Hi,
I am taking this time to write the review here to ensure others who want to book with TF take care of the below:
1. To start with, overall planning of the trip was very poor. The planner was well aware that I am going to be travelling with 2 kids and 2 senior citizens. The trip suggested was Rishikesh, Haridwar, Mussorie, Jim Corbett and Delhi. One of the key reasons we go with travel agencies is when we don’t have time to plan or are not aware of the places that we are visiting. On reaching Mussorie, I was informed by the localities there that it takes 8 - 10 hours to reach Jim Corbett. I have no idea why this place was suggested at the first place considering the long road travel(I was told it would take about 3 hours BTW)
2. I was promised a comfortable SUV(6 travellers). What came was a very old, highly uncomfortable Ertiga and we were cramped into this car.
3. Coming out of the airport, we had to wait close to 45 mins for the driver to arrive. He was not even informed on which terminal we were coming in. Apparently he was waiting on T3 while we were at T1
4. The driver lacked any sort of empathy on the customers. He did not care about us and was quite rash in driving on the hill stations, although he had control of the vehicle. My kid was throwing up while he showed no signs of slowing down or even asking if we needed to take a break
5. Travel from Mussorie to Delhi took 9 hours. In these 9 hours, he did not even stop for a tea break. We ended up not having lunch for 9 hours, no tea/coffee break anything, inspite of requesting him to stop somewhere. He kept saying there is nothing available and was taking us to a roadside dhaba which we were not comfortable eating at.
6. On reaching Delhi(after the long haul), he refused to take us to see around places. He dropped us at one location and asked us to look around by walking. We had to spend additional amount on rickshaws and cabs to see around places(inspite of paying the driver the amount for sight seeing)
7. The driver was constantly getting caught by the local traffic police which he kept brushing away with different reasons each time. Only later we realized he was being caught because he was driving a diesel vehicle of BS4 when that was banned in Delhi. Most importantly - The vehicle was NOT a YELLOW board, it was a private vehicle used for tourist purpose. And imagine the traveller’s reputation when cops catch the drivers which are private vehicles! He had to pay a hefty fees for driving a BS4 vehicle in Delhi and that is precisely why we understood he was refusing to take us around
8. Why is TF not doing these basic checks and sending us professional drivers?
9. There is an on-ground support team available on telegram. When I had to cancel the Jim Corbett stay, I reached out to them to help me with an accommodation in Delhi. The team was sooo non-response and non-sensitive to my situation and showed no urgency in replanning. I ended up looking for hotels in Delhi, I was even though I was ready to pay the additional charges for last min booking, the on ground support team was unable to help.
I have had monetary loss in this trip - Had already paid for Mussorie to Jim Corbett which I had to end up cancelling due to the distance. I was informed by the ground team this cannot be refunded. Whole of Delhi, I have had to pay out of my pocket to roam around when the driver was relaxing in a parking area.
Overall, a very bad experience and will never ever go with TF again.