Let see if now someone answers! Horrible experience
I included these in the feedback form and to my sales contact but no one ever answered me.
Horrible. Before booking the trip, communication was smooth and responsive. However, we ran into a problem when we were about to confirm the booking. We told our sales representative (Sara) that we were happy with everything, but that we needed to wait until we had booked our flights. Once we purchased the flights, we had to change the travel dates due to flight availability. Sara then tried to charge us an extra fee because she had already finalized the booking, despite us having explicitly told her not to do so, as everything depended on the available flights.
Once the trip was booked, we experienced negligence, indifference, and extremely poor customer service: unanswered messages, rude replies, and a complete lack of professionalism. We wanted to file a formal complaint, and Sara's response was very rude and even aggressive (we have all the voice notes and messages as evidence).
Eventually, we managed to change sales representatives and were assigned to Clara. At first, everything went well. However, one week before the trip, she suggested having a preparatory phone call. She stood us up three times. When we finally complained about it, she sent us a voice message in a condescending, aggressive, and rude tone, without ever apologizing (we also have that audio recording).
After the trip, she asked us how it had gone. We sent her a voice message with our feedback, and we still have not received any response (almoth6 months later).
In addition, the trip was oversold to us. We were promised that we would see the Great Migration, but once we arrived, we were told that, according to our itinerary, it was impossible to see some of the things we had been promised.
We also asked specific questions about certain details of the trip that concerned us, and we were misled. For example, we have an issue with propeller aircraft, and we were assured that our internal flight would not be on one. That turned out to be false, as all available options were propeller planes. We had a terrible flight experience.
Furthermore, we specifically asked Sara to arrange the earliest possible flight to Zanzibar, yet we ended up being the last guests to leave and arrive at the hotel that day.
The itinerary itself was very good, but it was nothing that any other travel agency could not have arranged. The sales team's customer service was so poor that we would certainly not recommend this agency.
We have friends who booked similar trips through other agencies and received outstanding pre- and post-sales service, which is exactly what we had expected from you.
We stayed in Zanzibar, although we booked the hotel ourselves. In fact, the agency was even reluctant to reserve the hotel we wanted.
At the airport, a man who was not a Tanzania Specialist employee grabbed our luggage without giving us any time to react and walked off very quickly until we reached the Tanzania Specialist representative, who was standing far away from the tourist arrival area. Unlike at Kilimanjaro Airport, there was no sign with our names or the agency's logo, which made us feel very unsafe and uncomfortable. The whole situation felt strange and unprofessional.
We were also given a Stone Town tour as compensation for the poor handling of our booking by the sales team. The guide who showed up did not speak either English or Spanish properly. The entire tour consisted, without exaggeration, of him repeating the exact same sentence over and over again ("Stone Town is cosmopolitan, three cultures") while simply wandering through unpleasant streets. We came across several other tour guides during the visit, and the difference in the quality of service compared to what we were receiving was remarkable.
On top of that, we had to repeat at least thirty times what time we needed to leave for the airport. It was a HORRIBLE experience.
Finally, our designated safety contact during the trip, Joel, stopped replying to our messages and seemed to have no idea about the details of our itinerary (we have all the chat records). Had anything happened to us during the trip, we have serious doubts that he would have been able to provide any meaningful assistance.
Our guide, Pedro, was excellent. You can tell he is truly passionate about wildlife. He knew exactly how to guide us so that we could see as many animals as possible, organize the schedule so we could make the most of every experience, and he was always sharing interesting facts about the animals, the local culture.
Reply from Tanzania Specialist
Dear Customer,
We sincerely thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback about your trip with us . We are genuinely pleased to hear that you appreciated the itinerary design and the unforgettable opportunity to experience Tanzania’s wildlife in its natural habitat. We are especially happy to know that Pedro made such a positive impression throughout your safari, his passion and knowledge about wildlife are exactly the standard we aim to provide.
At the same time, we would like to sincerely apologize for the communication issues you experienced throughout the planning process and after your trip. We regret that your interactions with our team did not meet the level of professionalism, care and support you expected. When you first raised your concerns, we took immediate action and changed your travel consultant to ensure that you would receive better assistance which unfortunately did not lead to the outcome we had hoped for. Had we received this feedback at that time, we would have acted promptly just as we did with your initial concern. Please know that your feedback on this matter is very important to us and we will use it to review our communication processes and improve the way we handle guest interactions in the future.
Regarding the great migration, we would like to clarify that this is a natural phenomenon and like all wildlife experiences, it cannot be guaranteed with absolute certainty. Our recommendations are based on historical migration patterns and seasonal conditions with the aim of placing our guests in the areas where the migration is most likely to be observed. However, nature ultimately follows its own course and the animals’ movements can change depending on various natural factors. We sincerely apologize that you were not able to experience the migration as you had hoped and regret if this was not explained clearly enough. We will surely work on making the expectations around wildlife experiences even clearer for future guests.
We would like to respectively highlight that the Zanzibar part of your itinerary was also arranged by us including booking a hotel of your preference. As always, our intention is to carefully organize every part of our guests’ journeys and ensure that all arrangements are aligned with their preferences and expectations. We regret that the airport assistance you received upon arrival in Zanzibar and the stone town experience did not feel as seamless as it should have and appreciate you bringing it to our attention.
As for the timings of your flight to Zanzibar, your flight was scheduled for 1300hrs which was the best earlier option based on your location and the arrangements from the previous night’s stay. We would also like to clarify that, flight schedules are sometimes subjected to changes/delays due to operational and safety reasons as communicated by the airline. Our aim has always been to organize the most convenient flights possible for our guests taking into consideration the logistics and availability. We apologize if this brought any negative impact on your Zanzibar holiday.
Although some time has already passed since your trip, we kindly invite you to contact us directly so we can better understand your experience, review the concerns you have raised in more detail and see how we may be able to improve in the future. We truly value the opportunity to listen and find the best possible way forward.
Finally, we are grateful that despite the concerns raised, you still enjoyed the extraordinary beauty of Tanzania. It is always our objective that every guest departs with meaningful and lasting memories of the destination, its culture and its wildlife.
Karibu tena Tanzania
