Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $250 to $647 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Tom | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very suspicious
We did not travel in the end with Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris but would like to share our experience of the booking process with them. We have been left very disappointed and frustrated after many weeks of correspondence with this operator but fortunately did not put down a deposit due to suspicions we had with regard to the way they did business.
*Having confirmed an itinerary and price with Visit Tanzania we were asked to pay a deposit. The operator confirmed reservations had been made and would be held for seven days.
*I called the accommodation and found out however there were no reservations for us.
*Visit Tanzania said that their agent in South Africa agent was working on this.
*I called the SA agent and they confirmed they had not yet made reservations!
*A week or so later Visit Tanzania confirmed the reservations had now been made and the total price.
*I questioned the total price on several occasions as it seemed too good to be true – Visit Tanzania simply said it was due to the discounts they can get with the suppliers. The price was included on several emails along with inclusions/exclusions so seemed very clear.
*Due to the previous "confusion" I confirmed with the agent in SA that reservations were in place and they told us they were.
*We returned to Visit Tanzania to pay the deposit (we were asked for 30% upfront which is not unusual). I asked what contract there was between us and for confirmation of their T&Cs as we only had email correspondence to confirm the price etc.
*Visit Tanzania sent me a very short booking form on my request (this asked for passenger details only).
*By this point, discomfort and suspicions had grown so I asked the agent in SA if we could deal directly with them.
*At this point the price Visit Tanzania had quoted was investigated - it transpired that Visit Tanzania had “forgotten” to include all items of the booking and the actual price was over double that quoted.
I do not see how an experienced operator could misquote so significantly and I find it vey negligent that the deposit was requested before reservations were in place. We are lucky we did not pay the deposit as who knows how difficult it would be to get this back (we are not proceeding with either Visit Tanzania or the agent in SA as have found a more competitive offer with a reputable operator in SA).
Reply from Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris
Posted on Apr 14, 2016We regret that you had a bad experience when you tried to book with us. On the other hand it was unusual to learn that you was emailing suppliers to check if the booking was there although there was no deposit paid. We found out that you had reservation with other 5 tour operators booking the same property. The hotel couldn't provide availability because there was other reservations in your name from other tour operators. You tried to contact our affiliate to verify if they made the reservation, kind of unusual. The whole process was chaos since you was trying to contact so many people on the same reservation. Once you accept the quote the next step is to pay for a deposit since your tour was to take place in a few month to go. There was nothing wrong asking for a deposit of 30% as each company has it's own policies. We have and had other clients who have traveled with us more than once and no issues. If there was an error in quoting your package that could be corrected. You kept changing your itinerary and activities so the changes lead to a lot of confusion. There was no intention of obtaining your funds by doing nothing. We are operate according to the laws and regulations, nothing was suspicious it was just a miscommunication issue. Unfortunately enough, you did not communicate with us about your concerns instead you said you were going for a trip and you will pay for a deposit after you return from your trip. The next thing we saw, was your complaint on SafariBookings. Since we did not either receive any deposit from you or booked with us, we thought it was unfair for you to try to warn other potential future travelers to stay away from us just because there was a miscommunication problem between you and our office. We felt relieved that you didn't book with us because we could forecast more trouble to come. We appreciate your consideration to travel with us, it didn't work this time but we are still inviting you to use our superb services in future. Good luck with your trip.