Warning - This review is based on my experiences with SOTC. Other people may have had different experiences. Readers discretion is advised.
I intended to travel to Switzerland for my Honeymoon for which I had approached SOTC a good 4 months in advance. I decided on a tour option based on the feedback from SOTC. At this point I would like to mention that I was told by SOTC that a swiss tourist Visa is easy to get and one is almost never called for an interview.
I went ahead and made a payment to SOTC for purchasing the air tickets. A few days later I deposited all the necessary documents for the visa application.
I was going on a honeymoon which implied that I was not married at the time of applying for the visa.
Then I was informed by SOTC that I need to appear for a Visa interview at the swiss embassy along with my fiancee. Now it was ok for me coz I am living in Delhi. Had I been in Bangalore I would have to incur extra costs of travelling to Mumbai. THis information was never given to me by SOTC.
I went to the Swiss embassy in Chankyapuri along with my fiancee(who luckily lived in the same city). In the interview I was told that, and I quote verbatim, "Your agent has wrongly scheduled your interview for today. You were supposed to come for the interview* after* your marriage"
This was a shock to us. There is no way one can attend a visa interview after marriage especially in Hindu marriages. Also, this means that I buy accomodation etc in Switzerland and pin my hopes on getting a visa. If I failed to get a visa almost my entire outlay wuld be lost.
We then talked to the guard at the Swiss embassy who informed us that this(interview after marriage) had become the standard procedure for Swiss visa’s and my agent should have known this.
We came out of the embassy dazed not knowing what to do. SOTC had promised us that there would be someone outside the embassy to guide us but there was noone there. I called up the SOTC office and was asked to wait there till someone showed up. I had to wait for 90 minutes before an idiot turned up.
The end result was that I had to cancel my plans to travel to Switzerland. Moreover I lost he money spend on our Visa applicaitons and the money that the airline deducted for cancellation of tickets.
This was not the end of my woes.
I had little time left to plan for my honeymoon so I decided to go to no-cisa-hassle-Mauritus.
I demanded that SOTC immediately give me back my money and my passport so that I can arrange a trip from some other operator.
SOTC lingered on with this and delayed things so that I was forced to take the Mauritius trip from SOTC.
The trip itself was fine but not only did I loose money but also I had to undergo the disappointment of not being able to go to my preferred destination.
The desk executives in SOTC, I would not like to mention their names, were dumber than a dodo and did not manage anything well.
I must say that this is the first and the last time I will ever approach SOTC.
Before I end, a piece of advice - in case you are going on a Honeymoon to a country with slightly stricter visa laws it is always better to get your marriage registered in a court before you apply for a visa. I feel that I would have not had any issues if SOTC had guided me and told me about this option.