Joe
Reflecting back on the trip
Reflecting back on the trip, we did see a lot and experienced life in Vietnam and Cambodia. I would say that the Yampu agents communication was only fair to poor. We had requested 4 or 5 Star hotels. We did not get the standard we requested (according to our Yampu agent, due to budget) even though no budget was ever discussed. Feeling a bit ripped off on the cost. Advice to all, don't trust what you hear, look up on Trip advisor for cost before you make a decision to purchase. We could have gotten them for $80 - $150 online ourselves - Vietnam and Cambodia is a very inexpensive place to stay! Cancelled fight and Visa issues were of major concern. Others on the trip with a different travel itinerary and different company were rebooked and were instructed correctly on the Visa issue. We paid twice and out of pocket cash - no credit cards taken by airline agent or Visa agent. Indochina associates to Yampu in Cambodia weren't reliable and no follow thru as an escort - we were left at the airport to deal with an Airline Agent on our own - btw, we don't speak the language. We paid for a private tours and driver for this trip. Vietnam was much better than Cambodia. This 2 stars rating of Poor is accurate due to the inadequate experience with a lot of friction.
Response from Yampu ToursMay 22, 2018
Mr. Ballmer and the Founder of the company communicated directly, this is a copy of that email; a check was sent to Mr. Ballmer. Dear Joe, I am not sure what to say except that I am very saddened by the ultimate outcome of your trip. We did receive the evaluation forms from our local offices that showed you were happy at one point of your trip. I am also very sorry that Stephanie did not get back to you, as I mentioned I was in Mexico until last week and just got back and we were scheduled to review your case. I would like to address each issue individually: 1. Cancellation of the flight. Airlines change flights which is out of our control. It is our company policy to rebook clients in a timely manner and inconvenience them as little as possible. I was advised that our team was there during the entire time to assist you. Your account of this day is different, and we will continue to investigate why. However, you do not need to wait for us to do our investigation we would like to reimburse you now for what you paid $110 out of pocket for the new flight. 2. E-visa: Our confirmation and dossier explained that the e-visa would not work for the river crossing. However, we feel this may have not been clear enough, so we would like to reimburse you the amount of $ 74 for the 2 e-visas. 3. Disappointment with the last transfer in Siem Reap: our team here should have taken you to the airport and helped you with the check in. You were not happy with this service, so we would like to refund you $ 45 for this transfer 4. Issue with the hotels. For this, we take full responsibility, Joe. I have taken the time to go through your emails and you are right there was no mention of budget. It seems like Stephanie originally presented a proposal that included the Belmond however when we presented the new proposal with the cruises that were actually available and extra nights (you needed 2 extra nights in Siem Reap), we tried to keep the price at a similar price you had received and changed the hotel to the Victoria. Note that we did not charge you for the Belmond, but you are right this should have been brought up to you and it was not. For this mishap, I would like to reimburse you the amount of $ 610 which is the difference between the Belmond and Victoria (4 nights). Keep in mind you did not pay the $610 but are trying to make this right so you don’t have a bad memory of your trip. 5. Additionally, when we heard that you were not happy with the long-haul flights with Vietnam Airlines since they could not assign seats, Yampu reissued your flights on Singapore Airlines and we paid all the penalties to reissue your flights. Again, this is something we did to make sure your trip went off on a good start 😊. The total refund for the mishaps would be $839. Joe, I know we cannot bring this vacation back, but I do hope this small token from us would help relive those precious memories. Please let me know if you accept and if you feel this would be satisfactory and if so, I will go ahead and request for our accounting department to process the refund.