thursdaysd

This is not a first-time poster signing up to complain about a company.

This is a regular poster complaining about a company - click on my screen name for my profile if you don't recognize me.

I had intended to post this as part of my ongoing trip report (http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...an-sojourn.cfm ), but it occurred to me that someone considering using savaari.com would be more likely to find this information if I posted it separately.

I arranged with savaari.com for a three day car hire - Hyderabad to Hospet via Bijapur and Badami. I would stay in Hospet and the driver would return to Hyderabad. This is the email I sent from Hospet on Nov 30, to which I have received no reply as of Dec 4.

"I expected you to provide me with a safe and reliable driver. The man
you sent, Basha (not Pasha) certainly seemed to be a skilled driver,
but in other respects he fell far short of any reasonable expectations.

First, he arrived over an hour late - if he had been five more minutes
late I would have canceled the trip, which might have been a good
thing. Later he also kept me waiting 20 minutes when he did not stay
with the car.

Second, he said that he had never been to Bijapur. Either you sent me
a driver with insufficient experience, which would be a problem, or he
was lying, which would also be a problem. Either way, this was hardly
what any customer would expect to hear.

Third, and most seriously, was the route. When asked which route I
wanted to take to Bijapur, I said "the shortest". He spent some time
on the phone and we set off down the NH7. Since I had expected to take
the NH9, I didn't immediately realize we were on the wrong road
heading too far south. When I did, and asked why we were not going
west, he U-turned and took an exit, saying we were going via Raichur.
At this point (Mahababnagar) I got out my guide book and looked at the
map, and pointed out very clearly that that was a very long way round,
after which he left me in the car for 10-15 minutes while he went to
"get directions". We then spent eight hours traveling across country
(although not via Raichur). Having been caught on the scam, he had no
choice but to go cross-country. I was tempted to cancel the trip at
that point, but having already started I decided to pretend that
everything was fine and continue.

Since he later said that he would return to Hyderabad from Hospet via
Bijapur and Gulbarga, it seems quite clear that he did in fact know
how to get to Bijapur, and that he was trying to cheat on the distance
for extra money. It was only after he realized that there was no time
penalty in the contract that he really seemed keen to get to Bijapur.
He did something similar on the way to Badami, when we went via
Bagalkot instead of turning off earlier.

Fourth, I expected him to know places where it would be safe for me to
eat, and where there were good toilet facilities. He did not.

Fifth, he asked me where he was supposed to sleep, although it was
quite clear in the contract that I was not responsible for his
accommodation, and I told him so.

I expect this kind of cheating behavior from rickshaw drivers who are
using the meter, and always make it clear to them that I am carrying a
map. I did not expect such behavior from a driver hired on a multi-day
contract.

I suppose I should not be surprised that you employ a scam artist as a
driver, since you are scam artists yourselves. You say that the rate
for extra kilometers is 10.75 INR/km, but then you double the
distance, EVEN THOUGH the extra kms have no effect on the actual
distance the driver will cover from Hospet to Hyderabad, making the
actual rate 21.50 INR/km. No wonder Basha wanted to go the long way.

I will not use your services again.

I will not recommend you to other travelers.

I will warn other travelers not to do business with you."

hawaiiantraveler

Thanks for the warning thursdays and duly noted for future travels. You are a trusted poster that we all can trust so no need for the intro. Hope the rest of your journey goes well. How much longer are you on the road for? BTW reading this from Kyoto where the weather is just fabulous qnd the koyo is at its peak.

Aloha!

dgunbug

Thanks for the heads up.

colduphere

The good news is that this warning will stay here and remain accessible to readers. Unfortunately by deleting posts like (what was it) AndyGreenes/PatsyMaureen promotion of Vietnam Alive (I hope it was), we lose the warning.

Perhaps there should be a Fodor's Hall of Shame.

thursdaysd

Thanks people!

Sounds great ht - I'm in Goa (Palolem beach) - not too hot but too humid and sandy for my taste - Mangalore tomorrow. I get home the end of March - just in time to file my taxes..........

rhkkmk

you can get a tax extension should your driver take another wrong turn...

travelaw

Reading this brought back the memories of some bad experiences with a couple of companies and a couple of drivers in India. Thanks for the heads up and for calling these people out. A bad driver can ruin a trip -- a good one can make it well worth his weight in gold. Enjoy Goa and the rest of your trip! Sounds like you will be on the road for a good long while . . . I am envious!

Craig

You never know, especially if you are blazing your own trail whether your driver/guide is going to be good or bad, and it seems that it can really be a crap-shoot in India. We count on you and others to post both your good and bad experiences - thanks for that.

CaliNurse

Thank you thursday, for posting this "heads up" !! Most of us are willing to give the benefit of the doubt, so when you take the trouble and time to post this...it is serious!
Travelaw, Craig, et al, you also are so right
The chances of this occurring (bad drivers, sc\fam artists,etc) can be pretty much avoided or at least greatly lessened, by "due diligence" here and on other sites.
It's sad when one , such as Svaasi, slips through the cracks. But thanks to you, it wont happen again for other Fodies!

DonTopaz

Very bad deal/joss thursdaysd; glad you got through it with only a few travel scars. One hardly needs that level of aggravation on a trip, especially when hiring a so-called "professional."

Shame on you, savaari.com, and any others who think it's ok to take advantage of unknowing travelers.

rhkkmk

how did you find this firm and why were you attracted to them?

Tere

That was bad, really.. I booked everything in India with Castle & King and hope everything will be ok, but they have great feedback here in the forum. I also wonder how you got to this firm.. Was it recommended to you? I never heard of it.

thursdaysd

I forget now how I found them, as it was back in July or August when I was booking a bunch of stuff for India and running out of time. I thought their quote then was on the high side, so I didn't confirm with them. I emailed two or three outfits based in Hyderabad and got no replies, and I contacted a couple of the people recommended here, but they seemed to be based in Delhi for two or three week trips - not really what I was looking for.

Last time I had good results booking after I arrived in India, so I decided to wait. However, the quotes I got in Hyderabad were either much higher than Savaari or from someone I didn't feel like trusting. When I got back in touch with Savaari the quote had gone up a bit but not very much. I did run a google search on them (again) at that point, but the only potentially useful thing was an indiamike post from a couple of years back asking for feedback. (When I have time I'll add to that post.)

Tara - I'm sure you'll be fine with Castle and King. Just take a map, lol.

jacketwatch

Sorry to heat of this and thanks for the post. The more who know this the better. You just may have helped a future traveler from getting conned.

magical

Sorry to hear about your car/driver problem with savvari.

My suggestion for booking car and driver for longer travel, say between cities in India, would be to get a quote based on destination to destination (and not per mile). You will need to give an estimate of where you want to go within each destination...pick the name of a central hotel or something near a famous historical site. This is a good way to get a reasonably good estimate of the final cost...minor adjustments to be expected if you change your final and actual itinerary.

IMHO this would eliminate driver errors and/ or being conned. Driver errors will be reduced as they will now be the responsibilty of the driver...no more padding the mileage.

BTW complex road trips covering several days travel from one city-2nd city-3rd city--- etc are quoted that way by the travel agents. As I recall, several fodorites have used agents this way previously.

Sumeet

Worst Experience. Booked a sedan from Gurgaon to Delhi airport. Cab came 30 mins late and was in bad condition. To make matters worse it got a puncture on the way. The driver didn't even offer any replacement of cab. I had to take another cab on the way to reach the airport. Another 5 min delay would have missed my flight. Nightmare.

bshomik

Totally crap service. I booked an Innova for travel to Bangalore airport from Whitefield through their website 1 day before the journey which was promptly confirmed. On the day of travel, I didn't get any call from the driver till 12:30 while I was supposed to start at 1 P.M. I got suspicious and called up the call center when I was told that there are currently no cars – and here I need to catch a flight at 3:30. They couldn't provide me any alternative. I had to call up a local cab company and arrange for alternate arrangement. HORRIBLE Experience.

thursdaysd

Sorry to hear that! There was hardly anything on line about them when I booked, wish you had found this post before you used them.

jacketwatch

http://www.mouthshut.com/websites/sa...iews-925702886

kovsie

Having often read and enjoyed Thursdayd's TRs I know that this is not a lady who complains without reason.

Thanks for posting Thursday - I am looking at a short trip to India and this is important info.

But ... count your blessings ... it could have been even worse:
http://www.mouthshut.com/review/sava...iew-ltqrrqomnu