Tauck World Discovery

I will never use Tauck Tours again. I booked a land tour and was told it was fully refundable until final payment. When I had to cancel, I was informed I had to have purchased the protection when I booked in order to get my deposit back. That's just shady and unprofessional. I cancelled over 5 months prior to the tour.

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: The offer of $1,per person is an inadequate and insulting offer The trip cost me and my wife in excess of $65, The refund is less then 5% of the total coat of our trip Obviously, Tauck is aware of the promises it made and of the fact that they were not met, since they have dramatically changed the itinerary of the next trip That is fine for future travelers but does little to alleviate my problem I requested that my attorney contact Tauck to help resolve the issue, and Tauck did not even show the courtesy of reponding to him I understand that this is their modus operandi They must feel that the only response necessary is a cursory one and that they will not act unless sued I hope that the Revdex.com will show this indifference to Tauck's clientele in its reports Apparently, my only answer is to speak to some of the travellers on our trip and to bring a suit against Tauck Obviously they do not wish to come to any meaningful settlement unless forced to do so A very bad company with which to work
Sincerely,
*** ***

We just finished a week in Wyoming. Advertised as a hiking, biking etc. experience- we basically sat on a bus for a week. Our guide was horribly inappropriate when he referred to the Holocaust as ‘a drop in the bucket’ compared to the Native American situation. As a German Jew with 2 orthodox daughters- I was so upset I stayed in my room for 2 days and we left the tour early. Tauck offered 1k voucher for another tour, (this one cost 10k),and reimbursement for the day we missed. Since I do not plan to use them again, this is worth 0. I don’t care that the guide will face consequences which will probably make him more anti-Semitic. I plan to contact all of the Jewish agencies, etc.any help would be appreciated

Attention:
[redacted] Revdex.com
Re: ID
[redacted]
class="MsoNormal"> 
Thank you for
advising us of the complaint submitted about our business by [redacted].
 
Please know
we are very aware that there were some disappointments on the referenced
[redacted] and [redacted] tour.  We offered what we believed was very fair
and equitable compensation to all guests on that tour, including Mr. [redacted].
We were sorry
to hear that Mr. [redacted] was not satisfied with our generous resolve. We truly value him and his wife as patrons and will continue working towards a mutual resolution which would be satisfactory to all. 
Regards,
Tauck Guest Relations

Attention:
[redacted] Revdex.com
Re: ID
[redacted]
 
Thank you for
advising us of the complaint submitted about our business by [redacted].
 
Please know
we are very aware that there were some disappointments on the referenced
[redacted] and [redacted]...

tour.  We offered what we believed was very fair
and equitable compensation to all guests on that tour, including Mr. [redacted].
We were sorry
to hear that Mr. [redacted] was not satisfied with our generous resolve. We truly value him and his wife as patrons and will continue working towards a mutual resolution which would be satisfactory to all. Regards,Tauck Guest Relations

Review: 1. Accommodations:

Prior to the trip, [redacted] took pains to communicate via telephone conversations with your booking agent to achieve a mutual understanding of our expectations relative to the cabins abroad the [redacted] had a clear understanding that the room situation would be adjoining rooms for her and [redacted] with a bed in each room and a dividing door that could be pulled open or shut at any time but especially during sleep.

Even though we had been very specific about the setup of each room, we found that [redacted] room did not contain a bed when we arrived…..instead, both beds were in [redacted] room and a sofa and chair were in [redacted]. Unfortunately, the ship did not have staff to resolve the situation that evening, so [redacted] slept on a rock-hard sofa that was too short to accommodate her and did not allow much sleep that night. It was somewhat resolved on the second day by placing a short mattress on top of the rock-hard sofa but it was never what I would consider anywhere near what we had paid for.

Additionally, the actual rooms were not equipped with a sliding door between the two rooms as promised by your booking agent. This was a very important feature because one of the two of us snores and the other cannot enjoy a peaceful sleep. The ship staff told us that we could either have it closed or open all of the time but not have the option to open/close at will as we were promised. Given those two options, we chose to leave it open causing the other to have to listen to the snoring impacting her sleep.

2. Meals:

[redacted] also took great pains to ensure that her needs for a gluten-free entrees would be accommodated with your booking agent. He assured her that there would be a robust selection of gluten-free food and entrees. Sadly, that was about as far from the truth as you can be. All meals, in both restaurants, were limited in options for gluten-free food selections.

[redacted] asked the waiter on the first day, if there were any gluten-free entree options and he indicated they did have rolls but he knew of no other. [redacted] continued to ask waiters the same question for the first three days and received the same response….so, she quit asking. However, on the last night abroad, she again asked another waiter about gluten-free pasta and he said “but of course we have that”…….was she ever surprised! [redacted] finally ate gluten-free pasta from the pasta bar in the restaurant on level 2 that took a good about 45 minutes to arrive.

Furthermore, when [redacted] did find food that was acceptable to the special diet, it was mushy frozen fish that was horrible….no local fresh seafood. The scrambled eggs in the morning were watery and cold. The bacon looked as if it had been tossed on each side once and thrown into the tray to be served. [redacted] ate meager salads, brie cheese, walnuts, watermelon and French fries which literally constituted every one of the meals on the ship. Room service had zero gluten-free selections and were not accommodating in the least.

Ms. Polette could not find good meat dishes. All of the meat dishes were tough and grizzly. Even the hamburger which was ordered medium rare came out well done and was tasteless. She is not gluten-intolerant and had the same difficulty [redacted] did in finding tasty, quality food to consume.

Overall, the food was truly awful, more like what anyone would think of as sub-par cafeteria offering.

3. Ship’s Staff:

In general, the wait staff was snippy, rude and unhelpful even though we showed them nothing but politeness and good humor. It is not unreasonable for anyone such as myself and my traveling companion who paid more than $12,000 each to be treated with much more respect and deference; and not to be malnourished for 10 days.

4. Photographs Sold by [redacted]:

When we visited with the staff at the photography area, we were told if we purchased the CD for $45 we would have the pictures taken by the ship’s photographer including the pictures with the Captain and the various parties we attended. However, once we got home and reviewed the CD, we found that none of the requested personal pictures with the Captain nor the pictures from the hotel welcoming party were present. The CD contained generic pictures of the sites along the route and were very disappointing. So, we’re out $45 and don’t have the pictures we were promised. What customer service!

5. The Cruising:

Your promotional literature and pufferies drew a picture of cruising through breathtaking vistas. That may be but these vistas were mostly invisible except for 6:00am each morning. This is because the cruising took place in the dark of night.

Someone who is encouraged to upgrade for a balcony suite so they can view the scenic vistas and pays $12,000 deserves not to be deprived of that scenery. This fact was not shared with us while booking the trip or we would have chosen the ‘no balcony option’ and gone to the viewing deck each day. We saw little of the Dalmatian Coast the Adriatic until we docked in the early morning when we were both in our showers getting ready for our early morning departure. Your tour descriptions mention the cruising along the coast and with the strong implication that we would see it. Example, we could not verify with our own eyes your claim that the Coast is "dotted with ancient forts and castles".Desired Settlement: I am very hopeful that you will take a prompt and serious look at this egregious situation. I feel that we deserve a 50% refund of what we paid and were promised.

Review: November, 2013, I signed on to Taucks May, 2014, Spirt of the Desert Tour, small group of twenty-five people and small bus/van I needed the small group because of very poor hearing and discussed this with the Tauck reservation person. My first morning @ [redacted] before the evening start of the tour, I learn I am on a tour with forty-five 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 [redacted], ** to [redacted] 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.Desired Settlement: I would like my airfare reimbursed and refunded the $800 I was charged for fees and penalties. I want to be made whole. I did not pay for a tour of 45 people on a large noisy bus. Tauck makes reservations for most of their customers because they want to collect the commissions. In my case the Tauck reservations person did not want to deal with [redacted] reservations and instructed me to make my own reservations. Otherwise my air reservations would have been made by Tauck.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: There's no attachment anywhere.. please send the attachment in a readable form and restart my response time...

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Review: My wife and I took a trip to [redacted] and [redacted] with Tauck Tours. From start to finish it was a disaster. What was promised was not delivered. What was delivered was inferior to what had been advertised by the Company. The trip was so bad that Tauck voluntarily refunded $1,500 to each traveller because the trip did not meet "expectations". Unfortunately this was a tiny percentage of the cost of the trip, which was in excess of $30,000 per person.Desired Settlement: I would like an additional refund or at least a record of their poor performance so that future travellers will be warned

Business

Response:

Attention:

[redacted] Revdex.com

Re: ID

Thank you for

advising us of the complaint submitted about our business by [redacted].

Please know

we are very aware that there were some disappointments on the referenced

[redacted] and [redacted] tour. We offered what we believed was very fair

and equitable compensation to all guests on that tour, including Mr. [redacted].

We were sorry

to hear that Mr. [redacted] was not satisfied with our generous resolve. We truly value him and his wife as patrons and will continue working towards a mutual resolution which would be satisfactory to all. Regards,Tauck Guest Relations

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: The offer of $1,500 per person is an inadequate and insulting offer. The trip cost me and my wife in excess of $65,000. The refund is less then 5% of the total coat of our trip. Obviously, Tauck is aware of the promises it made and of the fact that they were not met, since they have dramatically changed the itinerary of the next trip. That is fine for future travelers but does little to alleviate my problem. I requested that my attorney contact Tauck to help resolve the issue, and Tauck did not even show the courtesy of reponding to him. I understand that this is their modus operandi. They must feel that the only response necessary is a cursory one and that they will not act unless sued. I hope that the Revdex.com will show this indifference to Tauck's clientele in its reports. Apparently, my only answer is to speak to some of the travellers on our trip and to bring a suit against Tauck. Obviously they do not wish to come to any meaningful settlement unless forced to do so. A very bad company with which to work.

Sincerely,

Review: I have contacted Tauck several times to stop sending catalogs, etc. to me. they have not stopped.Desired Settlement: I want no further contact by this business. NO mail, no email. And my data marked so I NEVER are contacted again.