My daughter lives in an apartment in Panama City. Unfortunately, the driver would not pick us up at the apartment. We had to meet at a place he chose and he was pretty abrupt with us about not being there on time. We were there, just he chose a very large place with many entrances and exits. We eventually connected and were very disappointed to see that he had a very small car for the 4 adults on our trip to travel quite a distance in. Since the driver was very tall, he pushed his seat back and we had very little leg room in back. Drive was pretty uneventful, although driver was pretty talkative and fairly condescending to us. He could not read that we really did not want to engage with his chatter. Once we got to the hike, we were met by our guide and given choice of which hike to take. We chose the most difficult one, which was not that challenging. Our driver tagged along on the hike. He could not keep up with us and kept telling us to slow down and enjoy the scenery - which we were doing. We just climb mountains fairly frequently and had hiking shoes on which made it not challenging for us. Hike was really great and we stopped at the cross to take pictures and wait for driver to catch up. We got to the top and our hiking guide took some pictures at a really wonderful over look before we got to the waterfall. When we booked, the website indicated we could climb and rappel the waterfall up to 5 times. It also indicated a hot spring was included, which it was not. We were only allowed 3 times each for the climb/rappel. It was really fun. The first time down, you had to be accompanied by a guide. After that, they let us go down two at a time together. Definitely the highlight of our trip. We ate lunch at a restaurant in town. We really had to convince our driver that we wanted to eat at a specific restaurant and not the one he wanted to take us to. Had great lunch, then on drive home we were stuck in traffic for a very long time in a small car. We were picked up at 8:30am and didn't get back until after 6:00pm. Very long day. The hike and waterfall were spectacular and would highly recommend those. The car ride would be better if you can driver your own vehicle and book directly with Ocho hiking and rappel for the hike and rappel. Loved those guides and the rappel adventure! The driver and car we had were not something we would recommend or use again.
事業者からの返答
Dear JMCJ,
First of all, we thank you for your direct booking and we are sorry that your experience went this way and the way you felt, please know we are always going one step further to meet our customers’ expectations and beyond.
We apologize that, our good intentions felt short to meet your expectations and we have learned and we will continue to learn.
your feedback will help us to improve the quality of our services, please allow us to clarify the situation:
1. We are sorry that our tour guide/ driver intended to engage with your party, to connect with and create a great atmosphere, because that is who we are, we care about our customers, we want to make sure they achieve the best experience they could, for UPBEAT JOURNEYS and Fascinating Experiences. Our report for that day, indicates that your party did not even want to great our tour guide/driver at first, he thought may be that was because of covid19 but then he realized that when we arrived on the location you did interact with the other tour guides but not him, your main tour guide/ driver. The main issue here as we could read is, as you stated “He could not read that we really did not want to engage with his chatter”.
2. We do not provide Apartment or Residential pick-up services there is nowhere on our website or third-party website such as TripAdvisor where we offer Apartment / residential pick-up. At the time of booking a hotel information was provided, your daughter asked if we could offer pick-up at her residence after the booking, we said it was not possible due to traffic issue but we would be more than happy to offer pick-up somewhere else, then we agreed on a meeting point which was closer to her location as she indicated, Clayton Food Court, out of 3 options that were available. When your daughter was called to know where you were coming from, she said she was at Balboa Bus station, that location is 4 kms away from the meeting point, which later was clarified at the end of the tour when she said if we could drop you off at the parking lot near the Balboa School, so your daughter mentioned Balboa Bus Station, because she recently moved to Panama and may not had known there is a small town called Balboa which is 4 kms away from Clayton and there is also Balboa Avenue, which people use interchangeably, but she meant Balboa School in Clayton, 2 different areas and the only thing that was asked of her was to arrive at the meeting location.
3. Uneventful, it was very difficult for our tour guide/ driver to provide further information due to lack of interest. Condescending, there would not be any reason for us to be in this business if our selection of Tours guides was very poor, in fact your party assigned tour guide / driver has done this tour countless time and had gotten a 5-star review each time.
4.There was no rush on departure, however, what is true, the Tour requires good weather, and we had to be at the destination before it started raining on that day, so the day would not be lost, our tours guides at the destination were keeping us updated on the weather on their side to make sure we could go ahead with the tour, everything went smoothly, we made it on time and it started raining just after the tour was completed, that was our accomplishment for you, although you might not have seen it that way.
Since our focus is to provide Small Group Tours for a greater experience, therefore we offer transportation based on group sizes, we do not provide the same vehicle for a group of 6-10 people for a group of 4 which was your case, we could not deliver on what we stand for and it would be more expensive for you and to operate the tour.
Your younger daughter that was sitting behind our tour guide /driver, had plenty of leg room as she was asked if the seat needed to be further adjusted so she could have even more leg room. Also, the transportation that was provided was not a Sedan type but a Luxurious 2019 - 5 seats car type SUV designed for 5 people to sit comfortably.
5. Our management took the blame regarding the Hot Spring activity and our tour guide/ driver presented an apology on the spot, on our behalf once the information was verified by the correct department. When your spouse asked about the Hot Spring activity, and we informed her that was not included and she mentioned it was part of the Itinerary, our guide did apologize at that moment and informed us of the error. The issue was as our tour guide/ driver explained at that moment, the Hot Spring was part of the Tour and not the Sleeping Indian Mountain, when updated the tour description and name we failed to remove the Hot Spring attraction from the itinerary, for that we are guilty and we are sorry once more. As per our tour description regarding the amount of time one can do the Rappel is 3 times, all previous customers had done it 3 times, so you may have misread that part the same information is available on every other website we promote this tour including TripAdvisor.
6. Our Tour guide/ driver has done this tour many times and had given a shoulder to many customers to climb up the sleeping Indian mountain, yes, he did face some challenges and we are sorry about that, but as also indicated by our tour guide, our intention is always for you to have the most fascinating experience in your journey with us, while we are providing you with certain historical and important information. It rained before we climbed the mountain, our tour guide / driver was concerned and wanted to minimize the risk of someone missing a step and fall.
7. We will leave our response to your feedback at this point here, as it seems like you really had a problem with our Tour guide/Driver, as you also indicated you had to convince him to take you to your preferred restaurant. When your younger daughters wanted to eat Pizza and asked 1 hour before we arrived at the destination, if we could recommend a restaurant that sells Pizza and we gave all the available options, until you asked for a specific one that someone you had dinner with the night before recommended you, and then at the end of the activities you were taken to that specific restaurant.
8. At this point, it seems like the inconvenience was with our tour guide /driver for some reasons, as many things you said are untrue.
All our tours are designed by us and we make sure we operate them as they were tested and intended. All information provided to your party about the shortest distance and longest distance as accustom was provided by our Tour guide / Driver, so you and your party member could have a great experience and build memories just like those fists bumping while rappelling. You were given the information to choose between the shortest and the longest distance considering your physical conditions, because it was all about you, it is all about our customers’ needs and wants.
9. Last and not the least, early departure is always important that helps avoiding spending time in the traffic on the way back, a good sign to come back to Panama City before the rush hour. We designed all our tours with our customers best interests in mind and at heart, because you are our reason to be.
We apologize that, our good intentions felt short to meet your expectations and we have learned and we will continue to learn.
