The Adventure Company

I booked the "High Inca Trail" trip without flights, however the itinerary clearly stated that internal flights were included in the trip. However there was no booking for me at the end of the trip for a flight back to Lima from Cusco. No indication was given to me at the time that I made the booking that I needed to book this flight. I even phoned The Adventure Company before and after booking my flights to confirm the timings in and out of Lima and was given the impression that what I had booked was OK. I was almost stranded in the middle of Peru. Luckily the guide for the trip helped me to arrange a last minute flight at my own expense. After contacting The Adventure Company several times on my return to the UK they have failed to respond. Several other people in the group mentioned other problems with the customer service such as confusion over securing bookings etc.. so my problems don't seem to be a one off.

The trip itself was actually pretty good - the local guides porters and cooks did an excellent job. The main criticism would be with the itinerary which was vague to begin with. During the trek the guide seemed in a rush to get us to each camp site leaving us with little time for us to appreciate our surroundings. We ended up at the camp sites early and left with nothing to do so our afternoons and evenings during the trek were pretty boring.

A beautiful area with a huge potential for good hiking. Unfortunately the hikes were much shorter than advertised and we even found ourselves walking along the same tracks on a couple of occasions.The guide was much more interested in getting us to the bars and restaurants of her choice rather than respecting the hiking programme.The "home cooked delicious" packed lunches were a farce and the whole impression was that there was a lot of local cost-cutting.

The Customer Services of the Adventure Company is proving to be a nightmare. They never acknowledged our initial complaint, and 2 months on still have to get back to us with their comments and findings inspite of several chasers.

That said, the hotel was excellent, Kyrenia itself a delight with a vast choice of reasonably priced restaurants offering excellent food (so no need to pay the guide the inflated prices she was asking).

We would recommend this holiday, but only if the guide is changed.

This holiday - from day one it was the most amazing places I have ever been.

The company looked after us all so well, very well planned out, food was plentiful. Our guide Raj was outstanding noting was too much trouble we all felt very safe undr his wing.

I can honestly say there was not one thing I didn't like.

I am going to use this company for my next trip, but still not sure what will beat this experience.

You may contact me if you would like more information on this trip, all I can say "You Must go"" the experience will be with me fo ever!!!!!!

travelled with them to mexico, guatemala and belize on a tour operated by intrepid but the adventure company's service is second to none!!!!

it is a great product, a great company which looks after you well. I liked all the attractions on the trip and how things were optional meaning you didn't have to do things you weren't keen on rather than with companies such as EXPLORE.

Overall, a great company which i thoroughly recomend!

Whilst I booked my holidays with a really pleasant woman (A. Stringer), everything went from bad to worst.

1. The tour date I booked had been omitted to be advertised on their website therefore people didn't know about it unless by calling & be offered the date. This made the tour not reaching the minimum of travellers required to be guaranteed at the time I had first booked (8 weeks before departure). Then I was told about it. And Ms Stringer was truly brilliant in her dealings with me. She was understanding of all my concerns & sympathise with me. I cancelled my booking, she kept me informed all the way through & once the minimum attendees was reached, she advised me & booked me again. She was so good & nice. Sadly being sales, I had to deal with other people afterwards.

2. The single room occupancy advised could not be guaranteed and I was reassured by the sales lady that usually this was not a problem but they needed confirmation from the partner in the country of destination. She also told me in the event, the single room was not possible for all nights or any number of nights, there would be no problem the Adventure company would refund the monies accordingly.

3. Two weeks before departure, I had to chase them as I had not receive the final documents, which were eventually sent to me 2 days after.

4. On my first night, at check in, I asked the tour leader to ask if possible for a room with a double bed as I paid for sole use. On my third day as we checked in into another hotel in a different city before lunch, I was told that I had to share as the hotel was fully booked. I was so irritated about it. I was even more irritated when I saw the paperwork/information the Adventure Company had sent to the partner company in the country, showing that they booked me in a twin shared room, making no mention of any single room & supplement I had paid. I was also told by the partner company that they had informed Adventure Company, 3 days before I departed from the UK that the hotel in question was fully booked & couldn't provide the single room. No one at Adventure company bothered telling me. If so it would have avoided much upset & given me time to book elsewhere but at the last minute there were no room available nearby not even in B&B, guest house or similar. So I was left there crying my eyes out for hours.

5. After spending money to get an internet card in a country where internet access & speed are as good & easy as finding water in the desert (Luckily that hotel had internet. In the capital, the hotel we stayed in though very nice, for instance didn't). I spent just over half hour trying to log in to my email account & couldn't. So, I called their 0845 emergency number, twice from my mobile & overseas and reached an answerphone twice. Ok, it was boxing day but still it was an emergency number someone should have picked up the call. G adventure reply to their emergency number on Christmas, Boxing & New year's day. I left 2 messages with my tour leader number for someone to call me back on (as my phone having no credit after calling them wouldn't have worked).

The local people, hotel guest relation manager, tour leader, people in the offices of the local company & even our chauffeur were admirable & ever so kind. But my anger & frustration were so bad I cried further for hours. That afternoon (& the next 2 days), I was so down that I seriously considered leaving the tour & returning to the UK.

In the very early hours of 4th day, I again tried accessing internet which I succeeded with a different email account & emailed Adventure Company. I told them not to email me as I wouldn't have access to Internet(not only run out of credit but also very rare internet places in that country, which they should have known if they sell holidays for that destination) but to call the tour leader's number & resolve the matter promptly.

On the 5th day, pretty much at the end of the day, the tour leader received an instruction text rectifying the mess but I received no apology or message nor call from the Adventure company.

6. Upon return to the UK, I found out that they had actually emailed me on 27th Dec'12, saying that the phone lines were not working (I would have liked to give them the benefit of the doubt but I just couldn't) but they would try again for me. In the meantime if I needed to show their email to the tour leader so that he could contact the local company himself this could help. How is it in a country where Internet access is so rare, their email could have been of any help!??

I replied to that email and asked for supplement single paid to be refunded to me for the 2 nights, the monies I had spent on internet & telephone calls as it was solely due to their mistake. I further said that they should offer me a compensation for the inconvenience caused.

The next day, I received an acknowledgement of my email stating "We will respond fully within 28 days, though aim to do so sooner. We are conducting a thorough investigation and will be in contact with you as soon as all necessary reports have been received."

7. On the 30th day, I emailed them as I had not received any reply nor refund and asked which thorough investigation did they need, taking 28 days, which they even failed to comply with; to refund my monies for the 2 nights? These 2 nights should have been refunded to me straight away.

We are a week later and no one bothered reverting. I am absolutely fuming and have no doubt that ignoring customers complaints & treating them so badly when if they had not done wrong in the first place, complaints would not exist; is nothing but a way of exhausting the customer to not pursue their grievance.

If you want to enjoy your holidays, if you want matters that go wrong because of the holiday company to be sorted & in timely manner, if you want to be treated respectfully rather than taken for an idiot, then don't use the adventure company. I have made a huge mistake to go with them and do not wish anyone to go through such pain. By the way Exodus & Intrepid are linked to the adventure company. Different names but same same!

G adventure, Explore (which a friend used) are fine. On the Go tours are still the best, I have travelled with. After the Adventure Company Experience, I'll think twice and would probably travel independently as I use to do for years. Once you get your flight & a couple nights in a central hotel (a lot arrange for pick up airport). You can get all the tourist info from your hotel & tourist office and you'd save yourself not only money but a lot of upset. SAY NO TO THE ADVENTURE COMPANY & ITS AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE!

This sounded like an interesting and exciting holiday. The reality was little more than a bus tour of Morocco . We spent hours 6 out of 7 days in a hot, airless bus. 5 out of the 7 nights we stayed in grotty, souless and sometimes dirty hotels. Imagine the type of hotel you'd expect to get on a cheap getaway and you're about there. No wonder the Adventure Company don't list the hotels they use on the website. I expected basic Morrocan hotels not the Hotel Ibis Agadair with its sticky carpets or The Hotel Amine, Marrakech - reminiscent of a block of council flats with English disco music blaring by the pool.Why we spent a whole day travelling to Agadair is beyond me - tacky, touristy, dirty beach. Again, the type of place you'd expect to go on a cheap getaway and not on an expensive "adventure" holiday. Nobody in our group enjoyed it one bit. In Marrakech rather than a tour of the souk our local guide took us to a series of "shops". First we were lead into an upstairs room in a herbalist and subjected to an hour long "Avon" style sales pitch and were then expected to buy the products. Next we were lead into a carpet shop - again upstairs and the doors shut. The sales pitch here became quite aggressive and at this point my family walked out and told our guide that this was unacceptable. There followed a heated conversation between our guide and the local guide who was not happy that we were now refusing to follow him to the shoe shop and bakery that he had lined up for us. He was quite obviously working on a commission basis. After this we actually ended up with around half an hour to explore Marrakech- but to be honest we were so angry and fed up by this point we didn't care.

Needless to say - I would not recommend this company to anybody.

This is a trip that cannot be recommended as it was poorly organised and many of the key items on the itinerary were changed or cancelled. It was an expensive trip and some of the hotels atrocious. A lot of extra cost was incurred.

My trip begins on the 17th of December, the timeline of event are as follows.

1) On the 17th of December the British airways flight suffered a substantial delay, resulting in me missing my initial flight with gulf air.

2) The adventure company is contacted; Amy Crew of the adventure company informed me that I can still continue with my trip by catching the next flight on the 18th of December.

3) On arriving at Gulf air check in desk at terminal 4 on the 18th of December, gulf air informs me that the flight has been cancelled.

4) Adventure Company is contacted again; Amy crew of the adventure company on being informed of the cancelled flight curtails the trip and advises me to leave the airport and return home. I inquire about a refund to the curtailed trip but I am told this is not possible as the adventure company cant recover any money and I am advised to claim loss of my trip under the curtailment section on my insurance.

Once I had returned home I did not receive any help from the adventure company and had to file the insurance claim independently in January. On receiving my claim the insurance company requested information from all the various parties involved, this information took several weeks to compile. In March I requested flight information from gulf air, gulf air informed me that they had made a full refund to adventure company on the 23rd of December, I was fortunate to make this discovery. This was after the adventure company had claimed all monies were unrecoverable as the basis for why they could not refund me. I confronted the adventure company with this newly discovered information, it was only then did they agree to refund the cost of my flight minus taxes and other charges. What happened here tantamount to obtaining money via deception a criminal offence, the crime only discovered due to my own vigilantes. How can a supposedly professional company selling premium holidays behave in such a manner? The holiday insurance I was supplied with by the adventure company and advised to purchase has proven to be equally Mickey Mouse. My claim was filed in January; it now July and there is still no resolution. This is wholly due the unprofessional way in which the claims settlement agency which underwrites the adventure company insurance has behaved. At every opportunity they have tried elude their obligations. My advice to any potential clients of the adventure company is book elsewhere and certainly do not purchase their Mickey Mouse insurance. The Adventure company has done all it can to wash its hands of my case. I am over a thousand pounds out of pocket and have been completely abandoned by the Adventure Company.

I went on the Empire of the Inca holiday. It was the best holiday experience I have ever had. The hotels may not be 5 star, but they were all clean. The tour guide was very knowledgeable, and made sure we had a good time. This was a once in a lifetime experience for me and it was well organised, and went without any hitches. When I contacted the office to ask questions the staff were always polite and helpful. The trip was expensive, however it was also a once in a lifetime experience. I would definitely book with this company again. It is probably worth hiring the company's sleeping bags - I'd read bad reviews about them, but people I was with hired them and they were just fine - probably easier than carrying your own.

Have used the adventure company several times and have always had very good service. Office staff have been knowledgable and been able to give full details. trip dossiers very detailed.

Would highly reccommend.