I am not one to complain and always give others the benefit of the doubt … but when I am treated unfairly and taken advantage of, I want to be sure other travellers are aware .
I was simply trying to book a 2 hour transfer to the airport for my family of 5 with some extra luggage. I very specifically chose the larger '8 person vehicle option' that they offered online when booking through VIATOR.
As usual, in the standard online form VIATOR provides, the booking fields do not allow you to choose a specific pick up time (I could only enter our noon flight time ) NOR are you able to enter the specific hotel location pick up, as the company is 'supposed' to personally reply to you immediately after booking to make these clarifications. I am well aware of their process because I had already booked 5 other transfers through VIATOR for this trip alone, and had been satisfied with the services.
I never received ANY reply from Book Taxi Barcelona ( BTB) , which is the company assigned to me for this transfer, and the voucher confirmation that they sent was COMPLETELY INCORRECT with a pick up time of noon??... ( which was the time of our flight!), no location confirmation, and an indication that they were only providing a vehicle for 5 people with a limitation of ONE bag each? They completely ignored my choice of the larger van along with the specific details I had written in the ‘special request section’ upon booking, so that they would understand my need for a larger vehicle. The vehicle size was a deal breaker as a smaller vehicle was not going to fit all of us!
They FAILED to respond to any of my emails ( through the VIATOR app and directly) for 24 hours. My airport transfer at this point was less than 24 hours away so I had no choice but contact VIATOR for support. They too, had difficulty making contact with BTB, and when they FINALLY did we got nothing but a jumble of mixed messages over the next 8 hours including a variety of inconsistent pick up times, and advising me that they were, but then they were NOT, actually able to provide a vehicle for larger than 5 people? Make up your mind! which is it? Can you or can you not provide the service I need? It was beyond confusing and very discombobulated, and had the added stress of having the potential for us all to miss our flights if they did not come through!
I had great difficult phoning the foreign phone number, but when I finally connected with BTB’s 'emergency line' as a last resort , the guy was unprofessional but confirmed that "…ya ya..everything fine. No worry. Big van. 8 people no problem…” He did not even seem to listen to my needs or concerns and just brushed me off. This very brief conversation made me feel uneasy, but he told me "... if cancel... no refund!..." ??... so my hands were tied!
Then 8 hours later, at the last minute, with only a few hours to go before our very early morning transfer, they sent yet another email totally contradicting what he had just confirmed on the phone earlier.
“… we can only send a car for 5 people…sorry for the inconvenience ..."
Are you kidding me?! NOW WHAT? It's midnight ! How do I arrange for the 2 hour airport transport ... in a vehicle larger than a standard cab...first thing tomorrow morning... at midnight the night before?!
I had no choice but to scramble to try to find another option that would be able to provide a big enough van for pick up…which was to be scheduled for just a few hours later!!
The worst part is they blamed me for a supposed “late cancellation” and would not refund me, despite this completely being their fault and never providing the transfer!! They agreed to provide a service that I specifically requested, they charged me full price, and then they couldn’t follow through! They should be refunding my money!
VIATOR ’seemed ‘ helpful and empathic, but in the end, each of the 5 support staff I spoke to just told me I would have to contact the company myself and there was nothing they could do??! ... and as I mentioned, contact with BTB proved to be impossible on on my own.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND Book Taxi Barcelona which was the transfer company assigned to me. Since you cannot tell who you are getting when you book a transfer thru VIATOR, I would not recommend booking ANY transfer through VIATOR at all. Although on this vacation alone, we had 2 other very successful transfers booked through VIATOR for our large group, this one was beyond stressful with all the last minute changes... not to mention the money I have lost in having to pay for TWO airport transfers ,but only being able to use ONE.
I am very disappointed in VIATOR. I used them repeatedly for over 20 bookings over the past two months alone, totally well over $10,000! ...not to mention the many times I have used them for past trips for other transfers, and bike, Segway and boat tours. I have always responded to their requests to write positive reviews for the tours I have booked. After all this, you would think they would trust my judgement and take my concerns seriously, but in this case, they just brushed me off and denied me of any refund... without seeming to even consider the facts. I paid for a service I never received!
On top of paying BTB for doing NOTHING, I ended up also having to pay for a totally separate cab service that I had to arrange in the 11th hour, by myself. We had to take 2 separate cabs to the airport to get everyone and their luggage there. You would have thought BTB may have been able to think outside the box themselves! If you cannot accommodate a group in a larger van.... then SEND 2 VEHICLES!! I NEVER said I had ANY price limitation?! I would have paid ANYTHING! I just needed to get to the airport in a timely manner! We could not miss our international flights!
I would have at LEAST hoped VIATOR would have removed BTB from their system so that someone else does not get taken advantage of, and I requested that they do so...but they didn’t !!??
As a small business owner, I do not write bad reviews. However if I have been treated unfairly, such as in this case, I want to protect the next traveller ! BEWARE!