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- Irresponsibility of 'Arina' employee
Travel agency review (St. Petersburg)
Irresponsibility of 'Arina' employee
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Author:
Date of purchase: 08 august 2018 Written: 19 august 2018 |
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Travel agency: (St. Petersburg) Service type: экскурсионный тур |
In early August, we decided to go on a five-day bus tour of Solovki. Among several travel agent firms that offered this tour, the choice was made in favor of "Arina" due to prompt feedback from an employee of "Arina" Yulia Kostyleva. After contacting the office of "Arina", Yulia called back in 15 minutes and provided information on the availability of seats, as well as the conditions of the trip. The direct tour operator that conducted the tour was the company "Russian North", whose work can be assessed as "excellent". Unfortunately, such an assessment cannot be given to the work of the above-mentioned employee Yulia. During a telephone conversation with Yulia, we confirmed to her our intention to go on a tour of Solovki through Arina and asked her to book two seats. We also agreed that we would send her our passport data for filling in a standard form of a contract for the organization of tourist services.
During the whole working day, Yulia was unable to send the contract for review by e-mail, despite repeated calls with a request to expedite the procedure. Julia did not answer too confidently to clarifying questions about the trip, apparently having hastily read the information on the website of the tour operator itself. The next day, when we arrived at Arina's office with cash, we were surprised to learn that she did not enter passport data into the contract and did not prepare any documents for our arrival at all. Julia took up the execution of the contract in our presence, filling it out "in haste". For example, the route passport, which is an integral part of the contract, was not provided to us in principle. And Yulia copied the information sheet (schedule of the travel program by day) from the site of the direct tour operator, without even putting down the specific dates of the trip.
When the issues with signing the contract and paying for the tours were closed, Yulia assured us that on the eve of the trip we would receive an SMS with detailed information: about the bus on which we would go on the tour, the route map, the guide's contacts. We did not receive any messages not only the day before, but even on the day of the trip itself! I had to repeatedly call Arina's office, but it was impossible to catch Yulia on the spot: either she registered a client, then left the office, or talked on a personal phone. Of course, we asked her colleagues to contact us and provide the necessary information. Our requests were ignored. As a result, I had to call the tour operator "Russian North" directly and the manager Tatyana Ushakova immediately answered our questions, for which many thanks to her!
And Yulia from Arina never got in touch, apparently considering that since the money for the tickets was received, the job was done and the client would figure it out for himself further - which bus, from those parked in the Dybenko metro area, should he get on.
Outcome: We note the low level of organizational services from the employee of "Arina". The tasks of a travel agent, that is, an intermediary between the client and the tour operator, which Arina acted as: to book seats for the client on the trip, give full information about the service provided, draw up the contract in a timely and correct manner, promptly respond to the client's questions and bring him to the guide. An employee of "Arina" coped with only the first task, carelessly completed the rest and did not complete his work, leaving a small residue from the wonderful tour conducted by the "Russian North"!
