Online travel news service TravelMole has reported the story of U.S. Couple Dale and Cathy Green, who felt they were scammed by On The Go Tours.
The Greens set up a website, called onthegotourssucks.com to detail how they felt that by following the advice of the US Department of State and cancelling their trip to Egypt in March 2011 was the right thing to do.
On The Go Tours is a UK company, based in west London, and operates under British law, so when the Greens approached them for a full refund, only a partial refund was offered, and the company stated at the time:
As a company based in the United Kingdom and hence governed by British law we are obligated to follow the travel advice given by that of the British Foreign Office only…we do not follow the travel advice given by other nations so this advice does not apply.
Which is fine, if you’re only taking money from people based within the country you’re operating in. It becomes a slight problem if you take money from foreign nationals, and their Government issues travel advice.
The Pyramids were closed, as was the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which normally sees millions of tourists every year. On 29th January 2011, the UK Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to Egypt. The very next day Turkey announced it was evacuating its citizens, and the U.S. embassy in Cairo has advised all Americans currently in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible.
If I was in the same situation as the Greens, I might be a little pissed off too if some Johnny Foreigner company was holding on to thoursands of dollars of my cash. I’d be a bit pissed off that I hadn’t fully understood the terms and conditions, too.
This does open a whole new can of worms in terms of trading on the Internet. When your customers Government advises against travel, but your own gives different advice, you’re stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place.
The moral of the story, I suppose, is don’t book travel with foreign companies. That’s a little bit of a shame for companies such as On The Go Tours, as their market will suddenly shrink. From the evidence, that seems to be a consequence of the situation.
On The Go Tours haven’t exactly acted fairly, as other tour operators in the UK were offering full refunds, they chose to stick to their policy. When the Greens asked for a full refund, On The Go Tours seem to be indicating they believe they have a legal duty to obey the will of the British Foreign Office. That is not true.
Essentially, On The Go Tours want to hang on to the Green’s money, so it seems reasonable for Dale and Cathy to say they suck.
Don’t complain publicly about On The Go Tours though, the firm has picked up on the Green’s website – onthegotourssucks.com – and have passed the link to their Director, who’s currently in Australia, so he can take legal advice.
I’m guessing a refund would have been cheaper, and would save some of On The Go Tours’ reputation. Oh well.
Regarding these postings Mantrav International nor any of our companies does not owe Mr. Jones anything, please read the judgement. Mantrav has been selling holidays for 11 years, this is a one off by a suppler who failed to deliver. many people went to the Gran Canaria police, a joint investigation between the Spanish and UK police was started, and yester day 27 January 2012, the special international unit of the UK police stated that Mantrav had commited no fraud. First Fidelity Trust is a bonding compant to protect creditor in the event of insolvancy. Chris Daly Managing Director
If you want to see bad publicity in action try this:
http://www.facebook.com/Canaria2011
[update 27 February 2012 - the web page at this link is no longer operational]
Dale and Cathy Green continue to hope for a full refund from On The Go Tours. They advise they won’t refund me for the cancel of my trip to Egypt during their civil unrest because, “As a company based in the United Kingdom and hence governed by British Law we are obligated to follow the Travel Advice given by that of the British Foreign Office only…we do not follow the Travel Advice given by other nations so this Advice does not apply.” Yes, that’s right. Although the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office posted on March 8, 2011, “There were violent sectarian clashes in Cairo in which 13 people died and 140 were injured. Violent confrontations also took place in Tahrir Square, Cairo and in downtown Alexandria…” and again later posted on April 8, 2011, “A large scale demonstration took place in Tahrir Square…There were violent clashes…As the situation is unpredictable, we advise you stay away from…Tahrir Square and follow the news.” Their own British government office was saying that it was not safe.
OTG would really think it is appropriate to send us on our vacation with guidelines to “stay away from Tahrir Square” and “follow the news”?! Tahrir Square is 300 yards from the famed Egyptian Museum and 2100 yards from the Khan al-Khalil bizarre – both sites frequently touted in the OTG travel brochures. I would not have thought that this is how OTG wanted me to spend my vacation in Egypt – missing the Egyptian Museum and following the news for treat of war?!!
No, OTG, your have unfair business and travel practices that cost me thousands.
If you want to see bad publicity in action, take a gander at this
http://www.webspawner.com/users/mantrav/index.html
[update 27 February 2012 - the web page at this link is no longer operational]
Duplicate comments from the same IP address within a few minutes of each other caused a little hiccup there, ferret.
However, from the names you gave, I suspect you are named on the Mantrav website, and that they may disclose information about you.
I have been reading about the Mantrav International problem rumbling away, I thought about writing a piece about them. That may still prove viable.
I’ve met the person being complained about, at a couple of International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association events. I think the politest way of putting it is that other members warned me of what to expect, and I was not disappointed.
There was a story on a website called midlandszone.co.uk which had the headline “Gay-travel-company-in-ex-employee-smeer-controversy”. Travelmole had some articles too: 16th and 19th December “Gay travel firm says it’s victim of hate campaign”, and one called “Gay travel firm ‘to call in administrators’” on 21st December (2011).
Of course, those articles being removed also removes any news reporting that Andrew Jones took “Malcolm Hardy T/A Mantrav International” to a tribunal. The claim of automatically unfair dismissal under section 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1993 succeeded. The news articles also reported the tribunal findings that Hardy displayed “vexatious and unreasonable” behaviour throughout the proceedings, that correspondence he had sent to Jones’ representative was “unprofessional, aggressive and threatening” and that he had provided false evidence.
Malcolm Hardy made allegations that Jones was engaged in some sort of hate campaign against him.
Just from a quick look around…
The firm’s booking conditions could not be more clear! In essence it means, – We, as a company, will act on the advice of our government.
Are these two malcontents seriously suggesting that a British firm is required to act on the advice of the US Government!
Get real
Besides which as a condition of your contract, you were required to have insurance cover – if you did not insure againt theis forseeable event occurring, then more fool you – your complaint is utterly deviod of merit.
I don’t really agree with your view at all. How can a company follow advice from all consulates around the world. The Greens booked with a British company, but expect it to follow American guidelines – completely unreaonable. You mention the events of 29 January when the revoltution in Egypt started, yet you don’t seem to mention that the pyramids/museum re-opened early in March? I travelled to Egypt in April and had a wonderful holiday.
There’s an interesting discussion about this on lonely planets thorn tree forum -
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2145989
Dorian,
The point of my view is that if I was to take money from you in Australia, and your Government tells you not to travel, but the UK Government gives different advice, and you don’t get a refund, you might be upset. It is this understanding and complexity I’m talking about. That’s why I say it is better to book with a company based where you are.
I know of people who visited Egypt in mid-March, and had a wonderful time too. I know of people who were booked to travel in MAY 2011, and requested a cancellation and refund from their tour operator in FEBRUARY. When the Pyramids and Egyptian Museum re-opened may be relevant, but as events unfolded it was not clear when the revolution would reach a conclusion.
Yes – I might be upset, but I’d accept it – and would have travelled to Egypt anyway. The British Government wouldn’t be suggesting travel there was safe if it really wasn’t. Reading the companies response, the Greens were offered free deferment by the tour company and they chose not to take this option up either. Sounds to me like they are just throwing their toys out because they did not get exactly what they want. A bit of ‘growing up’ required by the Greens I think.
Not to disagree again with your views again (!!), but your advocation of ‘buy local’ is probably not good for any economy, its protectionism. The reality is that a global economy is here to stay. I’ve booked travel through a company in the US and had a fantastic holiday with them. It’s down to personal choice … a blanket statment like ‘only book with a company where you are’ is really misleading – surely not one based solely on the experience of Greens?
This is in response to the [...] comments and allegations made against us. For these clients to suggest that we would compromise our travellers safety is completely unjustified and unacceptable to us – and a matter that we are taking extremely seriously. We are a highly regarded professional tour operator that takes thousands of satisfied clients away on holiday every year.
- When these clients booked their tour with us, they signed up to our booking conditions which are governed by British law.
- When the British Foreign office lifted their travel restrictions to Egypt, which we are obliged to abide by, we started operating our tours there again. This was at the beginning of March.
- Furthermore, our highly experienced local team in Egypt is constantly monitoring the situation to ensure the absolute safety of our passengers. All our tours in Egypt continue to operate smoothly.
- Given that some of our travellers were nervous about having a holiday in Egypt following the unrest there, we extended a free deferral of travel arrangements to all i.e. re-book their trip at a later date for no charges. We are a flexible and service led organisation.
- We managed to do this by negotiating with hotels and Nile Cruises, but had to forego all pre-purchased train tickets and some other deposits ourselves.
- These clients simply refused the deferral and demanded a full refund even though all our tours to Egypt were operating normally in March. They did accept a partial refund however, but having done so, have continued to relentlessly harass us about this matter.
- To our knowledge, they never took this matter forward with ABTA, who would normally arbitrate in such situations.
- They did take their grievance forward with the Kansas Attorney General’s office who contacted us, and to whom we responded in full. We never heard back, so are assuming they advised these clients that we had indeed acted fairly.
- They also took the matter forward with their credit card company, who we assume have also advised these clients that we have acted more than fairly.
We trust that the above provides a balanced and objective view on what actually happened.
Should anyone wish to discuss this matter further, please feel free to get in touch with us at [hyperlink removed].
On The Go Tours