TUI excursion $400 not as advertised - COMPENSATION Denied

ggloria007

We are have trouble claiming Compensation from TUI.

Over the xmas we went to Costa Rica and booked 2 day local excursion ($400 per person) and paid $800 in advance with TUI rep Sergio at Guanacaste hotel. This tour was sold to us as perfect tour to spend a night in rainforest, which was far from it. The hotel was nearby the main road and you could easily hear the big trucks. The next day we visited the rainforest national part Monte Verde. The only one guide was provided for 36 tourists. When walking in the forest this is not good as most of us didn’t hear the guide. I complained to TUI with comprehensive letter, with insertion from google map, brochure, out receipts etc. to make the team aware of misleading customers as what we bought didn’t respond to what we got.
TUI after travel in UK acknowledged our complaint but did not address all complaints and was pretty opinionated and offered only £50 per person. This is very little and sort of an offence to us.

I copy-paste his reply and our original pdf (don’t know how to attach to this thread). It will be good if somebody could tell us if it is worth of pursuing this further and how. In the meantime we have found other people’s complaints on the same tour over the years (on some other webs such as trip advisor etc online)
Many thanks.

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Dear Sergio,
Further to our conversation yesterday here is our official complaint and request for a refund/compensation. The complaint is about the itinerary, misleading information about overnight accommodation, night walk and the large size of the group (36 people) which had only one tour guide.

We left Guanacaste at 715 on Thursday 19 Dec 2019 for Two Day Tour "Rainforest Explorer". We arrived at Tabacon’s Hot Springs spring after a drive that took almost 4 hours. At 12 o’clock (noon)
we had lunch and time to enjoy the hot springs until 3pm. Three hours is not enough time to have lunch, change, enjoy all the hot springs have to offer, dry yourself and change back again. It is always advisable to refrain from taking a bath immediately after eating - because of health reasons. Hence the timing and order of itinerary did not work at all. Due to the rush many of us did not have time to dry hair properly and ended up with wet hair freezing on the airconditioned bus. Very unpleasant.

Our main disappointment was with the overnight accommodation. We were sold the tour and overnight accommodation as waking up in the middle of the rainforest. This was far from the case. TilaJary was nearby main road and there was no opening up to the rainforest. It was like a suburbia. One could hear big trucks passing.

TilaJary is just off the main road and not in the rainforest. Please see pics showing the location of the TilaJary just off the main road. You can see that Google map does not indicate green patches which are well known symbol for the forest.

According to the google map TilaJary was in the opposite direction to the lake. Leaving Tabacos springs around 3 pm and arriving at TilaJary at 4:45 meant that we spent a further 1.5h unnecessary
drive as it was in a "wrong" direction. We were driving towards town of La Fortuna and further to TilaJary which felt it was becoming more urban and less about rainforest nature. This is was not Rainforest Explorer as advertised in Tui brochure. This is the main international road number 4 Corredor Noratlantico. Connecting North of Costa Rica and Nicaragua with the Caribbean parts of Cost Rica.

Corredor Norantlantico is a part of the main infrastructure and heavy traffic in Costa Rica This road is also catering for major demand and circulation between each and west of the country.
(Please see link attached) http://www.lanamme.ucr.ac.cr/sitio-nuevo/images/noticias/CorredorNorte-Caribe-componente-tecnico.pdf

When we arrived, we were told to be ready in 30minutes for the night walk. Back on the coach again this time going back towards La Fortuna. The Night walk was just off the main road! After the night walk, we were back again on the same road driving for another 30min to the TilaJari - away from the lake. These extra journeys would have not been necessary if the location of the overnight accommodation as well as the location for the night walk had been more careful thought out. We were whizzing on that unattractive segment of our trip around 2.5 hours. Logistically it makes no sense to choose this overnight accommodation nor does it fit for what we were led to believe about staying overnight and waking up in the rainforest!

Unattractive La Fortuna Road

Next day around the lake and on the way to nearby MonteVerde we saw many various accommodation and night walks which were in the rainforest and which would fit better what was advertised by Tui. We understand that there was a power cut at TilaJary which was unforeseen. This is not subject of our complaint. However, this unfortunate choice of accommodation meant that we ended up going back towards La Fortuna for the third time that evening. The alternative accommodation - Arenal Paraiso Resort was even worse in terms of what we were told to expect. Besides that, the food was not good quality and the meat was barely edible.

The Monteverde Sky walk was nice (mainly because we got a chance to walk and no longer sat on the bus. However, we didn’t learn much from Carlos (tour guide), He did his best under difficult
circumstances - the group of 36 people was much too large for a walk of this nature. There should have been 2 more guides - one guide per 12 people. The path was narrow which meant that a group was stretched over a long distance, it was evident that people at the front were seeing animals, but by the time we got there either it was gone or we had no idea what we were meant to be looking at. As a result, we saw a snake and nothing else - which is extremely disappointed. We felt rushed to keep up with the people at the front - it was more of a hike than a chance to take our time and see the wildlife we might explore and discover.

We booked this tour and paid $800 ($400 each of us) a large sum based on the presentation given by you Sergio and Tui brochure. We based our decision on the Welcome presentation and what we
bought did not match up to what we were promised and then sold. Based on this we are making this complain and request for the refund. In summary:
1. Disappointing overnight accommodation - Tui mislead us, we were told "you will wake up deep in the rainforest" when actually we were just off the main road.
2. The same applies for the night walk
3. No enough time at the hot springs which meant we enter the hotspring immediately after the lunch which is not advisable on health grounds
3. Skywalk tour was a big disappointment - far to large group (one tour guide for 36 people)
4. We opted for two-day overnight tour in order to cut down on coach travel. At no time were Tiu transparent with coach time. Given the choice of overnight accommodation only added time spent on the coach making everything seemed more rushed.
We attach the map showing the routes and how the overnight accommodation added to our journey time. In addition please find enclosed the photo of our receipt and TUI advertising material.
As the Tui welcome pack advises, we made Carlos (our tour guide on this excursion) aware of our dissatisfaction on the evening of 19th December. He kindly agreed with our views over the
accommodation and advised that he is going to write a report to Tui. The Next morning after the trip (21Dec) we approach you, Sergio, and you acknowledged receipt of our complaint report. You kindly advised that you will talk with your boss and come back to us by email. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive email from you so the next day we came to see you to further enquire about the outcome.

This is when we were told by you that your boss suggested that there is nothing Tui can do for us. Tui protocol for the complaints in the welcome pack suggests we raise any issue with our Tui
representative within the resort which would than "empower you to resolve the issues before we go home”. We have done this
verbally and the outcome was not to our satisfaction. The welcome pack also notes that if the Tui staff at the resort cannot resolve the issue then you would need to record this and send back to the UK to look into the case. This we have now also done.

We have therefore made every effort "whilst on the excursion, immediately after and then again to follow up on our compliant". We expect you to look properly. We would prefer to resolve this before we leave Costa Rica.

Looking forward to hearing from you
regards

Attached:
1. Receipt, Photophopy of the TUI brochure,
2. Information handed over in the resort
3. Exctracts from the google map showing the routes
4. Extracts from the goodgle map showing the location of the eovernight accomodation (demonstrating is it not is the rainforest but nearby main road)
5. Pictures of the unattracive journey

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TUI REPLY
Dear Sirs,

I was sorry to read of your experience on the excursion on your last holiday to Costa Rica. I have looked into these issues and here are the results of my investigation.


The time taken to get to Arenal, I believe, was explained to them at the time of purchase as it always takes around 3.5 hrs to get to Arenal plus time for stopping if they spot any wildlife.

Regarding going in hot springs after eating,hot springs are not for swimming they are for relaxation. The amount of time at the hot springs is a preferred option as some people think this is too much time. With the hotel for the overnight stay, this is a very suitable hotel for the purpose needed. This day there was an issue regarding electricity so we had to move the party to a different hotel at very short notice. This was totally out of our control and also the control of the Hotel. On the second day, this amount of guests our guides are more than capable to take numbers of 36 people. As for seeing wildlife on the second day in Monteverde, wildlife is wildlife and no-one can be guaranteed to see wildlife when walking through the cloud forest. The most we could give a refund for is 50gbp per person (100gbp) due to the issue with the hotel on this day.

If you would like to accept this offer please reply to this email
confirming your postal address and I will organise this for you

Yours sincerely
Phil
Senior Advisor
Customer Support Team

swingaloo

Firstly, you may have had more success if your letter had been less emotive and more to the point taking out all the waffle.

It would also have been wise to tell them exactly what you wanted in terms of 'resolving this' or how much of a refund you were requesting.

You would have been better placed if you had spoken to some of the other 34 people on the trip to see if any of them were of the same opinion about the trip then you could have complained together.

The problem is that if the others all had an acceptable time and you were the only ones to complain then it looks as if it was your own expectations that were to blame. All these kind of trips have a planned itinerary and the drivers will be used to the routes just a they will be used to stopping at the Hot Springs for 3 hours each time. Im sure that if they constantly got complaints that 3 hours was not long enough they would have revised the trip.

Perhaps your expectations were out of sync with other travellers.

soolin

I lost track at the bit about not using the springs after eating due to health reason. This is of course a myth and I think it rather hurts your overall argument.

Westin

I have to agree with swingaloo.

In addition another issue I think you will find is that this excursion, if booked when you were in Costa Rica, was booked with the ground agent that TUI uses. Your arrangements are with that oversea agent rather than TUI and fall outside of the package holiday (different rules apply if you booked this in advance of your holiday with TUI as it would form part of the package holiday but as I understand it this was a locally purchased trip). If you look at your excursion receipt it will probably mention this local agent and your sale being directly with this Costa Rica based business.

The complaint and any compensation you might seek are therefore down to the ground agent. TUI will certainly pass on your complaint to the agent and probably ask for some consideration to be made but other than anything the agent agrees to refund, plus possibly a goodwill gesture from TUI, that will be it.

bagand96

I guess this is the tour that you booked?

https://gotui.com/en/costa-rica/pacific-north-coast-guanacaste/arenal-rainforest-overnight-tour/info/X-CR0-CRGANFOREX

The description they give on the website (which I guess is similar to how it was sold in resort):

A night in the heart of the Costa Rica’s rainforest is an exciting and eye-opening experience. Travel deep into the Arenal rainforest to spot wildlife, relax in hot springs and walk the famous Monteverde skywalk over treetops – an action-packed two-day adventure.

The trouble is these statements are very subjective, and although the statement “heart of the Costa Rican Rainforest” and “travel deep into the Arenal rainforest” will conjure up certain images, it is open to interpretation. And proving whether it was mid-sold or not might be hard.

I’d also agree that perhaps cutting down the complaint somewhat may make it easier to read. You could try and escalate the complaint with TUI to see if you can get any more back. Reference those quotes on their own website maybe, and relate that to your experiences (in a more succinct format?)

I know it’s too late now but I always stay away from tour operator excursions, they are invariably overpriced in the first place regardless of whether they overpromise and underdeliver. I’d certainly have done a lot more research before spending that kind of money.

TELLIT01

It's entirely possible to be deep in the rainforest and be near a major road. Use the comparison in the UK, you could be deep in the heart of the Lake District, but you wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere. You interpreted the brochure description, as have they.

bagand96

TELLIT01 wrote: »

It's entirely possible to be deep in the rainforest and be near a major road. Use the comparison in the UK, you could be deep in the heart of the Lake District, but you wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere. You interpreted the brochure description, as have they.

That's exactly the analogy I was thinking of when I was typing my reply about the subjective statements.

You could advertise a trip to the "heart of the lake district/snowdonia/national forest etc" and stay in a Premier Inn on a main road!

iwb100

You paid a crazy amount for a TUI trip - ok it was an overnight stay but anyone who has been on TUI holidays knows these trips are moneypits. They charge an amount for the same excursions the local sellers are flogging for half the price.

As above - your complaints seem to be based on interpretations of what was offered. Theirs vs yours. "Heart of the rainforest" doesn't mean much. If they said "you will sleep in a tree house" but it was a regular hotel then there is a case it was missold.

But these trips are generally all the same - drive for hours, have a short time somewhere - back on the bus - stop somewhere for a selling opportunity - back to hotel (albeit yours had the overnight stay and a couple of extra stops). They are always overpriced and pretty much never as good as they make them out to be.

I think their offer is actually rather generous given I'm not sure they did anything wrong really.

ggloria007

Thank you ever so much for reading my complint and given me your views and opinions. You are great!
As you can tell this is my second complaint in my life... (10 years ago I complained to BT) ... i really do not complaint but when I need to I am furious... Maybe this is the reason I am too prescriptive with my complaint, as I am trying to make a point.
I wonder if a new email with the summary of the points and request for £150 each would make situation any better for us.

Thank you again for your assistance

iwb100

ggloria007 wrote: »

Thank you ever so much for reading my complint and given me your views and opinions. You are great!
As you can tell this is my second complaint in my life... (10 years ago I complained to BT) ... i really do not complaint but when I need to I am furious... Maybe this is the reason I am too prescriptive with my complaint, as I am trying to make a point.
I wonder if a new email with the summary of the points and request for £150 each would make situation any better for us.

Thank you again for your assistance

I think you should take their offer and chalk it up as a lesson on booking trips in resort.

They haven't done anything wrong - you weren't mis-sold. At best the Tui rep in the resort did a hard sell on a trip and convinced you to go. But in reality - whilst I completely sympathise with the experience you expected and the one you got - you booked a trip via a large package operator and got exactly the sort of trip you would expect and the description of it whilst not meeting your imagination does seem reasonable.

Take what they offered.