Tours4Fun

I have a group of 30 people for a Napa/Lake Tahoe tour. Before I paid, I called them up and they had responded to me by email that they have a bus that can accommodate the whole group which was really very nice of them. I made the payment and they emailed me back that they appreciate the prompt attention. A week after, they emailed me again and said that the tour is not available anymore because the extra bus that they added for our group was actually given to another group in which they had received the payment earlier.

So I called them up and they explained that it was a first come, first serve basis and that they paid first so they got the seats. These customer service people are very rude and they don't seem to understand that they had confirmed us for the extra bus but they gave away our reservation to someone else. I have all their email correspondence and I gave my phone numbers, both the landline and cell. If they have some concerns about their customers, they could've called and informed me about the situation. But they just don't care. They waited for days before emailing and informing me that the reservation is cancelled.

I have just returned from over 3 weeks of holidays in US. I have purchased 2 tours from Tours4fun over the internet. The experience was very poor and while I do not expect any compensation, I would like to warn other future travelers about the problems they may encounter.

There was no information whatsoever that the tours are bilingual. We only got it in small print once we have purchased the tours but not before. All 4 guides we had to deal with spoke badly broken English. With their poor grammar and bad pronunciation it was impossible to understand them on many occasions. When we were leaving the bus, quite often English speaking people had to ask the guide again what are we doing. Over 10 English speakers I talked to had the same problem. Quite often, we could not even decipher the names of places and attractions until we actually got to them and could read it somewhere. For example, Wall Street became "Washie". There was a guide that spoke perfect English but he was never on our bus, all 4 guides we had, were simply bad. They could have been great in Chinese, which was another language offered, but they should never guide tours in English.

Our buses were fitted with 60 seats and many people had to touch the seat in front of them, as there was simply no room left. They had very poor air conditioning. I have taken fast pace tours before but the tour, which 30% of the time forces you to wake up at 4:15 am, is just too much. On both tours we had to spend over 10 hours on a bus on multiple days. One tour that started in Las Vegas was delayed for 1.5 hours with no information or apologies. Imagine people waiting and wandering what is going on and if they missed the time or place. The only good comment I have about the tour is that the standard of the hotels was quite good. It is however too little to make your holiday even remotely good experience.

My family of 5 signed on for the 7-day Yellowstone/Mt. Rushmore Tour from Denver, Colorado 4 months before the actual tour. It was a disaster before day 1. I called the operator of Tours4Fun the day before the tour to confirm my reservation. I was told to meet at the fountain at Denver as on my itinerary .We arrived the day before since the earliest flight from SF would arrive in Denver at 11am. We did not want to miss the tour which started at 11:30 am. The itinerary and operator stated that if you did not arrive by 11:30 am on the day of the tour, you will miss the city tour and you would have to transfer from the airport to the hotel and join the tour the next day.

When we arrived at the Denver Airport, the fountain was nowhere to be found. I called the operator again, and this time, they told us to meet at the Burger King/Panda Express on the second floor. At this time, they told me that we were to meet the tour guide and he would have a Seagull Tour Flag. I told them that I did not sign up for that tour. I was assured that it would be the same tour.

The day of the tour, I called the tour guide to let him know that we were on time and that we were at Burger King. He told us to stay there. Later, he called and told us that we were to meet on the first floor where the old fountain used to be. We arrived before 11:30am. As I spoke to him, he asked if we ate. Of course we did. We were ready to go on the city tour. The tour guide then announced that we will be at the airport until 12:30pm, so that the other travelers could have lunch as we waited for the others to arrive. We didn't leave until 12:45pm. What a waste of time! I could have 1) arrived that day of the tour and 2) save on one night hotel bill for 5 of us.

In addition to this, my itinerary stated a Coors Brewery Tour. I mentioned this to the tour guide. He said we would not be going. What? The Coors Brewery does not allow bus tours for the last 5+ years. Tour4Fun knew this, and they continued to add it to their itinerary to sound good. The reason I chose to start at Denver for this tour was because of the brewery. My other choice was to start at Salt Lake City. Not only was the Coors Brewery on my itinerary, it is still on the Tours4Fun website for the following tours: 85-2936, 85-2944, and 85-3103.

I called the operator for Tours4Fun at the airport and complained. No results after 20 minutes on my cell. We were really pissed. The tour guide has told them to take it off the tour website many times for the last 5+ years. What a big disappointment for the 3 boys and my husband! What a way to start a tour!

Even though we are Chinese-Americans, we were treated as second/third-class citizens. We were hardly spoken to. He put us down when we corrected him/or had right answers. Our hearts went out to the English-speaking travelers. The tour guide did not translate all the information to English. He also did not translate certain information to the Chinese (Mandarin-speaking). That is, the bus drivers spoke English on the microphone and asked everyone to "make sure you clean your area" (trash, paper, etc.) before leaving the bus for the day.

We were in the front seats and heard the driver asking Allan ** to translate. He refused. After a couple of days, the bus was a mess. At this time, the guide announced the same information, and I yelled out, "Translate." And he finally did. It was not the 9 English-speaking travelers who were making the mess; it was the others.

The tour guide would speak very lengthy in Mandarin and short in English. More information was given to the Mandarin-speaking travelers. We do understand Cantonese/English and a little Mandarin. We knew it was a multi-language tour, but we did not know it would be so unbalanced. The tour guide had religious comments that were not appropriate. Not everyone believes and should pray to God/Jesus for better weather. Religion and politics should not be on the tour agenda. One person spoke up and said, "What if you don't believe in God?" That person believed in Buddhism. That person was offended.

The guide had limited control on the bus. The groups of Mandarin speakers were so loud. I asked them to quiet down, especially when he was speaking. I could not hear him. He moved us away from them. I finally spoke up at one point and said, "I cannot hear you because too many people are talking." After a couple of complaints, he finally spoke to the group. I told him I would take more action if it continued.

Due to his choices, we had a very limited visit at Jackson Hole. One place I was looking forward to. We were supposed to eat lunch at Jackson Hole, but we landed up at one of Yellowstone's cafeteria. They were not expecting this tour bus. We were allocated 40 minutes for lunch, and because of the bad service, we did not leave for over one hour.

We were 2 hours behind as we left. We were always in a rush and would arrive at the hotels so late that most of us did not eat / ate at 9-10 pm. Most of the food concession closed at 10pm or earlier. We could not enjoy the hotel facilities/town. Some of the hotels were very shabby--limited hot water, sheets were worn out, and the rooms did smell. Two hotels did not have any elevators. Thank goodness, the boys were able to carry my suitcase up the stairs for me. Ramada Inn and Holiday Inn were excellent, but we're unable to enjoy the facilities due to late arrival and early wake up.

We had a great opportunity to tour the Mormon Temple. No such luck. According to the Seagull Tour, the sister of missionaries would give a tour of the ground, but of course, this was not taken advantage of. We were there so early (8:25 am- 9:05 am) that nothing was opened. Even the visiting center was closed (opened at 9:00 am). As we left at 9:05 am, the sister of the missionaries were all lined up on the sidewalk welcoming the tour buses. This is one of the major attractions in SLC. What the **!

Important information was not given during the tour: Deadwood-Midnight Saloon which is Kevin Costner's casino/restaurant, History of Wild Bill Hick and the casino he played in which is where he died, Calamity Jane, Glenwood Springs where Doc Holiday died whose grave was within walking distance as some travelers went to the hot spring for an hour, the Denver Buffalo Bill grave/museum, US Mint, Eisenhower Tunnel, and the famous ski resort in Aspen/Vale for we drove by the slopes and town.

Good that 4 breakfasts were included, except many early risers ate their share and bagged food to go. Not much for the later eaters.

$40.00 for 4 tours was not worth it. We did not go to one, and the tour guide said he would return the $10.00 per person, but he has not. I have contacted Tours4Fun. Everyone should get back their refund. That's $50.00 for my group. Will they pocket it? I just received a voice message from Jay from Tours4Fun. He said we did see the Salt Lake. I told him that there was no admission fee/entrance fee. We went to the bathroom and saw the lake from a pier. The tour guide told us that the museum was closed and so were the facilities. I know I will not see my money at all. That was a ripoff.

The tour collected $40 x 58 passengers= $2,320.00. I believe that the 4 tours would cost only about of the collection. One tour (SL Lake) was a bathroom stop/ standing on a lookout point to see the lake (no fee/no admission). One can do better on your own. Tour guides gave a very brief introduction and used the CD for visual on the bus. At the site, he gives you 30-40 minutes for you to walk on your own and back to the bus. This tour was mainly a self-guided tour. Not enough time was given to see the presentations (film/rangers' tour) and free tours at the sites.

The driver, Chris, was excellent. He drove very well. Supplied water if needed for $1.00. Keep the bus very clean each day. He spoke to everyone. Chris stored and removed our luggage daily for us. In our opinion, he worked harder than the tour guide.

Word to the wise and be warned: Do not book with Tours4Fun/Seagull Tours. Spend a little more money and do your research. There are travel companies who are worth the money, and they're honest and fair and have excellent tour guides who know the information. Also, they provide decent food and lodging. (e.g., Ritz Tour/AAA are excellent.)