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Leszek Szostak
I did 2 tours: Cambodia - Vietnam and Thailand - Laos Most horrific group travel experience of my life. Hotels were of hostel quality or worse. Mold, broken plumbing (sinks not connected to plumbing stacks emptying on bathroom floor), broken fixtures, dirty walls, peeling wallpaper, broken furniture and fixtures, lack of fridges and safes, missing coat hangers, LACK OF WINDOWS, dirty linen etc. etc. - list too long to fully describe the horror. In Hue (Vietnam) I was badly bitten by bed bugs. Tucan completely dismissed that despite a complete photographic documentation by another tour guide, Charles (he was the only bright spot on the Vietnam Cambodia tour - knowledgeable and intelligent, but I believe he was an exception rather than the rule. He was also sent on a "forced" 6 week vacation, as there was not enough business for him, which is regrettable as he is probably the best guide they have but prefer to hire local guides (Charles is from Australia) who are of poor quality in areas of competence and language. Breakfast, if included was an absolute joke. Often, only menu available were fried eggs prepared hours in advance and served COLD. Many people simply skipped these meals and ate outside. Transportation a mix bag, Thailand - Laos guide, strongly defended by Tucan lacked energy and at the beginning tried to take the group to expensive restaurants where he ate for free. Tucan always denies this as not true but it is. Guide has local connections and it's not an accident he takes tourists to a specific place. Ownership is aware he brings business and it is quite obvious that compensating him with a free meal for generating steady revenue (menu is usually much more expensive than in surrounding restaurants) seems an easy and cheapest way to show appreciation. Tucan ALWAYS rejects that notion which is another proof of dishonesty.. When I contacted Australia office (while still on tour in Thailand) with my comments about room conditions, I also mentioned the guide Sunny. I've received no response instead they shared my criticism with the guide whom publicly (in front of the group) very loudly displayed his discontent. It took a while of me talking him down to calm down and stop harassing me. I also contacted the office to keep him restrained so he is not punishing me for my criticism. I had to make peace with him just to let the tour run its course but kept my group time to the minimum exploring most of the sites individually to avoid unpleasant atmosphere. My criticism of accommodations (mostly) finally met a routine response from London office with complete denial of my observations. I paid for a single room supplement extra $20 for each night where the cost of accommodation itself was under $20 per night! Which meant Tucan kept all the money to itself. I provided a breakdown of estimated cost for the tour, including transportation, accommodation, guides and few provided sightseeing. It came around $ 1,200 - $ 1,400 (very generously). I paid around $ 3,800 which means Tucan kept the difference of $ 2,400 - $ 2,600 , around 70% of the total money paid. That's OUTRAGEOUS, considering the quality of accommodation and public transportation provided. 10%-20% would seem like a decent profit but to keep so much more money at the expense of quality is criminal. Tucan always claims they book local amenities to stimulate local economy and to stay close to major attractions. That's a ridiculous excuse for a highway robbery. When questioned, they say hotels were mentioned in itinerary. It's a lie, as most of them were "similar", which means no reading prior to booking could have been done. The concept of due diligence (reading reviews of hypothetical hotel - often guesthouse or borderline hostel) is useless: no hotel will be showing pictures of broken fixtures, leaking or dysfunctional plumbing or dirt, not to mention horrible breakfast and how it's served. What appears to be the case is that Tucan is losing a lot of business, due to restructuring but also very bad reviews. Instead of learning from our comments, they are arrogant and provide biased responses (almost identical in their content) while cutting corners in bookings, securing disgustingly poor quality accommodations and often transportation to keep the revenue flowing and company financially viable. IT"S a SCAM. DO NOT TRUST THEM. They itineraries seem rich and enticing. People often get attracted to lower costs (most recently they are further more discounting their tours to get some lost business back) but it's a set up. You could go to those places and book your own hotels, 10 times better quality and transportation (you are already paying for 95% of you sightseeing yourself) and save yourself 50% of the money. Frankly speaking, Tucan is riding on the past reputation and extorting a lot of business and undeserved revenue from foolish and naive people based on the assumption that they are big and reputable. Please note, a lot of customers don't provide feedback, even if very negative. Two reasons: they want to move on and forget the horrible experience or they are very good and forgiving people. That's very dangerous. The public needs to know. We were trapped, humiliated in inhumane conditions with pre-paid vacation. What can one do? I asked for a partial refund, but that was a very naive expectation. People I traveled with before we went separate ways and met again in Bangkok told me the horror stories from their trip in Malaysia: from disgusting accommodations with bugs, lack of adequate transportation (luggage went by tuk-tuk and they had to walk!) to ignorant guide who had no clue about the country they visited and googled answers! Those people reassured me that most of their companions were appalled and will be complaining including demands for a refund. Good luck with this one! You can read some of those negative reviews in that tune and believe me, that's all true. The pattern is obvious. Some people even leave the tours as they couldn't take it anymore. So, out of self-respect i urge you NOT TO USE TUCAN TRAVEL! They are dishonest, arrogant and irresponsive. They are running too many tours and are COMPLETELY out of touch with reality on the ground. Most critically, they will never give you benefit of the doubt. They will rely on a local guide version of events which is biased and tinted, like police policing themselves. Chronic problems are gutting this company and it will take a lot of cheated and disappointed customers before they either go broke or learn their lesson and improve their standard. Luck of transparency and stealing your hard earned and paid money is a trend that in today's competitive travel industry should pretty much finish them off or force to evolve. Consider yourself warned. I am a professional traveler, travelling to over 90 countries and all continents. I've traveled solo and in groups, on budget and luxury trips. Believe me, I am very qualified to assess this company and delivered quality. I will never use Tucan again.
5 years ago
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Tucan Travel has a 4.0 average rating from 257 reviews
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