Verifizierte Buchung Reisen in Gruppe - 18/07/2024
I'd thought what I'd wrote up til now would be public, but by this question I guess not, so this will be a copy and paste of what I said in private review here. Plus a slight addition:
Do not ever take a tour with this company if the guide is a young man named Han. I've had other GuruWalk tour guides before and with this group, Han is the only person I'd ever had to this.
Now to similar and c&p mix publicly:
The tour itself had been interesting and lovely. I'd been greatly enjoying myself and intended to give Han about $20, double the suggested tip amount on this site.
However, near the end when we stopped at Train Street he started pressuring me to leave a good review on TripAdvisor for a tour I had not been on. I told him no, but that I would be giving a very good review for the tour with him today and that I'd be sure to rate the GuruWalk tour I had done the day before, both on that website and this one.
He pressured, pulling it up on his phone and trying to get me to. I repeated myself politely in different phrasing. This went around and around and around. He included a story about the company needing more positive reviews because the owner was trying to expand. As we went around and around about how I would only review the two tours I'd been on he at one point of frustration sighed and laughed that "you're so honest". He kept pressuring, I kept saying polite versions of no, I'd do the two reviews for tours I'd been on.
This went on so long and so pushy/intense of him that I pulled out my phone and started looking at Google Maps to find how to just walk back to my hostel from there instead of keep dealing with him.
He finally seemed to drop it and pressed me to go watch the train pass and I declined and said I'd watch it from where we were, just a little ways back from the tracks as I'd seen it up close the day before. He irritably told me I needed to because it was part of the tour. I went up and waited for it to be over.
He asked if I was located near the center for drop-off, I said yes and we agreed to drop me off at the pickup point (the Water Puppet Theater).
At that point I was just ready to get away from him and gave him a sub-standard tip of the equivalent to about $8 due to how rude and intense his pressuring me to lie had been earlier, rather than the much higher tip of about $20 I'd intended before that.
He then stopped me and complained it was too low, showed me on the website how $10 is normal, I should give him more. I explained that I'd intended to give a much higher tip until he'd started pressuring me to lie and told him how it had gotten to where I was looking to walk back instead of ride with him.
He then started pressuring me about giving a good review anyway. Pulling out his TripAdvisor-ready page on his phone again. This went around and around more for an extended period.
He then started offering my tip back if I would just avoid rating him at all. I refused, repeatedly telling him that was for the part of the trip that was very nice but, again, lower due to his rudeness and pressuring me to lie earlier and that he was doing it again. He kept pressing me to take my money back and not to review him instead of giving a negative review and telling people about this. I told him, frankly, that at this point my review would be quite bad.
Finally it got so bad and rude of him that I put my hands up in the air, turned my back, and just started walking away to my hostel. Not taking my money back, just getting away from him as this was NOT going to stop.
Han will safely drive you around, show you and tell you interesting things, be a great guide like that. But he will be very pressuring and rude to you about lying about what tour you had been on, complain when you tip him lower due to it, then try to bribe you to avoid reviewing him low and telling about his behavior and just not review him at all instead.
As said, I have used GuruWalk before (and similar websites). The previous day's tour with this same company had a slight issue but nothing like this. The guide yesterday with this company and guides I've had here and from similar websites have been lovely.
I'd not say "don't use this tour" or "don't use this company" - I would say "don't go on any tour where Han is the guide".
Antwort von GuruThank you very much for completing the trip with us and leaving a review. Hope it will help us better. Hope you have a good trip in Vietnam. If you want information about Ninh Binh, Ha Long, Sapa, Ha Giang tours,... then contact me via whatsapp +84962819091 to get a 15% discount for your friends.