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What travelers are saying
"My Mother and I planned this trip for 11 months, we were celebrating our 40th & 60th birthday together. We arrived to Paris on Monday the 26th. I had requested 2 extra nights so we would have some time to adjust after traveling. The company decided to book a tour for us the second day after being asked not too.
We arrived to our hotel in a disgusting part of Paris and quite a ways from the sights. Even our taxi driver (the one the company hired) told us this part of Paris was unsafe, especially for women and at night. It took 35mins to get from out hotel to the eiffel tower by car. Our room was so not great, it faced inside looking at a wall. That's considered 4 stars? The staff however was amazing and helpful. They even warned us to not be out at night as the area wasn't the most safe. I let the company know and they said that guarantee the area is safe and central to the sites. 80% of our hotels were not as advertised but the "or similar" ones. Had we gotten the one as shown on the advert, we would have been in a beautiful area, with lovely shops and restaurants. (We went by the hotels we should of had, and all had availability)
Fun fact, we had been put right across from the train station, yet none of the transfers were out of this train station, but another 30min Uber ride to a different train station.
I contacted customer service over 15 times on this trip about various issues and each time they ignored what was happening and used some lame excuse as why they couldn't help.
For example;
One tour in Beaune required that we make our way to a winery on a friday morning. We asked the front desk to help us when we couldn't get uber/bolt to work( heads up, they don't have that service there, except sometimes on sat/sun) they also do not have a taxi service available during the week. All 5 of the front desk staff, looked at us like we were crazy. They all tried so hard to find us a way out there besides walking 5miles to get there in 90° weather. They kept saying we're not sure why the tour company keeps saying there is a way out there by public transit, but there isn't. I called customer service.. they argued with me several times over the matter. They sent me info on taxi services that didn't exist there, bus schedules that were for children's bus routes for school and told us that walking was an option. Sadly, we missed the tour.
I was shocked. I asked for a phone call from a manager.. I still have yet to receive one even after asking repeatedly.
Another fun fact, Discovery Nomads books tours for you that have to paid when the tour is over, as with the walking tour of Paris they arranged for us. The guide himself was amazing, but the only way the guide makes money is by us giving him money at the end. Weird that a company who charges me for tours, made me pay for a tour on site.
Not to mention, buyer beware, when it says you get to see the Louve, they mean look at it. You'll have to buy a ticket to go inside. As well as Versallies, where it says a day at Versallies, they mean a couple hours at best. We got there at 2, the tour was 2hrs. and it closes at 6pm. O no time to see the home and gardens. That's not even half a day.
I let customer service know that too. They ignored me.
We missed a train due to it being delayed and then cancelled. I tried to call customer service again for help, this time no answer. Unfamiliar with what to do, we rebooked a train and paid over 250 euros for it. I let the company know and their reply, it says the train wasn't cancelled so we can't help you. Yet here we were with about 12 other people who also had to rebook a train. Had we had help from the company at the time, we could have just switched our tickets to the next train. But alas, no help from them just excuses.
Overall I spent more time trying to figure out how to get transport from A to B, emailing and calling them, spending over 800 euros in transport just to get to train stations and tours, and not to mention the awful train schedules they had us on.
This trip was a complete nightmare.
I wanted this trip to be amazing for my mother and I, and all we wanted to do was come home. I will never use this company again, and I will share this horror story with others as much as possible to warn them of using Discover Nomads."
