Our tour guide Carol was great and navigated the streets of Geneva on ebikes with ease. We learned so much about the UN, Red Cross, Lake Geneva, the chair, the hour-glass in the park. Carol took our pix at all the landmarks and it was just a fun tour. Highly recommend.
We were in Geneva for 1 day, and took the e-bike tour of Geneva with Carol from tour provider is “Geneva By E-Bike.” I could not find any registration/ license for the company afterwards so it cannot operate legally in Switzerland and in the Canton of Geneva. This tour is a serious accident waiting to happen. Carol was more concerned about eating her lunch and running her personal errands. I have NEVER experienced anything like this.
Carol was late and failed to identify herself to us. We waited outside of Burger King from 11:50 am until 12:20 pm walked back and forth outside. There was no sight of a guide and no signage for the tour. We were told there would be someone with a bike and asked each person with a bike and they were not aware of an e-bike tour. We called the tour operator’s phone six times with no answer. We then sat down to call Viator customer service. The Viator rep tried to get in touch with Carol, but was also unable to. He said he would call me back when he talked to the tour but never called back.
In the meantime, I did notice a woman with a FULL tray of food, ready to eat her lunch, walking to the corner umbrella while I was speaking with the Viator rep which was after 12:05 pm. This woman ended up being the guide, Carol. Finally at 12:20, when we were about to leave, Carol finished her lunch and stood up to ask us if we were looking for the e-bike tour. She asked if we were inside Burger King waiting for her and had the audacity to chastise us for “being late.” We clearly were not as I already had told the Viator rep that we knew to meet outside. She had no sign; no shirt with a logo; nothing to suggest that she was with the tour company. Clearly, she saw us but was eating her lunch and did not want to be bothered. Any guide would have realized we were the tour patrons (if they were on time and were not busy eating lunch).
Carol’s lateness and other quirks are supported by other reviews on another website that Viator has precluded me from mentioning here.
Without much of an intro, Carol mumbled directions for us to go by ourselves a few blocks away to get the bikes. I asked why she was not able to show us the location. She said she has arthritis in her knees and cannot walk. She then took off on her bike.
We found the garage. We were given helmets from a dirty locker. We are experienced and competent bike riders just new to e-bikes. She gave us about 90 seconds to practice, did not explain the rules of the road in Geneva and was not interested in our safety at all. She rode away from us many times, losing us around corners and then yelling for us to find her. Again, something that other patrons have complained about, see the reviews below.
Carol used the tour to run her own personal errands on several occasions. Within 10 min of the ride, she told us we had to stop to pick up “some groceries.” She drove up to Denner Discount, Rue de Vermont 2, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland and disappeared inside, leaving us outside. She came out, without a word took off. I have the photo that is time stamped 12:41 pm.
We then arrived at the United Nations and said she had to use a restroom, again just leaving us. Her behavior was becoming so odd and unprofessional, that we took photos - to document her unprofessionalism. She then came back to a bench, pointed to the UN and told us to go see the building and then proceeded to eat a jelly donut, which we assume is what she picked up at the grocery store. She clearly had just had lunch at Burger King so any claim that it for medical reasons would be false. I provided the photos to Viator.
She made various stops and gave us the briefest of comments about each stop, which were inaudible. She mumbled and we asked several times for her to speak up, but she did not. Mostly, she stopped near a bench, pointed for us to go somewhere so she could eat or drink something. Most of the time we were just confused about what was happening during the tour.
The worst aspect of the tour was that our guide rarely looked back to see if we were following her; she did not follow many rules of the road. She constantly rode on the pedestrian path, and went through traffic signals with abandon. This was a crowded Friday and there were many people who we had to dodge while trying to see where she was, and avoid being hit by cars.
We then rode into Old Town. While there were many points of interest along the way and places to stop for some commentary, we just passed them. The only place we stopped was by the Old Arsenal, she LOCKED up our bikes and left us AGAIN!! She said she had to go somewhere without any explanation for “2 minutes”, and rode off for 10 min (Yes Viator we have a photo of her riding off). (We could have and should’ve just left because she was clearly wasting our time. However, out of civility and politeness (even though she clearly had no regard for us), we stayed to help her get the bikes back to the depot.)
When she finally came back, she took off at breakneck speed without even a glance back at us. She exhibited a complete lack of common sense and self awareness. During the last bit, she said we should keep up with her since it would be dangerous otherwise. She said this at a point during the afternoon when the streets were clogged with traffic and pedestrians. I explained to her that she should be the one slowing down and that we would of course keep up with her if it wasn’t for the congestion.
Since the tour was so awful, I searched for this tour operator and found the same tour elsewhere — for $100 less — which proves that our experience with Carol is consistent with other customers. She is consistently late and blames the customer. She rides off without regard to the patron’s safety. Lacks professionalism and is rude.