"Taj Tours London - A worst Experience"

A review of Taj Tours & Travel Ltd by S M PUTTABUDDHI written on Saturday 5th of October 2013

I have recently travelled in a Tour organized by M/s. Taj Tours, London.

The Tour Code: European Splendours (11 Days) – 2013 (V4).

And, the tour ended on 30th September 2013.

The programme looks so nice that anybody would be attracted. But really, the whole thing is “bogus”.

The following are the experiences:

1. The Coach:

The Coach provided to us was a bad one – Vehicle Register No. WE 3234Y. It was not a comfortable coach. Seats were very narrow. It was told to us that the coach would have all facilities like Coffee/Tea Maker, Toilet, etc. But nothing was available. There was no WiFi facility in the Coach. Public address system was very bad and, of course, it was hardly used by the Tour Manager! The Coach had no name of the Tour Code. We had to indentify it by it’s registered number only, after reaching it. Even our baggage was not provided with any tags. In one of my earlier tour with COSMOS, Bus was prominently labeled so that you can identify it from distance. All baggage were given tags and handled carefully by the driver & the Tour Manager. In this Taj Tours, nothing was done and, we had to carry all baggage to hotel corridors and room - even when there were no lifts!

2. Tour Manager:

• Our Tour Manager was one Mr. Keith. He was totally an arrogant, uninterested and incompetent person. I was really wondering as to how and why he has opted for this profession!! He never opened his mouth to explain the places we passed through. Whenever, we were getting down the Coach to see a place, he would say few words in a confusing way and, simply walk fast without looking whether all guests have come or not. We had to run behind him as otherwise we would be lost. Then some times, he would tell few words about the place (and sometimes, not) and give us “some time” to board the Coach. He never accompanied the guests to sight seeing and explained about it. Even while taking us for lunch/Dinner, the tour manager would simply run to the hotel as if everybody knows the hotel (and, please note that the hotel name is not informed to anyone of us till we reach the hotel!)

• Place of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner: Everywhere, we had to struggle to collect plates and food items. When we informed the Tour Manager that some items are not there, he would say “It is not automatic; wait for some time and it will filled”. But many times, when we waited and, the issue ended with “Katham Ho Gaya” meaning finished. I found that the food distribution in the entire tour was on “Fist Come First Grab” basis. In the hotel where we stay, breakfast was arranged in a separate small place for us with least possible items and, it was not the breakfast provided by the hotel for their guests. Why this? There also, some, two or three groups were put together causing congestion. On one of the days, though the lunch was to be arranged by Taj Tours, the Tour Manager did not arrange the lunch. Instead, he gave 10 Euros each as lunch allowance. Do you think this is sufficient for lunch in France! When they promise to arrange for lunch, they should do it. They are not doing for charity; we are paying for it. This, I feel is another way of cheating.

• Hotel accommodation:

The rooms provided in Germany and Switzerland were OK. Then, it started changing to “bad” and then to “worst”. At some hotels there were no lifts till 1st floor. We had to carry our baggage on head load and then use the only one lift available from 1st floor up. There were no RAMPS at least to drag our baggage. (Eg. Hotel Ariston Monte Carlo at Sanremo, Italy and Hotel Novatel at Evry, Paris. When it is so difficult for the normal persons, what would be the fate of differently abled person? By this, I hope you can understand the “standard/s” of these hotels. I thought many times as to how these hotels are getting permission from Tourism Department. In many hotels WiFi was very expensive like 3 Euros for an Hour!

• Deaf Ears for suggestions (By the Tour Manager):

I must have made 8 to 10 suggestions to the Tour Manager to improve the Tour. But he always used to say “No” to all the suggestions. He might have used the public address system only for announcing the times of next day’s wake up Call, Breakfast, Baggage Loading and Departure times. Once we enter the couch, he would not open his mouth or he would probably enter into a nice sleep.

• He had not collected the contact phone numbers of any the Guests nor has he given his number to any guests.

• We were not given the day-to-day detailed tour programme for even a single day. In the entire tour programme, not even a single location map was given to us. We were not even knowing where we are having lunch, dinner and where would we halt on each day! On my strong insistence, on the 2nd day, the Tour Manager gave us the list of Hotel addresses and phone Numbers (that too, without mentioning the hotel name for Day-4 (23-09-2013). On this same day, my wife and me lost in Venice and had to struggle to reach the Hotel using all the available technology.

• Taking the Guests for a Ride:

In Paris, we visited Eiffel Tower, then went for Seine Rever Cruise and then taken for dinner in a lousy Pakistani Restaurant and then taken for the Night City tour of Paris. The Tour Manager dropped us in the Hotel in an outskirt of Paris at 12:22 AM on 30th Sep. (Pl. Note: The Tour Manager has really taken us for a “RIDE” today and, even our request to start late on 30th morning didn’t work. In this hotel also, there were limited no. of lifts from 1st Floor only and that there were no ramps. We had to carry our baggage by “Head Load”!!

These kinds of tours are being arranged by M/s. Taj Tours by cheating people. They are interested in making money and, absolutely, they have no professionalism. Their responses to the telephone calls, their un-polite language, their behavior with guests was very bad. They were behaving as if they were taking us in that tour on a charity basis.

I had to contact them every half an hour to know the time of pick up at Victoria Station, London till the previous evening.

A last (but not least) point that they have many pick up points. But they don’t drop us in the respective pick up point. We have to get down at the point told by them!

I strongly conclude that “TAJ TOURS” a very bad organization in conducting Europe Tours. I do not recommend this organization for any of their travel needs.

Yours,

S M Puttabuddhi

Bangalore, India

Mob: +91 9900201256 .

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