31 Mar 2024
I initially booked this trip for two people since the price for one person and two were the same, ($230, which did not make sense to me). In the morning I’d the trip, I contacted Viator to see what was the pick up time. I did not receive any response. I then contacted them again given the provided contact info, at least three additional times. I finally ended up messaging customer support around 1pm (tour started at 3 pm). She informed me that she was looking into the issue. Around 3 pm, I requested a refund for the transportation. At this point, my friend had another event scheduled early the next morning and decided not to go. So, I ended up going solo since this was my first trip to Dubai. Customer service refused to refund me for transportation or the total of the tickets and still could not provide me with an ESA for the driver. The driver Jaiswal ended up picking me up at 5 pm, two hours after start time. The Gardens and Global Village were both beautiful places to visit. The service through this particular company was unprofessional and Viator did not handle the issue well. For the price of the ticket, I expected to experience the full tour and I missed 2.5 hours with absolutely no accommodations or refunds for this. There was also a couple with a toddler with me that was disappointed that they had traveled far from home and waited on the driver with no response. Had I not reached out to Viator, I would have never been picked up for this tour and they did not care at all about it. I’ve seen other tours to Miracle Gardens and Glibal Village that are sold separately and I would suggest choosing another company to book through. Or, purchase the pass without the driver and just take an Uber (Careem) or taxi would be easier. Jaiswal was actually great once he finally picked us up. He was vary apologetic and waited on us for the duration of the tour. It was easy to WhatsApp him to get in touch when we were ready to leave.