Disappointment after disappointment Part 1
Dear all,We have expressed our disappointment to ASA Holidays as follows:
First by Dalon:
Dear Sir/Mdm,
I'm writing in to express my disappointment at your company's Central Japan tour i booked from 23rd Dec - 29th Dec 2006.My wife and I were intoduced by my in-laws due to the great experience they had with your Korea tour. As it was our honeymoon, my Birthday and our First Christmas as husband and wife, we decided to go with your company as we wanted an enjoyable trip without hiccups as you are reputed for. Unfortunately, the trip was not up to our standards, nor to many of the other tour members we spoke to.
Here is a short list of why we were thoroughly disappointed:
1. Universal Sudios - As expected of a Sunday in dec, the place was overcrowded and queues were long. I am fine with that but as a first timer to Japan, i am not familiar with the workings of the queues and procedures and due to the crowd i was only able to catch 1 ride and 1 show during my 5 hours there. Only when i returned to the bus and shared my experience did i find out there were "Fastpass" that we could have bought and single queues we could have joined to speed up our queueing time. I do not understand why we were not told about all these beforehand. I do not understand japanese and it is already a hassle to get around much less find out about all these myself. When i questioned the Tour Guide Mr Ho, as to why we were not told about the Fast passes, i was replied with "Oh that one need money!" May i know if that statement insinuated that i did not have money to pay for it?
2. Mt Fuji - Due to heavy rain and snow, we were only able to reach the first pass of Mt Fuji. We were then told to get off the bus to have a look. From the first pass and In the rain, all we could see was trees and the road. I fully understand this part of the tour is subject to weather conditions.
What i do not understand is why the next day morning, when the weather was GREAT, we were not given the option to go Mt Fuji, which was to me the main highlight of the trip, but instead we were brought to see and island. When we reached that island, the group was told we don't have time, just go across the bridge and come back. The 30 min tour of the island was forgone without a proper explaination. It was totally pointless to have gone there!.What i do not understand is why the next day morning, when the weather was GREAT, we were not given the option to go Mt Fuji, which was to me the main highlight of the trip, but instead we were brought to see and island. When we reached that island, the group was told we don't have time, just go across the bridge and come back. The 30 min tour of the island was forgone without a proper explaination. It was totally pointless to have gone there!
3. Accommodations - I was utterly disappointed with the choice of hotels you arranged for us. I am not expecting 5 star hotels for the price i'm paying. but i certainly did not expect to sleep beside a 24hr warehouse/distribution center. With lumpy mattresses. forklifts operating and trucks going by ALL night, how is anyone expected to get any rest? The rest of the time the hotels are all in very isolated locations with nothing around the area and that leads me to the 4th point.
4. Timing - Due to shorter days in Winter, i understand the tour guide's concern to complete the itinery before dark. After the first couple of days i began to find that excuse used too often to cover up "lost" itinery and shorter time spent at certain locations. Always we were "hurried" back to the hotel and i don't remember reaching ANY hotel after 8pm. With the rural locations of the hotels, the group was left with nothing to do for the remainder of the night. A great example of this would be our visit to Shinjuku in Tokyo. We were given 1 hour to have dinner AND walk around Shinjuku and got back to the hotel early as usual. In your experience as an established tour agency, do you think that is sufficient time? Could the tour guide not have given us more time outside to enjoy as he knew the rural location of the hotels?
5. Tour Guide Attitude - Due to the fact that it is my honeymoon and my birthday, i wanted to enjoy my trip without having to worry or get myself agitated. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Mr Ho might have had a lot of experience and stories to share but his imcompetence as a tour guide, constant boasting and sarcastic answers left me speechless. When we were told the hotel could not accomodate us for dinner and had to outsource it, Mr Ho told us on the bus, "This one they arrange one, don't know if good or not" REPEATEDLY. At the location, we were served with 3 appetizers, soup, chawanmushi, tempura, excellant steak and a shashimi boat each plus dessert. Mr Ho then said, "When hotel told me they cancel i ask them to compensate good dinner, if not i complain them. I make sure you all have good dinner one!" Need i explain anymore?
On the last day in Japan another fellow honeymooners, Ronald and Jasmine, asked Mr Ho if there was anything around the hotel we could see or go ourselves to enjoy our last night in Japan.
(Mr Ho, "Got!! The carpark lor!"
When prompted further, " Have!! The road lor!"
When prompted further still, "Have but must hire the bus or take cab, that one need to pay money you know!")
Again, insinuating we are unable to pay? We gave up asking him. When we reached the hotel, Asa rep, Ann, manage to get a hold of information from another tour agent and passed it to us. There was a location not 10 mins away with food and pubs with FREE bus service to and fro. To add salt to injury, Mr Ho immediately came over and told us, "Ya here got a lot of feed and pubs, can go. Not bad!" As long as this letter is, there are a lot of other instances where i got bad replies and unsatisfactory service, but i'm afraid if i continue any longer this will become a thesis on ASA's bad Japan Tour. So i shall end it here and await ASA's satisfactory answer to my ruined Honeymoon, Birthday and Christmas of 2006.
What's your view? Share your thoughts!!
PS: I will be posting up the list of complaints from various tour members and updates if we receive reply from ASA. Stay Tune!!!
Labels: Resentment with the tour guide
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home