A Great Trip *in Spite of* A Poor Travel Agency Experience
Chile
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Feb 15 - Feb 26, 2023
Positives of the trip: some of the local tour groups we used were incredible, particularly Senda Andina in Bolivia and W Circuit in Patagonia. Overall we saw a lot in a short period of time and the itinerary was excellent.
Negatives: Just extreme disorganization at all times from Tangol, the travel agency we were connected to on Kim Kim. Some of our issues were more minor than others but overall added up to an unpleasant experience and at the end we were left with the impression that we could have organized the trip better ourselves.
1. Understood that there were certain fees not included in our booking but these should have been clearly communicated to us ahead of time. We had no idea that one of our hikes in Patagonia required a very expensive fare for a catamaran, cash only, $30USD each way per person. We were not carrying $120 of cash on our person so we were incredibly lucky to run into a friend from back home along the trail who happened to be carrying enough spare cash to get us back home otherwise I’m not sure what would have happened.
2. All communication was very last minute. At 5:30pm the night before we were to go to Bolivia and a half hour before Tangol closed their offices for the day they messaged us asking if we had a tourist visa for Bolivia. Definitely not a question which should have waited for the last minute. We didn’t receive any information on visa requirements from Tangol ahead of time so we did our own research and figured based on information from the US Embassy website we can get our visas on arrival. Tangol then told us in order to do this we would need a lot of additional paperwork including a bank statement! Turns out they were referencing the incorrect requirements and we got into the country without a problem without any of the requirements they were telling us we needed. We were just very disappointed by how last minute this was and how it wasn’t even the right information. It made for a very stressful experience which could have been easily avoided with clear communication far in advance.
3. We clearly communicated our vegetarian meal requests ahead of time but this was not relayed to the tour groups during booking. When we brought this to Tangol’s attention they ended up only reserving 1 vegetarian meal for the remaining tours even though we were clear that we were both vegetarian. This should have been the easiest thing to get right the first time.
4. Another item which we thought should have been very straightforward was pickup from the airports. When we landed in Calama there was nobody there to pick us up. We waited for a while and called Tangol several times and finally got a hold of them. After around an hour of waiting Tangol finally arranged us with a group shuttle service even though we had bought a private transfer.
5. Our stargazing tour was cancelled due to weather which is understandable but we were given no option to reschedule and did not get a refund. What was also frustrating was knowing we probably wouldn’t have been able to go on the scheduled tour anyway since the timing overlapped with another tour we had scheduled earlier in the day.
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Thank you for your feedback. It is good to know that most of the trip was great and you enjoyed it.
Regarding the details you have mentioned:
- Visa to Bolivia: I am afraid as much as you we were also confused. As well as you we were misinformed by the official information. We are very sorry but glad that you have enjoyed your visit to Bolivia.
- Regarding the excursion to the observatory - all of the excursions we have included were confirmed taking into account all the... Read more