Tours by Locals--will NEVER use again!

[Bruin Steve]

First off, I know that many people have used this company…and will gladly post that THEIR tours using this company went wonderfully.  And I am certain, that most of the time, this is the case.  However, the measure of a tour provider is NOT in how they do when everything goes according to plan…it’s in how they handle things when they don’t.

 

And I also understand that this company is NOT the actual tour provider…they are, in reality, a booking agent who deals with a list of independent local providers in many cities and  ports around the world.  So, though I am not completely happy with how the local guide handled this matter (poorly…though I know stuff happens), I am more concerned here with how the well-known booking company has handled things.

 

I’ve done a LOT of cruises…and I’ve booked a LOT of private port tours.  With most of them, everything goes well.  I book well in advance.  Sometimes, they require payment in full, sometimes just a deposit and, sometimes, it’s pay on the day of the tour. 
Sometimes I deal directly with the local provider, other times I’ll book through one of these agents (Viator, Get Your Guide, this one, etc.)

 

I’ve had, just one time, a guide completely flake out and was a no-show on tour day.  And, I’ve had, just one time, a tour company cancel only a short time prior to the tour–but for a very good reason which rendered the subject of the tour impossible–so completely understandable.

 

But I have never found myself as frustrated with a tour company as I am right now.

 

We booked two segments on the Royal Caribbean World Cruise in the Baltics and the Norwegian Fjords.  We planned most of our ports months ago.  Doing some with RCCL shore excursions, some with private small group tours, some with larger local non-ship tours and some “on our own”.

 

Most important to us was Klaipeda, Lithuania.  First, we have never been to this port before…But, more importantly, because this is the are from which my wife’s family originally came from.  It was one of the main reasons we chose this particular itinerary.  And, therefore,it was extremely important to us to arrange a fairly specific type of tour.

 

All of RCCL’s shore excursions here…and most of the various non-ship tours one finds…are fairly general in nature:  Walking tour of downtown, visit to the sand dunes, visit to the Amber Museum and free time to shop for amber…in some combination or another.  All VERY uninteresting for our purposes.  My wife’s family lived a long time in the area–until her immediate family moved to America…and any relatives left in Lithuania were wiped out in the Holocaust.  Vestiges of the now-gone culture are limited and hard to find.  But there is a little left…but it requires a good guide familiar with the history and culture to find it.

 

So, six months ago, we did our research, compared our options, and found exactly what we were looking for with Tours by Locals.  And so, we booked it.  Paid the required deposit.  We found another couple on our Cruise Critic roll call to join us, helping to keep the cost reasonable.  Kept in touch with the guide via the Tours by Locals website.  We were required to pay the price IN FULL 30 days prior to the tour…WHICH WE DID.

 

And LATER the same day as our payment was made in full, we received a message, via Tours by Locals website, that the guide was “canceling our tour…for personal reasons”.  No further explanation.  

 

That was LAST Friday.  We called Tours by Locals IMMEDIATELY.

 

First problem was that, their telephone number–using BOTH the toll-free version and the local BC number–only got us to a voice message asking us to press “5” to leave a message or press “4” if URGENT.  Pressing 5 and leaving a message NEVER resulted in a call back–EVER.  Pressing 4 was worse,  It gave you a recording saying to have your booking number ready…then circled right back to the Press 5/press 4 message–in an endless circuit,  Occasionally, it went to “hold music”, then either disconnected or sent us back to the press 4/press 5 voice message.

 

I spent HOURS, repeatedly calling, before finally reaching a person–who did not know we had been canceled…then, after hearing the story, promised to find us another guide and get back to us with details within a day or two.  I reiterated that it was urgent for us–we were leaving for Europe in just two weeks and needed to have this resolved.  She never did get back to us.

 

I called again on Wednesday, time and patience running short.  After another difficult multiple calls and endless voice message loops, I finally got through to another “real person”.  Went through the story again.  Same promises to find us another guide.  Told not to worry–”We have lots of time” (seriously.  Yeah, THEY have lots of time…they are not the ones traveling NEXT WEEK with no idea of what they are going to do in this port).  Again, they promise to get right back to me.

 

Well, here we are on Saturday…one week until we fly to Europe.  The other couple who were to be joining us want to move on.  I can’t even assure them we have a tour.  Even if we wanted to do an RCCL shorex, the prices have all gone up over the past six months and some have filled.  I call Tours by Locals again to ask what’s happening.  Apparently, very little.  I get through to a third person.  Same thing:  I will try to get you another guide…along with the “we have plenty of time”,  She asks me if there is a different tour I may want to take.  Again, NO.  We really didn’t want to go to the amber museum and/or the sand dunes…or the Lutheran Church..or the Soviet Nuclear facility.  And we certainly weren’t paying for a high-priced private tour to visit any of that.

 

We leave in 7 days.  They still have our money.  We don’t know if we still have anyone to share the tour.   We, of course, don’t even know if we have a tour.  We don’t know what we will do in Klapeida–our personally most important port.

 

What we DO know is:

 

1.  Tours by Locals appears clueless.

2.  Their communications system is near impossible.

3.  Their idea of “urgent” is “don’t worry”.

4.  They really don’t know how to deal with things like this.

 

If I am running this type of operation, I make sure my guides tell ME, in plenty of time, if they will not be available for the contracted dates.  If something unexpected comes up, I immediately CALL every other guide I use in the area and get SOMEBODY, if available, to fill the order.  IF that is not possible (ie, no other guides or EVERYBODY is booked for the date or if no other guide is reasonably qualified to provide or understand the tour), then I immediately TELL the customer–with many humble apologies–and find some way to compensate them for the inconvenience.  I don’t waste everybody’s time and make the customer jump through hoops

 

I guarantee that, if it were ME canceling the tour with no reasonable excuse (or even with one) at the last minute, that Tours by Locals would NOT give me my money back.  I would be considered to be in breach of the contract.

 

Probably the last time I will ever consider booking a tour through Tours by Locals.

[kaisatsu]

Honestly, if you found a local offering a highly-specific tour, I wouldn’t expect the booking company to be able to find another guide with the specific knowledge you’re looking for. I think you’re better off canceling and moving on to new plans. It’s an unfortunate situation to be in.

 

Try posting on the TripAdvisor forum for Lithuania with the tour theme you’re looking for. Perhaps someone knows of another option or can suggest a self-guided route.

[waiting2retire]

Thank you for posting your experience. Your frustration and disappointment with how you are being treated by this company comes through loud and clear and serves as a cautionary tale for those of us who may find ourselves in the position of considering using them in the future. 
 

I hope you are able to make alternate arrangements for a satisfying experience in Lithuania. 

[kitkat343]

I'm so sorry.  I hope you can find an independent tour provider on tripavisor who can create a custom tour that meets your needs.  Please book directly with the provider - not through tripadvisor, since information sometimes gets lost when making a 3rd party booking.  You can search for vendor's contact information on tripadvisor and book with them directly.

Edited July 14 by kitkat343

[PATRLR]

@Bruin Steve thanks for posting.  I agree 100%, the most important information about a company can be how they react when things go wrong.  The fact that they appear to have very difficult to reach customer service and then once you get through to someone they don't seem empowered to just tell you "sorry, we can't help you" or call you back when they can't find someone is good information for those of us who might consider using this company.

As for your specific problem, I think I'd be throwing in the towel at this point, asking for a refund and planning an alternative in that port.

[TMLAalum]

At this point I would bail on TBL. Work through your credit card provider for your refund. Whatever highlights of the tour you'd booked try to replicate them if you can DIYing. 

It used to be easy to locate private guides via internet search engines, but nowadays all I ever find are GetyourGuide, TBL, Viator recycled over and over again. Every once in awhile a different tour provider is listed among the big three, so perhaps you might get lucky. You are a savvy traveler, Steve, so perhaps you've already pursued contacting the tourist bureau directly:

Klaipėdos turizmo informacijos centras (klaipedatravel.lt) as they may have guide listings.

Good Luck in finding an alternative and in being able to let this situation not overshadow the rest of your voyage.

[GALSews]

Still early for us. But they haven't been responsive to questions. I have difficulty hearing and even my husband couldn't hear their message. Fortunately for us, we have only put down a small deposit at this point. 

[Joker54]

Similar experience related to TBL's customer support. We had 3 tours booked as we were cruising out of Barcelona in October. We decided to bail on that cruise and switched to a cruise out of South Hampton. Logged into my TBL account and did the cancellation request and received nothing in email. Waited a few days and logged back into my TBL account and sent a message to customer support through their system. That was 11 days ago, no response. When you attempt to call in you get the recording that they are not taking customer support calls due to issues with their web page. Ended up disputing the charges to get my deposits back. Sent an email to their customer support email address today. My expectations are that I will never receive a reply. We do have 1 more tour booked through them for Oct, but if I don't hear back on my recent request I will cancel that one as well and move on. Over the years we have had some amazing tours through TBL. Not sure what has changed but I find it hard to believe that they cannot take calls due to their web page issues - does that mean that all of their customer service agents are also web designers or programmers?

 

Cheers

[Bruin Steve]

We are on the ship now…Klaipeda is two days away.  We will be taking a fairly run-of-the -mill shore excursion…and we paid full price with all of the sales long gone.   We did get through to TBL…after the usual voice mail hell and long hold times…a few days before we left…and officially canceled…and DID get a credit back to our VISA card.  They also gave us a small discount code toward a future cruise—which I doubt we will ever use. Never again.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Bruin Steve said:

We are on the ship now…Klaipeda is two days away.  We will be taking a fairly run-of-the -mill shore excursion…and we paid full price with all of the sales long gone.   We did get through to TBL…after the usual voice mail hell and long hold times…a few days before we left…and officially canceled…and DID get a credit back to our VISA card.  They also gave us a small discount code toward a future cruise—which I doubt we will ever use. Never again.

At least you will finally get the refund. 

 

I hope whatever you do there in Klaipeda will be enjoyable.