the situation The underlined items are from my previous response“The reservation process for the lodge was started at TBI Tours just before TBI Tours was purchased by Nowak ToursHowever, the proper paperwork required to complete the reservation was never submitted due to oversight during the transition of TBI Tours being purchased by Nowak Tours.”: The reservation request was submitted to the lodging companyThe lodging company replied to the request with a quoteThe quote was not signed and returned to the lodging company. As a result, the lodging company did not reserve the rooms for us. As I stated in our previous response, we accept full responsibility for this issue. “By the time we noticed this and tried to submit the necessary paperwork, there was no longer availability for the group because of the eclipseThis should not have happened and we accept full responsibility for this issue.”: When it was discovered that there was not a contract for the lodge on file, or a copy of the signed quote, we immediately contacted the lodging company to verify the details of the reservation. At this time we were informed that they did not have record of the signed quote, so they did not reserve the rooms. The individual went on to explain that they certainly would not have made any exceptions in this case because they could get two to three times more for the rooms from people coming to see the eclipse. We inquired about availability and they explained that they were completely booked because of the eclipseThe explanation that was given at the meeting was a summary of what was told to us by the vendor. Was it worded poorly? I’m not going to disagree that she could have explained it better, but I think our years in business and track record are proof that we don’t make statements with the intention of misleading our customers “There were no alternatives offered and a vote was never taken.”: Alternatives were absolutely offered. The group was given three options at the meeting. Keep the chuck wagon dinner show and get back to the hotel around midnight, do a dinner in Jackson Hole at a different venue so you could eat earlier and get back to the hotel earlier, or go back to the Yellowstone area after the activities in Jackson and have a dinner at a local restaurant These options were given to the group, during the meeting. After explaining the options, Wendy asked if everyone still wanted to do the chuck wagon show and there was nothing but heads nodding yes, and voices saying yesNot one person at the meeting objected to this decision, nor did anyone approach Wendy after the meeting about this decision“We did not go on a Yellowstone Safari as indicated.”: As I stated in the previous letter, the Yellowstone Safari was the full day guided tour of Yellowstone, and you did in fact do itEveryone that was on the trip did the tour. It was an eight hour guided tour in which you drove through different areas of Yellowstone to observe numerous sites, as well as the local wildlife in their natural habitat “How could you allow a motor coach driver make major changes to our itinerary?”: As I stated in the previous letter, because of the high volume of visitors, the motor coach driver did not believe that he would be able to get the group to Jackson Hole on time by way of the scenic route through Yellowstone Park, which we were absolutely supposed to do. We often times defer to the driver in situations like this, because they have considerably more miles under their belts in these scenarios. However, in this situation Cindy felt there was ample time but the driver still decided to take the alternate route, which is one of the reasons that you received a $per person refund in cash. “Multiple times you used the eclipse as the culpritDid you not know that there was going to be an eclipse?”: Yes, we were aware that there was going to be an eclipse, but at the time that this trip was planned we were not aware that the area that we were visiting would be one of the premier spots in the country to observe the eclipse. Also, at the time that we made the initial reservations, none of our vendors made any mention that the area was expecting a considerably higher volume of visitors because of the eclipse. We have acknowledged that there were some issues with the trip, and some of those issues were our faultWith that being said, I feel that returning 25% of the trip cost to each and every traveler was more than fairIn addition to the fact that the refund was cash, not the industry standard of credit toward future travel. Again, if you have additional concerns we are certainly willing to meet with you face to face to further discuss the situation

To Whom It May Concern, We appreciate the concerns expressed to us regarding the August 22-28, 2017 IRL trip to Yellowstone National Park.  I apologize for any inconvenience that occurred.  There were certainly a few aspects of the trip that did not go according to our expectations, and...

some of those aspects were absolutely our fault.  I do not feel that the trip met the high standards that we have for Nowak Tours trips, which is why we felt that it was necessary to provide compensation to all of the people that attended the trip. However, some of the issues were completely out of our control.  I feel that the following explanation will show that the 25% refund ($500 per person) that we issued was more than adequate. This is not just our opinion, but also the opinion of many members of the group, as well as the ILR Travel Committee. Some members of the group didn’t understand why we gave them a refund because they enjoyed the trip and didn’t feel that the issues were anything that were within our control. I also communicated multiple times with Mr. [redacted].  The last time I called him was to inform him that he and his wife would each be receiving $500 refunds.  Mr. [redacted] thanked me for all the time I had spent following up with him about the situation, and always listening to his concerns and he could not have been nicer.  So you can understand my surprise when that conversation was followed by a complaint to the Revdex.com.  Please take a moment to review the explanations of your concerns listed below.    “The Snake Bite Restaurant was not able to accommodate our entire group” – The Snake Bite Restaurant does not take reservations.  We have always used this restaurant in the past and have never had an issue.  They were busier than usual because the opportunity to view the eclipse brought a high volume of visitors to the area.   “For many, their accommodations at the Roadway Inn in Idaho Falls, were less than satisfactory, and our escort, Cindy, and our driver Greg, had to unload bags and get them to the rooms.” – We had stayed at this hotel a number of times over the years, during which time it changed from the Red Lion to the Roadway Inn.  We never had issues with this hotel in the past while it was the Red Lion nor the Roadway Inn.  In fact, we had a group at the hotel just last year and there were no issues.  This year we did experience issues with a couple of the rooms, and these issues were quickly addressed by having those rooms switched out.  There was also a baggage handling issue.  The hotel employees that were supposed to be handling the baggage did not show up that night.  As a result our company Tour Manager and the motor coach driver took care of baggage handling. This was certainly an inconvenience for our Tour Manager and the driver, but in no way was the group affected. Unfortunately things like this do happen and are out of our control, but we do feel that our Tour Manager did an excellent job of managing the situation and making sure that the group was not at all inconvenienced.   “We were supposed to be in Yellowstone for three days. We were there for 5 hours.” – There were some adjustments made to the original itinerary that reduced the anticipated amount of time spent in Yellowstone, but the group spent significantly more time there than five hours.  The Yellowstone Safari / Tour alone was eight hours.  Here is a complete summary of the time in Yellowstone. Day 1: The original itinerary had you in Yellowstone for seven and a half hours, and per the revised itinerary the group was there for five and a half hours.  Day 2: Both the original and revised itineraries had you in Yellowstone for a full day Yellowstone Safari (tour), and that was what you received. The tour was from 9:00am – 5:00pm. Day 3: The original itinerary had you spending the morning on your own in Yellowstone (no scheduled activities) and departing at noon. Per the revised itinerary the group departed Yellowstone at 9:00am.   “Our entire stay at Old Faithful was forty minutes” – Old Faithful is one of many stops on the full day Yellowstone Safari (tour).  There are no set amounts of time to be spent at any of the stops on the tour.  Naturally, if you spend too much time at one stop it will cut into time at other stops.  On previous trips we have spent anywhere from 30 – 50 minutes at Old Faithful, so this was right in line.   “We were supposed to be lodged in the park, were not.” – The original itinerary had the group staying at a lodge in Yellowstone Park, and the revised itinerary had the group at a hotel just outside of the park gates.  The reservation process for the lodge was started at TBI Tours just before TBI Tours was purchased by Nowak Tours.  However, the proper paperwork required to complete the reservation was never submitted due to oversight during the transition of TBI Tours being purchased by Nowak Tours.  By the time we noticed this and tried to submit the necessary paperwork, there was no longer availability for the group because of the eclipse. This should not have happened and we accept full responsibility for this issue.   “We were unable to eat at the Old Faithful Lodge” – This was the result of not staying at one of the lodges inside the park, which was our fault as explained in the paragraph above. There are limited reservations available for groups that are staying off property.  Per the revised itinerary, the group had dinner at the Big Sky Lodge.    “We did not see Jenny Lake, Lamar Valley, or take a Yellowstone Safari as promised.” – The group did in fact get the Yellowstone Safari. It was the full day tour (9:00am – 5:00pm) of Yellowstone that was referenced above.  However, the group did not get to see Jenny Lake or Lamar Valley, which was unfortunate.  Because of the high volume of visitors that the eclipse brought to the area, the motor coach driver did not believe that he would be able to get the group to Jackson Hole on time by way of the scenic route through Yellowstone Park, which we were absolutely supposed to do.  As a result, he chose to take the quicker route on the outside of the park, which bypassed Jenny Lake and Lamar Valley.  Unfortunately this was a judgement call made by the motor coach driver, and while we don’t agree with the decision, it was something that was beyond our control.  We have reached out to the motor coach company and discussed our frustration with the driver’s decision.   “We were supposed to be lodged in Jackson Hole for two nights, we were not.” – This is true and was partially because of a change that was made in a reservation at the Tabernacle Choir. We needed to have the group in Salt Lake City earlier than originally anticipated so they could see the live performance of the Tabernacle choir.  Also, we do not like to check in and out of hotels any more than necessary, so we opted to keep the group in Yellowstone for an extra night.  While the group did not lodge in Jackson Hole either nights, they did not miss any of the scheduled activities.   “One day we were on the bus for eight hours” – The group was notified at the meeting that this was going to be the case because of changes that had to be made to the itinerary.  We offered alternatives to reduce the amount of time spent on the bus, but the group voted to leave it as it was.   “We were supposed to see a rehearsal, not the live broadcast, of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.” – On the original itinerary, we had this as a rehearsal.  Taking the advice of an area travel professional, we adjusted the itinerary so the group could see the live performance rather than just the rehearsal.  This change was met with a great deal of praise by just about everyone in the group.   “the trip should have been cancelled or allowed us to opt out with a full refund.” – Not only do we have an extremely flexible cancellation policy, but all of the changes to the trip were discussed at the meeting and not one person asked about cancelling.  We would never let a trip go if we didn’t expect it to run smoothly.   For more than 20 years it has been the foundation of Nowak Tours to provide an exceptional travel experience for everyone.  We never want to mislead anyone and strive to provide the best experience p[redacted]ible.  We have reached out to those ILR members who participated in the trip to Yellowstone Park asking them to accept our apology for the events that took place on their tour.  As I mentioned previously, we also issued a 25% refund to every individual that was on the trip ($500 per person), which we feel was more than reasonable.   Yours in Travel,     Brian Nowak, President Nowak Tours