Just returned from a group tour from Barcelona to Southern France.
In Avignon France, for dinner we were taken to a Campground recreational room- literally- Not a restaurant- for a non-optional meal (unidentifiable fish and 4 gross-looking escargot on a stale bun). I would have gone and bought my own meal, but we were not near anyplace to eat. Then we were taken to a "Hotel" 30 minutes outside Avignon. It was not even a motel- it was worse than a hostel. Dirty, mold on the curtains and the air conditioning filters. Buttons were broken and we needed an employee to turn it on- but no cool air could come out. The rooms were no bigger than a tiny cruise ship room. Cots in the rooms are on wheels, no elevator, no safe, no WiFi- and no staff after 11pm. When I asked to speak kindly to the tour guide, and said I was concerned about the quality- she just glared at me and refused to engage with me. She looked tired of all the complaints since the meal & now this place. My friend is asthmatic and was coughing and wheezing so bad she almost ran out of her inhaler. We had to leave- the place was disgusting. The guides retired before the group could settle in. People were furious. A dozen people walked to 2 motels that we could see from down the street- they had no room. We logged-on to the App. Expedia- found a hotel downtown and took a cab there.
Though these things can happen on a trip, what made this trip intolerable was the way were treated by the guides when we rejoined the trip. They were openly rude and hostile at times. Back on the bus one of the guides was talking openly about us- to the others passengers. Ten rows ahead of me everyone on the bus could hear her say "...they bring negative energy to the group and- probably don't belong in the group". She actually turned around in her seat and started arguing with people. The other guide avoided us totally and never once had a conversation with us. In Cannes, we were at a tourist spot. There were hundreds of people looking at Celebrity handprints. She asked my friend why she didn't go up and look, she answered kindly that she would pass. We were otherwise enjoying ourselves- and this guide barks back "WELL 36 OTHER PEOPLE WANT TO SEE IT! " and she walked-off looking angry. There we 38 people on the trip (we were 37 & 38 I guess). The incivility was mortifying. Earlier I had called Annette Kent, President of Durgin travel -after we were at the campground. She was unapologetic and blamed the tour company they contract with- said she said that have to do an investigation. She never called me back. After I got home, I wrote a letter and forwarded my hotel receipt for a refund. My friend did the same got an email she sent- it implied we purposely got a 5 Star hotel and asserted there was a lesser priced motel across the street that had rooms. Unfortunately- we already knew it was full because we went there. All tolled the nightly difference was about $30 between the facility they booked for us and the least expensive Hotel in downtown Avignon.
An "I'm sorry about that" from anybody- any employee, guide, secretary- or President and my complaint would have stopped there. Instead they implied we were dishonest malcontents who intentionally wanted to stay at 5 star (real) hotel- how dare we? One of the guides responded to my request for a refund with an eleven paragraph email. It looked like therapy- it countered everything I said- then left me with a set of "questions for me to ask myself". Unbelievable. We paid almost $3000 to put up with this abuse for seven days (for that amount of money I can go to Hawaii twice). Wish I looked at YELP before I gave them my money. It was a miserable trip- poor quality for the money, incivility is free...could not wait for it to be over. read more
