INDIANHOLIDAY PVT www.indianholiday.com/

I have no idea about the indianholiday.com I Just returned from a Lluxury Tour of rajasthan with Easy Tours of India. the Hotels, resturent and the itinerary were better beyond my expection.

I and a group including my mother, 2 brothers, a husband, a grandmother and 2 very young children all went to India for a holiday. Well actually it was also to carry out the last rites of my late father and a holiday that he wanted us all to go on.

We looked at many companies and finally went onto the 'High Commissioner of India site for recommendations. We chose a company called 'Indian Holiday PVT' based in New Delhi. We also looked at companies in the UK specialising in such holidays but they were slow to respond to us or were more expensive. They seem to have a very high mark up, now we don't mind a decent mark up but they were quoting a ridiculous price and you could see the mark up being extortionate. Especially as some of the hotels were the same etc.

Anyway, even though we still made the best of it, the company let us down by promising us:

first class railway tickets which we asked for since we had 2 little ones - we thought that had been arranged and when we got to India we asked that very question only to be told yes that the first class tickets had been arranged! How wrong that was! - they had arranged 'AC compartments' instead of the first class carriages that we had arranged and paid for. They only mentioned in the email that in case of delays or cancellations then that is when they will arrange the best class available, but cancellations or delays are very rare on the best train service in India. It was a shame that going to 'Gaya' and back again we were delayed. Firstly by 30mins then by 6 hours. Anyway that did not bother us, as being in a resident in the UK and using public transport we are used to that. What bothered us was the fact that on both occasions we checked the first class compartment to notice plenty of empty berths. The reason why this annoyed us, apart from that is what we had paid for, is that they have proper sleeping areas and that would have been ideal for the children and our grandmother.

Secondly rather then parking near the appropriate entrances of the railway stations, on all 4 occasions when we had to use the railway stations we had to park on the other side and walk all the way through in the baking heat. I would not mind that, if we didn't have luggage to carry or 1 baby and 1 toddler to carry in such weather. We would have gone during a cooler month but we had to go in April due to when the last rites could be performed. This was mentioned to the holiday company and the fact that we were bringing 2 little children with us so we had to make sure everything was of a high standard! They promised us that it would be.

You don't mind walking from one side to the other once but on all four occasions and with children is too much. My husband complained because this was his first time and realising after each trip from one side of the station to the other he noticed that you could park the car 200 yards away!

In Kolkata when we mentioned this their excuse was parking restrictions, but we saw not 1 or 2 but 5 cars/map's drive up a and park for 5 minutes to drop off. We were also told that they were drop off bays!

Anyway, we still carried on enjoying the experience!

Next, a few hotels were of 4-5 star but a few were terrible. 2 in particular were awful. Since we paid for 4-5 star prices we expected that and that is what was promised. We can cope with many things but when you pay for something you expect it especially on luxury items. It is not like I

mentioned the fact of having 2 young children and a 70 year old grandmother once, I mentioned these 2 facts time and time again and still they got it wrong. Or maybe they thought that since we are from England we would not notice the difference. But by asking around you realise that they are conning you and it is not a nice feeling, especially as you have had to save hard for the holiday money.

Next, disaster, we have a 7 hour journey from Delhi to Mandawa, near Rajastan. Only to find out that the guide which we asked for had not been arranged. So here is another chance were they profited. The hotel were good and asked if they could arrange a guide but it would cost us! Since they are a preferred hotel of the said holiday company, you would think in the name of good customer service they would organise and pay for or obtain later from the holiday company the payment. This would be using one's initiative but it seems too difficult to comprehend for both the hotel and holiday company. What annoyed us the most was if this was the case, why not tell us when we were in Delhi then we would have made a judgement and not dragged our little one's into a tempo for 7 hours to somewhere, we were only stopping a night! By informing us, it would have satisfied us and not fuel our anger more.

Also the company should have been aware of the major road works - they were new motorways etc So instead of a 5 hour trip it becomes more like 7 or 9 hours! Especially as I did mention my 2 children and if we would experience anything road problems. These road works are not small for them to have missed they are major motorways being built for the 'Commonwealth' so it is not something that one can miss. When I have used companies here they have organised the holiday beautifully and if anything did go wrong they would hear my complaint and rectify and apologise for it. Even when I have organised events in my previous job I made sure everything ran smoothly, even to informing the executives that the plane they were catching would be delayed due to some danger alert. This I felt was part of my job to make sure the customer had the best experience possible.

All the holiday company had to do was inform us during or emailing and we would have been aware and reorganised our plans. It should have been simple as that. We did ask the driver if people knew about the major roadwork's, the reply was yes as it was in the Delhi papers almost everyday!

Every time we arrived in Kolkata or Delhi they asked us if we were enjoying the trip or if we had any complaints. When we mentioned the complaints all they did was smile!! They did nothing more, not even mention or rectify the problems, as we gave them plenty of opportunity to do so!

Even on the second to last day they asked us to fill in the questionnaire. We again mentioned all the problems and cheekily asked if they could rectify them by arranging a car to take us shopping on our last day. But they couldn't do that, because it would cost them. It is ok for them to charge us for things we never received or our time but for them to apologise and rectify the problem that they could not do. An example of good customer service, we stayed at the 'Park hotel' in Kolkata and we were in a room above the night club which would have gone on till 4am in the morning and we had to catch our flight at 12pm. We asked them what time it would finish and we were told that it would finish at 1am but it didn't we complained again. Guess what, they apologised and moved us straight away. That is what is called good customer service. The next time we came back for two days and they moved us again for our comfort. That is what good customer service is all about. Next time, we will stop there, even if we have to pay a little more for such standards. It is worth it when they use their brains and make such stays a delight.

Thank you reading this and I hope it helps. It is not just my version but a group of us.