All reviews of Betsy Z Budzinski
Review about: Exoticca
Peru 8 days
Overall, prior to the trip there is no customer service, and once you actually reach the "service" department on the phone after hours on hold, the rep can't actually make a decision or connect you to someone who can.
The flight scheduling is the worst I have experienced. The 8 day trip turned into a 6 day trip because of the flights. I receive my flight information roughly 10 weeks before departure and immediately contacted Exoticca every week for 8 weeks before someone would attempt to correct the flights. It was impossible to change because now it was only 2 weeks before departure, and I would have been charged an additional $700 for more reasonable flights, and a full loss if I cancelled the trip.
Specifically I was scheduled :
Day 1: Arrival at 1am...realistically arriving at the hotel at 3am. City tour at 9am (Per the itinerary published I should have arrived the day before
9/25: Advertised as "depart for your international flight" and 9/26 Arrive back in US
Scheduled : 9/25 flight departure at 1am, leaving hotel at 10PM 9/24 with Arrival in US on 9/25. This eliminated an entire day and also I would have paid for a hotel room that I couldn't use.
I wound up booking my own flights, at my own expense. Exoticca basically did not make any offer to compensate me for this LARGE inconvenience. When I could actually talk to a person in "customer service" i was treated poorly and then to be asked to pay more money for less time was mind blowing.
During the tour, the communication was confusing, and I was never provided an itinerary with pick up times from the hotel. Some of the people on the tour were provided itineraries with not times. Our last Tour in Cusco was changed from 2pm to noon, and the only communication was a piece of paper taped to a window by the breakfast area.
Additionally the last hotel, Irrizarri in Cusco was below standard, I was given a room next to the kitchen which was so noisy you couldn't sleep, and also had no cell phone service...not internet, but service. The following day, there was no water in the hotel at all.
Overall, the tour wasn't all that bad, but customer service and the flight departments need to be totally retrained or overhauled. The worst experience I have ever had.