The worst vacation package for Himachal Pradesh from May 24 to 30, 2019 organised by Yatra.com(Refer no. YH5097845)
We would like to give our feedback on our Himachal customized package provided by Yatra which was specially charged and this is what we received.
As we arrived at Chandigarh airport, we observed all other travel agents were standing with placards which carried the guests name to welcome the guests. In case of Yatra, which claims it is rated No. 1 in this business, there was nobody around to pick us. As we realized that we were the last passengers left, we tried to call the tour coordinator Ashwani Gupta(KC Tours & Travels cell -9478226464), who never answered any call. Then we tried calling his driver(called Sunny cell - 9592595259 provided by Yatra, he was found way behind in the parking lot of cars waiting for us to find him.
We boarded the Innova car(which had a lot of scratches on the vehicle, its air condition in the car had very low cooling, & the buttons on the front desk board broken, (pictures attached) at 12.20 noon, for the first leg of our journey from Chandigarh to Shimla. At lunch, we stopped by at a dhaba. On checking the bill, we noticed that the bill was inflated by Rs. 200. The dhaba waiter told us that he has added the driver’s meals amount too. We were surprised as we had already paid the drivers allowance to Yatra in advance. We called Yatra’s sales executive, for clarifications, who though not an yatra operations person was always available, whenever we called him after 24/7 customer service persons failed to offer any assistance) And after a conference call between Mr. Ankesh, myself and Ashwani Gupta, this matter was sorted out, that no extra payments are to be done to the driver & that we have done the entire payment to Yatra. All payments to the travel agent will be done by Yatra. Ashwani Gupta came with the driver assured us that he would refund the amount of Rs.200/-. This was not done. All this happened, on day 1, immediately after lunch, while the car was driven by the driver to the travel agent’s office, all of a sudden. After luch the journey continued. We reached Mashobra Club Mahindra resort, shimla at 6:00 pm. This resort is a nice resort. All along the way, the driving was very rash & on high speed. The driver was busy answering calls(driving on a hilly region) all the way, with very loud music on. He was caught by the police, his license was taken. Here we learnt that he was caught by police the earlier day too for talking on mobile while driving. He had the fine receipt with him which he showed the police. For this, the police punished him to drive back 2 kms and then the license was returned at the spot where he was caught.(Waste of our time) The police also scolded the driver saying that because of talking on mobile, he could meet with an accident and take away the lives of 4 innocent people along with him. Still he did not listen & throughout the entire journey he was very adamant & continuously kept on talking with the travel coordinator with loud music on.
Day 2 - Sightseeing trip to Kufri - Return to Shimla
Driver took us to places which he had planned & not what we had asked for. We were not interested in the amusement Park. This was discussed & was agreed on mail with the sales executive that we were not interested in the pony ride & amusement park. We had informed YATRA of our disinterest in this. Whenever we questioned him about his plan, he remained silent.
Then he took us to Mall Road & said "You can ask & go whereever you want & call me when you have finished site seeing. We had to walk in the hot sun asking the locals for directions to the mall & somehow reached the lift to the mall road.(Two youngsters including one senior citizen & one 55+ walking in the scorching heat. He could have reached us to the lift!) Then, later, inconvenience for us to search for exit parking. He was busy answering calls all the way with very loud music on.
Day 3 - Drive from Shimla to Manali via Kullu
Left at 10:00 am & reached Hotel Green Orchards Manali at approx 9:45 pm. What a horrible journey, rough driving, no ac in the car, Sunny(the driver) stops at the worst hotel on the way for break. The whole day we all survived by eating biscuits & water.
Despite of several request to halt for shopping of shawls at Kullu still he paid a deaf ear. Although the driver has been to those places several times he would never share information.
We checked in at Hotel Orchard Greens. This 4 star hotel has one star facilities. This hotel had no lift and we were given 2 rooms on the 5th floor. One person who is a senior citizen & the other 55 plus of age, plus two more family members, all 4 of us had to climb 5 floors. We called for Yatra’’s customer support & spoke to Mr Praveen to sort out the problem. This person never helped. I was forced to accept whatever rooms were given to me as the temperature that night was 8 to 9 degrees & there were no spare rooms available. The condition of the rooms were pathetic. The walls were wet, the sofas soiled & dirty, the toilets leaking, taps leaking, the chair provided in the room was so small for a 2 year old child to sit & poor room service. There was a 1 ½ inch insects crawling on the bed. (pictures of the room & the small chair. You can imagine our plight. Day 3 – No sightseeing
Day 4 - Sightseeing in Manali
There were so many nice places planned to visit but the driver Sunny just drove one kilometer & dropped us at the market place saying "From here you can ask & find your place."
Day 5 - Drive from Manali to Dharamshala - Sightseeing in Dharamshala(Asean health Resort and Spa)
Scheduled sightseeing by yatra at Dharamshala. Visit the Tibetan Medical Centre, the Church of St. John, local monasteries or try out some meditation courses.? The driver did not take us to any of the above at Dharamshala. The site seeing never happened because the driver decided to take a different route so that we don’’t halt and see those scheduled places. After a long drive of 40 kms the driver suddenly realised that he was on the gone the wrong way. Hence had to reverse the same distance. .shier waste of time. Was that a planned by YATRA to increase kms? Despite being promised that the vehicle being provided is ac, the air condition was switched off throughout. Every time I requested to turn on the ac of the car, the driver replied rudely, ”Yatra has not booked an Ac car”. The heat during the day was unbearable(38 to 40 deg at day). We called & spoke to Jaspreet Singh(from Yatra’’s customer support) He was polite. But no effect. Travelling 10 ½ hours in that terrible heat - Do you call this an enjoyable holiday? Noticing such behavior of the driver, we had to call Yatra to check if it was safe to travel with this driver. Because on our return from Dharamshala as we found his behavior very weird & we were afraid. Five mins after we took of from Dharamshala, the driver had a clash with two young local boys who were riding on the motorbike. The driver left the Innova car in the middle of the road & got out to fight with the 2 local boys which lasted for approx 45 mins. We not only lost 45 mins of our time, but one can imagine the stress & tension we were during that 45 mins until the entire drama was over. We were stranded in a isolated place, on top of the hill, just open land, & if the situation had to get worst(we mean the fight) it could have resulted into anything & we would have been the victims.
Day 6 - Drive from Dharamshala to Chandigarh.
Besides main roads, the driver drove through lanes, sub lanes & rough roads. We finally reached Hotel Ramada, Chandigarh at 8.30 pm. without any siteseeing and lunch on the way. Still we reached so late because we were going round in circles, just travelling but never reaching. On the last day, we checked out at 11 am as per schedule hotel time. The driver was informed well in advance.