GaryandJoy C.
Not a professional company
Though we enjoyed the trip overall, there were many inexcusable failures by SouthAmerica.travel. 1) our travel agent stopped responding to emailed questions as soon as we signed up for the trip, 2) when we arrived in Chile, our hotel transfer failed to show up. A taxi cost us $116US. They later said they would reimburse us but did not. 3) They instructed us to buy $160US National Park passes for Easter Island, which we did. When our local guide arrived he already had the park passes, “saying they were included in our tour package”. 4) the itinerary they gave us listed a 24 hour “emergency” phone number in case anything went wrong while we were on the tour. No one answered the number when we called.
Response from SouthAmerica.travel IncJan 31, 2018
Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Cohen for your feedback. We absolutely agree! Upon your arrival in South America, one of our trusted South American guides should always be waiting to welcome you and transfer you to your hotel. We are contacting all our arrival guides to be present at the gate ready to greet travelers such as yourself, arriving with only carry-on baggage, and we’ll be sure to ask this of future travelers as well, to best alert our guides. Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, we have refunded the transfer and certainly should have informed you that this normally is done after the completion of your trip. You had asked directly and we did not respond, our apologies. Thank you as well for giving me additional feedback during my phone call with you, and we greatly appreciate the kind words you gave us about our guides and the ability to custom design a tour to fit your needs. As I understand from our conversation, you were also able to get a refund for the Easter Island entrance fees as well while on the island - that is indeed great news. We've located the confusing statement in the original quote you've received and have revised it to match the Easter Island travel document, which does list the park entrance fee as being included. We strive to learn from every traveler, and shall be sharing your insights and suggestions with our entire Team at our weekly Wednesday inter-company meeting. Our best regards and hope you return to discover more of South America in the future. Bradley Nehring Co-founder and COO