Achieve Global Safaris

Poor Quality of Vehicle

I wrote to Jolie about our very poor experience with my group of 8 traveling 5-7 hours every day in a vehicle that was unsafe and has issues every single day and she completely dismissed me, and even blamed me. She asked why I didn’t send her pictures and I told her because our guide was in communication with her everyday it had issues. I asked for a new vehicle three times but he just kept getting it fixed, stating he will let the company know about the poor condition of the vehicle. Every time we shut the door of different bolt or piece of the vehicle would fall off or fall apart. It was very laughable. The vehicle had to be taken in for servicing 4 times. It lost brake fluid, lost 4 wheel drive, was leaking a large amount of oil, broke down 3 times, had no AC, and my seat wasn’t even bolted down. She dismissed me and my complaints and told me there is nothing wrong with the vehicle. One of my guest had to fix the vehicle himself and he said it doesn’t look like the vehicle has been serviced in years and transmission and radiator was caked with mud and dirt and that’s why we kept overheating. It was sooooo uncomfortable being cramped in this vehicle for 8 days breathing in dust and pollution because the company was too cheap to give us air conditioning.

Here is the letter I wrote to Jolie that only came back pointing the finger back to me and completely dismissing and minimizing my concerns:

Jolie,
Thank you for planning my trip for my group to Rwanda and Uganda. Thank you for Joseph - he was wonderful and for picking really great accommodations!
The highlight was of course seeing the primates , which everyone loved. All the trekking excursion were awesome.

The biggest negative feedback is long drive times in a bad vehicle. I feel your company really needs to replace this vehicles. Guests cannot pay what they do and spend 8 days in this vehicle.

I am requesting some sort of refund for our poor experience with the vehicle over our 8 days. The vehicle had no air conditioning so my guests spent 8 days either extremely hot with the windows up or breathing in dust and exhaust with them down. The vehicle is in very bad condition and you really should not be using it for your customers. I am embarrassed and had to apologize multiple times to them. We lost several hours of our tour due to it breaking down. Everyday there was a new issue with the vehicle. I saw several other companies with nice, new, branded vehicles where the guests could have their windows up and enjoy a comfortable ride. I am not sure why your company could not provide the same comfortable experience for us. Being in this vehicle for 4-7 hours every day ( which I was unaware would be the case) made this trip difficult and not the experience I was looking to provide to my guests . I felt like I was going to pass out several different times due to sitting in the front and the heat of the engine on me with no AC. Often times, the vehicle was not safe( no 4 wheel drive, leaking oil, break fluid issue, my seat not bolted down, etc)

I am disappointed you did not let me know in advance that Kigali would be shut down and we would miss the scheduled itinerary for this location on the 1 st day, which many were looking forward to on their once in their lifetime trip to Rwanda. Not planning in advance for this or our luggage was avoidable. Putting 8 people in an old, run down vehicle with space for 3 people’s bag was a questionable choice. Thank you for sending an extra vehicle after the fact though. I have no idea what we would have done if you did not do that.

Please let me know what you feel would be a fair refund back to my credit card for our experience. Thank you