We had booked Rao Travels for our trip "Delhi - Manali - Delhi" and it was our bad luck that after getting our tickets confirmed we got to read people reviews about Rao on social networking sites which were giving us shocks and nightmares. We were to board our bus on 20th May, 13 from Rama Krishna Ashram for which we took metro keeping a good grace time to avoid any kind of hassles as we had a small child as well.
After standing at RK Ashram for 15 mnts we called up the operator and came to know that we have to reach somewhere near Ambedkar Bhawan in Pahar Ganj which made us go crazy as with luggage and child it becomes a bit difficult to travel even the shortest distance. Anyhow, we managed to reach there taking a rickshaw and saw that loads of people were already scattered there waiting for their coordinators and buses. The biggest shock we got was when we were told that Volvo from Rao is not available as there bus "BROKE DOWN" at the last minutes and we will be going by some Kalpana Travels, we shouted a lot but to no use and the operator stopped taking our calls also, trying to call from a different number helped us and again the operator disconnected the call saying that he is helpless, this mess gave us an idea as to what we will be experiencing on our return journey "Manali - Delhi". Moreover the bus attendant was taking a charge of Rs. 20/- per luggage from customers to keep it in safe which is like a part of Volvo only still we had to pay for it. The Volvo started from there after 6 pm when it was suppose to start at 5.30 pm, anyways even accepted that, the Volvo reached a destination called "Majnu ka Tilla"where we wasted almost 2 hrs waiting for a couple to reach and within that time a PCR came and started questioning the coordinator / driver etc., and finally the operator got a challan for keeping the bus waiting with no specific reason.
Finally the bus started at 8.30 pm or may be later than that. The biggest surprise we got on our return journey was when we called up a Rao agent in Manali asking what time the bus will arrive and also are our seats confirmed and the reply we were given was that the bus is not available and even if it will come it will be not earlier that 5 - 6 pm though the bus was to start from Manali at 4.30 pm. At that point of time we were feeling like we have been robbed and abandoned. Somehow we managed to convince the agent and he allotted us two seats with numbers 45 and 46 in an Indo Canadian Volvo, Mercedes, we were quite satisfied that atleast we have something in hand so that we can reach Delhi, although it was totally different of what we had booked. We reached the private bus stand in Manali and by God’s grace even got the bus in which we were sitting at the back seat with a child though our seat numbers were 37-38 while booking the tickets, there was another couple with a child at the back seat and somehow we came to know while chitchatting that even they have been robbed by Rao in the manner we have been and they experienced the same procedure which we had undergone as we all were in the same bus both ways.
The AC of the bus was not working properly and upon questioning the driver he managed to please us but not totally, then there was nothing which was provided in the Volvo to us as promised by RAO in his package deal, anyways we had no other option except to sit quietly as we were at the receiving end and the full payment was also done to them and who would be been fighting with these cheap guys to get the money refunded. We had booked RAO because we had a good experience with this operator as few years back we had booked a trip to Vaishno Devi and it was a good experience but we never new that in a short span to time RAO had degraded to an extent that for money he can go to any level. Both ways we never got Volvo service of RAO and some other buses were provided to us, how does it matter whether they were Volvo.
I would strongly recommend that one should never ever trust this operator even if they beg on their knees to please their customer of providing the best deals. They have no coordination system and every time you call them up and they will just not listen to what you want but let you know that this is what they have for you and it is your wish whether to take it or leave it, such a mismanagement I have never experienced in my life as it was not the first time we were traveling by Volvo. Every time you call them up and they keep on giving some other phone numbers where they make us call and the next person is completely a layman who is not at all aware of what you are telling them.
To be very honest we are still lucky as we got rid of them just in a to and fro journey because earlier we were planning to book a complete "Delhi - Manali - Delhi" package which included sights seeing, hotel stay etc., I just cannot imagine where we would have landed up if we had taken up the complete package.... it give me shivers. BEWARE OF BOOKING YOURSELF WITH RAO TRAVELS.... I wonder how one can be awarded the "BEST TOUR OPERATOR"