Problem with Best Limos in Rome

[bbwex]

I would appreciate the thoughts of other CC members on this one.

 

We signed up for a tour of Florence from Livorno with Best Limos in Rome. We actually joined another CC member's tour -- we were particpants three, four, five and six. Unfortunately, the person who started this tour had to cancel their entire trip about a week to ten days before due to a family illness. At this point there were just four of us left, and not enough time to find more people. We discussed it, and decided to cancel the tour. No problem, we were about a week to tens days prior (my emails are back at home so the dates have to be approximate). The cancellation policy is 72-hours before the tour, and we were well before that.

 

As part of the tour, I had also ordered and paid for 4 tickets to the Academie (sp?) Gallery in Florence. The tickets were clearly stated to be non-refundable. I understood that, and when I cancelled the tour, I asked where in Livorno I could pick up the tickets, or that I would be in Rome for three days before even going to the ship, and I would go to their office to pick up the tickets in Rome. I didn't mind the non-refundable nature, I just wanted the tickets I had paid for.

 

No response whatsoever from Best Limos in Rome.

 

On the ship, two days after we had been in Livorno, I had not had any refund to my PayPal account -- not even the deposit on the tour which was clearly refundable up to 72 hours in advance. So I started a dispute with PayPal.

 

This is where I would appreciate some thoughts. I had paid for the tickets, I had offered to pick them up either at their office in Livorno, in Florence, or in Rome. If they had indeed purchased the tickets, which is the only thing that would honestly make them non-refundable, I think I should have been able to get them somehow. If they never bought the tickets (my personal guess) then they should refund that money as well.

 

Anyone's thoughts on the fair way to handle this??

 

By the way, Best Limos in Rome has escalated the entire matter, and though they say they are willing to refund the deposit on the tour, they have not bothered to do so yet, and we are now at least 10 days to two weeks after the cancellation.

[wantocruisemore]

Actually what you're experiencing is the main reason I only will book with the most recommended of tours, especially when paying a deposit. Most of the time I will not put down a deposit, and if they insist, I find someone else.

 

You should have gotten your tickets, but since it indicated non-refundable, then you may not.

 

Continue on with the PayPal dispute. Also let them know you are posting on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor about the problems you are having with them.

 

I actually had never heard of this company and can't recall it being mentioned on this board, although I could have missed it.

[6rugrats]

If you've already started a dispute with Paypal, let them handle it right now. These don't get resolved overnight; I've had several and one of them ended up going back through my credit card company, but I always got my money back.

[Loonbeam]

Did you pre-order the accedamia tickets via the limo company? That's kind of odd, most of them have you buy them direct by phone or internet...

[bbwex]

The option to buy the tickets were on the tour order/reservation form. That seemed to be easiest, so that's the route I took.

 

As for the other replies, I am letting PayPal handle the issue, I just wonder whether most people think I am right that since I paid for the tickets, I should have been able to get them and use them.

 

According to my notes, I did see this company recommended for some things in Italy, though the Florence tour was not specified.

[6rugrats]

... I just wonder whether most people think I am right that since I paid for the tickets, I should have been able to get them and use them.

 

Yes, of course. If they didn't give the tickets to you, you should be reimbursed for the cost.

[nparmelee]

Quite a few of the Florence tour companies have options to purchase the tickets in advance for you. I'm not sure what happens with most of those companies if you cancel the tour, but I would agree that they should at least give you a way to pick up the tickets you purchased or refund the money. Please let us know the outcome from PayPal.

[samavarcruiser]

I would appreciate the thoughts of other CC members on this one.

 

We signed up for a tour of Florence from Livorno with Best Limos in Rome. We actually joined another CC member's tour -- we were particpants three, four, five and six. Unfortunately, the person who started this tour had to cancel their entire trip about a week to ten days before due to a family illness. At this point there were just four of us left, and not enough time to find more people. We discussed it, and decided to cancel the tour. No problem, we were about a week to tens days prior (my emails are back at home so the dates have to be approximate). The cancellation policy is 72-hours before the tour, and we were well before that.

 

As part of the tour, I had also ordered and paid for 4 tickets to the Academie (sp?) Gallery in Florence. The tickets were clearly stated to be non-refundable. I understood that, and when I cancelled the tour, I asked where in Livorno I could pick up the tickets, or that I would be in Rome for three days before even going to the ship, and I would go to their office to pick up the tickets in Rome. I didn't mind the non-refundable nature, I just wanted the tickets I had paid for.

 

No response whatsoever from Best Limos in Rome.

 

On the ship, two days after we had been in Livorno, I had not had any refund to my PayPal account -- not even the deposit on the tour which was clearly refundable up to 72 hours in advance. So I started a dispute with PayPal.

 

This is where I would appreciate some thoughts. I had paid for the tickets, I had offered to pick them up either at their office in Livorno, in Florence, or in Rome. If they had indeed purchased the tickets, which is the only thing that would honestly make them non-refundable, I think I should have been able to get them somehow. If they never bought the tickets (my personal guess) then they should refund that money as well.

 

Anyone's thoughts on the fair way to handle this??

 

By the way, Best Limos in Rome has escalated the entire matter, and though they say they are willing to refund the deposit on the tour, they have not bothered to do so yet, and we are now at least 10 days to two weeks after the cancellation.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience

[bbwex]

Unfortunately, PayPal denied everything in our claim. Their response was: "We

regret to inform you that we were unable to resolve this case in your favor

because the claim was incomplete, filed incorrectly, or outside the bounds

of coverage as defined in our User Agreement."

 

I don't believe the claim was incomplete as I had stated everything, and had told them that I would not be available to send them copies until my return, but they did not ask for anything additional. I have filed two claims in the past, so I don't think it was done incorrectly. I have to presume that it was "outside the bounds of coverage....."

 

The two things I guess I take away from this are:

1. Not to ever use Best Limos in Rome as they never refunded the tour deposits even though the tours were cancelled well in advance of the cutoff time (by a matter of more than a week), and I am personally certain that they never bought the tickets we paid for and they simply took that money under the premise of being "non-refundable." If indeed they had purchased the tickets, then I agree that they were non-refundable.

 

2. Don't rely on PayPal for this sort of thing. Had I put it on a credit card, I could have filed a protest with my credit card company, and I have a feeling that I might have done better.

 

We live, we learn, and we move on!

[bbwex]

There is a change to the outcome posted previously. I just received a message from Best Limousines in Rome that as a result of my situation, even though PayPal did not require a reimbursement, they (Best Limousines) are making a change in their policy that if you have paid for tickets you are entitled to those tickets regardless of whether you use their van. As a result, they are reimbursing our ticket outlays.

 

This is right in line with what many of us felt was the appropriate action, and Best Limousines informs me that they have worked this out with the agent that buys the tickets for them. In the future, if you do not take their van or limousine but you have bought tickets to a museum, you will have the option of having the tickets mailed or emailed to you.

 

Kudos to Best Limousines in Rome

[Deb0702]

That's great to know Best Limousine agreed to refund when they didn't have to. That puts their company in a good light. Paypal doesn't guarantee as much as most people think. I've used Paypal for deposits on tours and deposits on apartments, ticket etc. thinking that if I ran into trouble Paypal would be there for me. Later, I figured out that Paypal does not offer any guarantees on such things. I've canceled tours and been lucky not to get burned. Most companies are fair. And that's good because when you're dealing with tours operators/owners overseas, it could be very complicated or even impossible to get your money back. So that's good to know about Best Limousine. :)

[travelqueen555]

There is a change to the outcome posted previously. I just received a message from Best Limousines in Rome that as a result of my situation, even though PayPal did not require a reimbursement, they (Best Limousines) are making a change in their policy that if you have paid for tickets you are entitled to those tickets regardless of whether you use their van. As a result, they are reimbursing our ticket outlays.

 

This is right in line with what many of us felt was the appropriate action, and Best Limousines informs me that they have worked this out with the agent that buys the tickets for them. In the future, if you do not take their van or limousine but you have bought tickets to a museum, you will have the option of having the tickets mailed or emailed to you.

 

Kudos to Best Limousines in Rome

 

Glad you got all of your issues resolved with Best Limos in Rome. However, I am going to post a little more information I think everyone on CC needs to be made aware of.

 

This past August we sailed on the NCL Epic in the Med. While posting on our roll call looking for others to join our group with All Around Italy, and another cruiser was also posting for persons to join her group with Rome In Limos. She and I were the original persons to set up the group with these tour companies, but each of our tours were a little different. So when someone would contact either of us for our tour, if our tour did not meet their needs we would refer them to each other's tour, and vice versa. Well fairly soon before the cruise there was a post looking for persons to join their group with Best Limos in Rome. The post went on and on about how Best Limos was the best to use and was the only tour company that accepted payment ahead of time which was the best way to go instead of paying in Euros at the end of the tour. I responded to the poster that there were two other two groups that still had room for their same tour and maybe they could just join one of our two groups. The response was almost rude, saying they would only use Best Limos, and something about the way it was written just did not sit right with me. So I did a search of posts by this CC member. And sure enough, there were many posts of this person on many different roll calls for many different mediterranean cruises on several different lines, saying they were going on a certain cruise and trying to gather a group of persons. Then after a group had been formed, the original poster had to cancel due to an illness in the family. They asked one of the other persons in the group to take over as the group leader.

 

It appeared to me that this was a person working for Best Limos that was using the roll calls to gather groups for their company and then backing out at the last minute after a group had been formed. I contacted the Cruise Critic Moderators and alerted them to what I suspected. They responded with a huge thank you, that I was correct and the problem was much larger than I had even suspected and they were responding to the issue and it would be taken care of.

 

That is all I know at this time. The posts on my roll call were deleted and the poster was never heard from again. I suspect that is what happend to you also.

 

I am not saying the Best Limos in Rome is not a reputable company, or that their tours are not good (I know nothing about them), I just think their way of marketing , trying to set up groups through roll calls is bogus. Just wanted to let other's know of this. I hope the Cruise Crictic boards can stay on top of this also.

[bbwex]

It is not much of a reply, but in our case, I do know that the person who originally set up the tour with Best Limos in Rome was in fact on our cruise. She made no special recommendations for the company other than the fact that she found them via CC. I cannot speak to other trips and other roll calls, but on ours, it was one of our fellow CC members who was indeed booked on our cruise.

 

Best Limos was easy to deal with in making the reservations, and although we ran into the problem with the cancelled trip and not getting the tickets, but they have permanently resolved that issue in favor of the customer. What more can you ask for?