West Highland Way sort of.
“West Highland Way sort of.”
★★☆☆☆
written by keithmillar on 16/09/2017
I booked and paid for a 9 day West Highland Way holiday staying at a different location each night with 2 rest days, one at Rowardennan to climb Ben Lomand and the other rest day at Kingshouse in order to climb another Munro. The daily stop overs were clearly laid out in the booking form and I expected the holiday to adhere to that plan. The holiday was scheduled for August 2017 and I had paid in February 2017 stating then that I was aware of the accommodation shortage at Kingshouse and requested they book early to avoid missing out. I live in New Zealand and can only communicate via email due to time differences. They responded saying they had made all the arrangements. They didn't say anything concerning difficulty arranging accommodation so I assumed everything was in place.
4 weeks prior to my holiday starting I received my itinerary via email. Contours had booked me 3 nights in Drymen, 2 nights in Tyndrum and 3 nights in Kinlochleven with my rest days shifted to an alternative location. I contacted the Rowardennan and Inveroran hotels where I should have been booked and they both said they had rooms available on my required date. Contours said both of those hotels had been booked out when they made inquiries and must have had a cancellation since then. I asked them to book me into those hotels which they charged me an extra 90 pounds to do so.
They also made me pay 33 pounds for a half share of a taxi from Kinlochleven to Kingshouse. Of course, I couldn't cancel as I would have lost my entire cost due to the lateness of cancellation which was due to the itinerary only being sent 4 weeks prior to the starting date. All very convenient for Contours.
Contours only seem concerned about money , not customer satisfaction. I have used them twice with a small issue in the first trip but I will never use them again. Their shoddiness detracted greatly from my enjoyment. I no longer trust them.
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August 2017
Date of trip
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Invigorating
Severity of walking
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Self organised
Type of trip
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Beauty of scenery
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Value For Money
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- keithmillar's review
Contourswalkingholidays's Response to keithmillar's Review
Written on: 26/09/2017
Hi,
Thank you for your review following your West Highland Way walking holiday.
We take all feedback and reviews very seriously and can only express our regret that you were disappointed with our service and acknowledge that that you did not have accommodations booked for you as expected in some locations along the trail. We do state clearly on our website that the itinerary you are booking shows our preferred overnight stops, but if accommodation is not available at any one of these locations, we may alter the itinerary slightly. We acknowledge that this statement is quite vague and have plans to improve the information we provide on our website over this winter, especially with regard to itineraries whereby transfers are required from the trail to your accommodations . This should alleviate any surprises when holiday packs are received.
The West Highland Way is a very popular trail and the limited rooms available at some of the remoter accommodations/hotels do get booked up very quickly and far in advance. When you booked your holiday back in January and we enquired at Rowardennan Hotel and Inveroran Hotel for availability for you, they unfortunately did not have any single occupancy rooms available. After investigation by yourself the Inveroran Hotel advised they had received a room cancellation and the Rowardennan Hotel also had a triple bedded superior room available for your holidays dates. We booked these for you as requested and cancelled the other accommodations we had originally booked for you. The single occupancy triple room at Rowardennan however, for two nights, did incur an upgrade supplement which was the agreed £90 charge passed on to yourself.
You advised you were aware that there was no accommodation at Kingshouse. Booking an extra night at this location therefore meant you would not actually be staying at Kingshouse for your planned additional Munro climb on your rest day, but at accommodation nearby that required a transfer to and from the trail, due to the Kingshouse Hotel being closed for refurbishment for the foreseeable future. As a gesture of goodwill however we agreed to pay half of the cost of a taxi for you so that you could return to Kingshouse from Kinlochleven on your rest day for your additional Munro climb. Travel costs for rest days would normally be at customers own expense.
Once again we regret that you were disappointed with our service. We take feedback – both positive and negative – very seriously and we want to ensure that every customer enjoys their walking holiday with us and receives the best service that we can offer.
Contours Walking Holidays
Keithmillar's reply to Contourswalkingholidays's Comment
Written on: 27/09/2017
This is not correct. You are trying to apportion responsibility to me for this mess.
You acknowledged my deposit and provided my itinerary which laid out the proposed nightly stop overs. This was acceptable and I paid the full amount owing early as I wished to finalise arrangements. I raised the point of the Kinghouse Hotel being closed but there is alternative accommodation there and assumed that you would act promptly to secure this.
Your booking conditions clearly state that if you encounter problems finding availability for my chosen dates you will contact me as soon as possible to discuss my options.
You did NOT contact me at all even though you had altered my selected itinerary almost beyond recognition and becoming unacceptable to me. I had even emailed you on the 14th of February asking for some re-assurance that there were no problems and you replied stating that all the arrangements have now been made. Nothing mentioned then about the drastically altered itinerary. I only discovered this when you emailed my finalised itinerary 4 weeks prior to my holiday commencing. Too late to cancel without losing all my already paid money and very difficult to arrange acceptable alternative accommodation.
However, I did make suitable alternative arrangements. The upgraded room at Rowardennan cost 50 pounds not 90 pounds as you state. You failed to mention that you also charged me a 40 pound administration fee to secure a booking at the Inveroran Hotel (which I arranged myself). This then totaled 90 pounds extra. I had also initially paid extra as a solo traveler.
Your conditions also state that if I was required to stay in accommodation off the trail then I would be taxied back to the trail at your expense. You charged me extra to have a rest day at both Rowardennan and Kingshouse and then refused to pay for the taxi back to those rest day locations. You should have informed me much earlier that my rest day locations were changed without my consent. As it was I had to pay 33 pounds for a half share of the taxi which you should have paid in it's entirety. I only did so as I was concerned that you would cancel my holiday and I would forfeit my money.
You were very difficult to deal with, frequently becoming confused with what had already been agreed upon and slow at responding to my emails. You seem to be more interested in extracting money than honouring your contracted obligations.
Your customer service is abysmal and, even now, you don't apologise for your failure to uphold your own booking conditions. Instead you only express regret at my disappointment with your service. I no longer trust you and will not have anything further to do with you. The best service you can offer falls very short of pleasing.
But every cloud has a sliver lining and for my next U.K. walking holiday I have found.a marvelous, competent company offering a professional service. ABSOLUTE ESCAPES. I highly recommend them. Check them out.