16 Nov 2024
We booked a shared water taxi to take us from our Venice hotel at 3:30 AM for a 6:40 AM flight at Marco Polo airport. Boat driver was on time despite some fog. But instead of taking us all the way to the airport, he stopped at Piazzale Roma, 9 miles from the airport and told us to get out and take a car because of the fog. I asked him using Google Translate if a car was going to pick us up and he said “ car over there.” Instead, we found a poorly lit parking lot with a couple of cab drivers waiting for people. It was a stressful situation as We waited half an hour for a car and none ever showed up and we were worried about missing the check in for our flight. I called Viators local operator in Venice who set up the water taxi and I called Viators toll-free number and no one answered either call at that hour of the morning. So I ended up paying a cab driver €50 to take us to the airport. I asked Viator to refund our €89 that we paid for the water taxi because the boat driver did not take us to the airport and they refused at first, saying the driver was on time and took us to the airport. When I told them about my taxi receipt and the pictures of where we dropped off, they offered me a partial refund.. I thought they did not fulfill their contract terms and should’ve refunded all my money, including the 50 euros I paid for the taxi, Because the local operator should’ve made arrangements to get us all the way to the airport. I have used Viator many times to book tours in the past, but the future will be different. Beware when booking this service