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Bad experience with Mongol Tours, aka MG Tours

Bad experience with Mongol Tours, aka MG Tours

Old Aug 23rd, 2012, 09:28 AM
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Bad experience with Mongol Tours, aka MG Tours

Last month I went on a 2 week tour of Mongolia with the above tour group and it was a disaster. Basically, the company hires tour guides and lets the guide pick the gers where we will be staying and the menus. Our guide was a deranged angry man who picked really sleazy places (muddy floors in the gers, excrement on the bathroom floor, showers from the Stalinist era, toilets which were broken and overflowing, etc.). We knew right away that there were kickbacks. While hiking (without the guide) we met a German tour guide who asked where we were staying and when we pointed to our camp, he said his company won't book with them any more due to sanitary conditions, and this wasn't even the worst place we stayed! The guide threatened a man in his 70's, called us stupid and said things like "I know what you people are like. You are all alike". He also left us in the Gobi Desert for 4 hours because he would not call the camp (one hour away) and lose face with the driver. The most amazing part was when we actually met Gana, the supervisor in UB, she acknowledged that they allow the guide to pick the places and do not ever see these places themselves. They don't even know what we/they are paying for. She said that she would pass this on to the US which she did not. I just got call (sales staff, hmmm) from the company and a series of emails telling me how others said the trip was great. That is not what anyone said during the trip. Frankly we were all scared by this guy, particularly as he could be friendly one minute and then flip to psycho the next. Beware of this company as they do not supervise their guides and then just cover their tracks with lies. Horrible people.
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Old Oct 12th, 2012, 07:58 PM
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Scared of your pscycho guide, threatened by the guide, left alone in the Gobi for 4 hours. Sounds like more of a horror movie than a vacation. Yikes.

Sorry you endured such bad treatment.
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Old Oct 12th, 2012, 08:09 PM
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Is this same as Mongol Global Tours?
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Old Jun 24th, 2014, 12:49 PM
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My 2 teenage grandchildren and I were on the same trip as Lois and am amazed that after the trip they are complaining about everything from the guide to the gers.
There was one other couple on the same tour and and we all agreed that it was a trip of a lifetime. Our driver and our main guide (Eggy) were delightful and did everything possible to enhance this fascinating adventure. From camel riding to visiting families in gers and attending the Nadaam Festival the trip was a joy. As for their complaints about the gers, we found it a delightful experience to stay in them. They were absolutely clean and staying in them was exciting. If Lois and Sharon were looking for a glamorous trip they should have visited Paris.
We enjoyed traveling with MG Tours so much that they arranged a river cruise with a side trip to Prague. Every detail was attended to. Our guide through Prague was grand.I definitely recommend this agency without reservation.
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Old Jun 24th, 2014, 01:49 PM
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A tour company in Mongolia set up a cruise for you in Prague? Using a company in Asia for a trip in Europe seems like not such a good idea to me.
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Old Jun 24th, 2014, 05:43 PM
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Someone who hasn't posted since 2006 adding to a thread from 2012? Looks a bit dubious to me. And I agree, who on earth would use a Mongolian company for a European tour? Unless they were Mongolian.
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Old Jun 25th, 2014, 05:37 AM
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MG Tours is located in California and provides travel services throughout the world.

Our river cruise ended in Vienna and we were then escorted by private car to Prague.

I just recently checked into this site for the first time in 2 years and then saw the posting by Lois.
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Old Jun 25th, 2014, 06:04 AM
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Thanks for coming back and explaining the situation, Buenavida.
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Old Jun 25th, 2014, 07:29 AM
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I appreciate the explanation. However, I still wouldn't use the company - a small company trying to cover so much territory must be subcontracting to local agents and probably can't properly vet them. You may get lucky, and may not.

On the vetting issue, note this from the OP:
"The most amazing part was when we actually met Gana, the supervisor in UB, she acknowledged that they allow the guide to pick the places and do not ever see these places themselves."
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Old Jun 6th, 2015, 04:21 PM
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We are the other couple that was referred in the reply above. Sorry to take so long to respond but we are new to Fodor's and didn't realize that these negative comments had been posted. We agree that there were horrible people on the tour but it wasn't the tour company personnel it was Lois and Sharon, the people that wrote the negative review. Here's how our trip began "Lois stated she had to seat up from with the driver the entire trip because she got car sick". She claimed that she got permission from MG Tours to do that. Our guide had no knowledge of this arrangement nor did the local office. We had to initiate a call to home office of MG Tours in California to determine that no such arrangement was requested or made; she was just lying. She wasn't happy but agreed to share sitting in front. She had no problems sitting in other areas and never once got sick. Lois and Sharon had all sorts of special demands during the trip especially on what they could and couldn't eat. Once late at night returning from a tour they said they had to have something to eat. We all traveled for more than an hour from restaurant to restaurant as they changed their mind on what they would eat; finally saying no to everything and skipped eating. Eggy are main guide was wonderful The other folks we traveled with were terrific. MG Tours did a great job and we wouldn't hesitate to use them again.
It was the trip of a lifetime. The only way it would have been better is if Lois and Sharon never came.
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