This review is long overdue, but now that emotions have settled, I feel I have a more clear mind to review. We went on a city day bike tour of Sintra.
Overall 1/5 stars.
-1 star: Tour guide, Ralph, started out the tour by saying he doesn't usually do a tour of the city, but does mountain biking tours. That's fine, we rolled with it. Well, turns out he really doesn't know anything. Ex: Ralph took us to a rock structure and said, "this is a famous spot, but I have no clue why." Ok..then why did you bring us here? He could've shown us other places that he does know about. We would've been more interested in seeing something "not famous" and learning something.
It didn't just happen with this rock structure, but everywhere else he took us he had little information to give. So much for a "bike tour". Was more like a bike ride.
-2 stars: I crashed my bike while riding in the street. Instead of being concerned for my wellbeing, Ralph was more worried about the bike. Looking it over to make sure nothing was damaged and not looking at me. When he saw that the bike seat had been torn, he exaggerated how he failed to have us sign a waiver and also how the company didn't offer us insurance before the ride. He kept stating over and over "I will pay for the damages because it's all my fault we didn't have you sign the insurance waiver. All of the repair money will come straight from my pocket, you don't have to worry about it. I will pay out of my own pocket." Like decent humans, I owned up to the damage that I created and paid for the torn seat. Had we known about or at least been offered the insurance before the ride, we definitely would have purchased it because it was only 15 euros. Who wouldn't pass that up? We wish we would have known about the insurance before hand because Ralph quoted the seat repair would be 28 euros extra, (which we paid). On the way out of the shop, we saw a sign that gave a breakdown on each items cost. The sign said bike seat replacement was 22 euros without insurance and 11 euros with insurance. So not only did Ralph guilt us into paying for a seat replacement without insurance, he totally scammed us into paying more than we needed to!
-1 star: Ralph was nice enough to take pictures of us on the tour; however, every. single. picture. had to have the company bike in the picture with the logo being visible. It didn't matter if you were on a hill next to a ledge, he wanted you to carry your bike up so that it could be in the frame. Ralph telling us to hurry up and move our bikes so that he could take the picture and we could move on, did not set the tone for easy-going tour. I get that you want publicity for your company but it isn't enjoyable to be rushed, let alone bossed around.
It should've been a red flag for me to book with Ralph and this company because when we were in the process of booking, Ralph didn't come off as being flexible. The WeChat connection was cutting out and I asked if we could communicate over email. Ralph strongly stated how he didn't want to because it would take more time and wanted to get it booked. It was both frustrating to not be able to hear everything he was saying and that he wasn't willing to make accommodations for a possible customer.
After booking, Ralph emphasized how we shouldn't be late. Well...guess what. He was 10 mins late.
So save yourself a booking and don't consider this company. read more
