proust

Fellow travellers,
I had an experience in Ecuador, which has left me $1,200 out of pocket?.This is what happened:

June 24, Saturday, I paid to Douglas Chang of Centro Viajero, Guayaquil, Ecuador, IATA number 79935811, phone 099-752433, e-mail [email protected], one thousand two hundred American dollars in cash for voucher 5328. This was to cover a five-day cruise of the Galapagos commencing on Monday, June 27, finishing on Friday July 1 2005, on board the Archipel II. Douglas paid this money on to a tour company Galacruises, my contact there is Lucero Cevallos,
e-mail [email protected], telephone 02 290 3391.
I also paid Doug $360 dollars for a flight from Guayaquil to the Galapagos with the airline AeroGal.

June 27 Monday. I was scheduled to fly on AEROGAL Flight 032 depart Guayaquil at 09.30 arriving in the Galapagos, booking reference 0334AD6.
I was at the airport at 07.00.
I went to check in but was told to join a special line for foreigners going to the Galapagos.
A representative from AeroGal speaking perfect English told me the flight was delayed and I was to wait in the restaurant and she would call me. Every fifteen minutes or so I went to the desk and I was told to wait.
Then at 11.00 I was told the plane had gone and that I had missed the flight! For whatever reason AeroGal had made a muddle of things and I had missed my flight.

I went to the office of Centro Viajero and I was told the boat was gone and the one thousand two hundred dollars I had paid was lost also. I could not accept this but I was told Galacruises would not refund the money nor would they offer an alternative trip.

So now I have lost $1,200. At the moment I am sending e-mails to Gabriela Sommer General Manager from AEROGAL, e-mail [email protected] but AeroGal are adamant I missed the flight. (I eventually did fly to the Galapagos on Friday, July 1, using the same plane ticket but I had to dole out another $1,200 for a cruise around the Islands.)

I think the moral of the story is to pay for trips using your credit card, if you find yourself in the same situation as me you just reject the charge on your statement.

Yours sincerely

Liam O’Reilly

IngridG

I also think it's important to book via an operator/travel agent based in the same country where you live - so you can better track them down. I am always skeptical of paying anything up front to someone not doing business in the USA (where I live).

atravelynn

Liam,

I am sorry for your loss. I hope you enjoyed the Galapagos despite it costing double.

Percy

I am curious why proust is getting and answer 2 years later !!!

Percy

IngridG

Haha, because I came across his post today while researching Galapagos reviews, so I wrote something.

People search the topics and read old posts also.

Percy

They sure do IngridG..Thank you for telling me.

I was interested because I went to the Galapagos and used a Travel Agent out of Quito Ecuador.

Percy

IngridG

Yes, I saw your post about Martin (I think that's his name). I prefer to use someone closer to home - especially when you have to prepay a great deal of money.

But your post will help others out when planning their trips. Sounds like you had a good time on Polaris.


I am still itching to go to Easter Island on this trip - we'll see how expensive it turns out to be when combining it with Galapagos.

I will be staying away from Centro Viajero!

Percy

Hi IngridG

Martin has a new e-mail address and has his own company now.

Here it is for those that might want to use him for their Galapagos Cruise trip.

Actually I was on the luxury yacht Isabella II.

I can sure sympathize with proust ( my goodness).

Martin handled all my trip like a dream and yes I had to send him money ahead of time,as he booked my hotel and flight to the Galapagos and then on the Isabella II.

Also all my tours for the 5 days I toured Quito and area.

But it nice for other to know that he is 100% trustworthy.

Good Luck for Easter Island...I saw a few of the stone monument from Easter Island when I was in Valpariso/Vina del Mar Chile several moths ago.

They are so ugly that they are cute !!

Percy



[email protected]

[email protected]

IngridG

Oh good! I will check it out. He's been proven, so I am sure it is okay to book through him. It's the other companies that scare me - when nobosy has really said anything about them. It's a gamble.

Easter Island, ugh - I am torn about it. I am going to try to see if it's possible and take it from there.

I found another boat I like - The Integrity. I'll see if Martin knows anything about it.

Percy

Yes, I would say that anyone that wants information about booking tours to the Galapagos should contact Martin.

It is free to ask and you do not have to book with him although I did and I can assure you he did a terrific job for me...and got me a terrific prices on some last minute deals.

You can mention my name to Martin... he does know me if you mention my name as he sends me an e- mail about 3 times a year just to stay in touch.

Percy

wikicarlos

MY NAME IS DOUGLAS CHANG, THE OWNER OF CENTRO VIAJERO IN GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR. IT HAS TAKEN ME ONLY FOUR YEARS TO FINALLY COMMENT ON THE REPORT FROM MR. Liam O’Reilly.

HIS REPORT IS 2,000% ( TWO THOUSAND PERCENT) CORRECT. HE FORGOT TO REPORT TWO EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ISSUES:

1. ONE WEEK AFTER THIS GALAPAGOS FIASCO, HE PERSONALLY CAME BACK TO CENTRO VIAJERO TO TELL ME HE HAD ENJOYED THE GALAPAGOS CRUISE HE FINALLY TOOK.

2. IT WAS ME, DOUGLAS CHANG OF CENTRO VIAJERO WHO SOLD HIM THE SECOND CRUISE WHICH HE ENJOYED AND PAYED ME IN CASH. I FELT SO SAD ABOUT HIS US$ 1,200.00 LOSS ( HE HAD MISSED HIS FLIGHT WITH AEROGAL ON THE DAY THE FIRST CRUISE WAS TO START, EVEN THOUGH I HAD PERSONALLY DRIVEN HIM TO THE GUAYAQUIL AIRPORT) THAT I WAS HAPPY TO FIND A SECOND SUITABLE CRUISE WITHOUT ANY COMMISSION FOR MY AGENCY. NOTE: THE FIRST COMPANY, GALACRUISES AND THEIR BOAT THE ARCHIPEL II, REFUSED TO GIVE MR. LIAM O`REILLY ANY DISCOUNT OR CONSIDERATION FOR HIS LOSS.

I WANT TO THANK MY FRIEND CARLOS DE SMEDT, A MASTER THESIS COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENT WHO HAS HELPED ME TO POST THIS REPLY. MEANWHILE, DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS BOTH DOUGLAS CHANG AND CENTRO VIAJERO HAVE BEEN EXCEDENGLY COMPLEMENTED IN A VERY POSITIVE WAY. PLEASE JUST SEARCH BOTH NAMES AND MAKE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT.
I STAND BY THE TRUTH.

DOUGLAS CHANG
[email protected]
24 HOUR CELLULAR: 593-9-235-7745

ericaz

This is a very unfortunate story to be sure, but even in the US unless you buy travel insurance you cannot be sure of getting any money back on any cruises or travel packages you book - this is very standard.

However my main reason for posting is to point out - this is clearly not the fault of Douglas. When I saw this thread I just had to post. When I traveled to South America after graduation from college, my friends and I walked into Douglas's office on a recommendation from Lonely Planet with only our backpacks and no clue as to what to do with ourselves. He was a great friend to us while we were there, and an honest and reliable travel agent. In addition to pointing us in the direction of a clean affordable hotel, showing us good local restaurants and booking flights for us, he went above and beyond when we returned to Guayaquil. We had just spent a week traveling (this part not booked by him, only recommended for free) and happened to be in a bus accident on our way back just before our flight home to the US. We went to Douglas's office not having had a shower or nice place to rest since being in the ER of a rural Ecuadorian town, and he let us go rest and clean up at his own home before catching out plane back to the states.


I strongly recommend him and Centro Viajero - and using travel agents not from the US! While it is certainly good to be questioning, it is sad to discount any international travel agent just because they don't have an office in the US or close to your home. You could miss out on many experiences with that kind of attitude of being afraid of venturing out wherever you are visiting. International travel agents can get good prices and give you local experiences that no one living in overseas can can.

IN SUMMARY: Douglas is an honest travel agent and great person. This incident was clearly not his fault, and avoiding his using Centro Viajero because of it would be a mistake.

qwovadis

So many Galapagos scammers at so many levels it is astounding.

TripAdvisor Forum is the worst where for profit foreign expat

agents pay TA to tout/scam occulty as "destination experts"

Charging clueless travelers 3-5X normal on the roach/puke/

bunkbed infested motorsailers like Archipel Samba Eden

Fragata etc...

Always bood direct with locals on stable cats like

Seaman II or Nina usually great deals from $800 off

season on short cruises with www.galapagosXpeditions.com

the best local direct provider I have found.

www.insuremytrip.com always wise easy to misconnect a flight

and miss your whole cruise... This seems clearly the fault

of the roachboat Archpel and its staff and NOT the agent.

So Caveat Emptor!

qwovadis

http://www.galapagos-travel-advisor....ents/watch-out

cordherenthere

Qwovadis is really over the top here! Now he claims people pay Trip Advisor to become destination experts. I know this isn't true. He used to be one. How much did he pay?? Did he get a refund when he was let go??? I read T.A. a lot and the destination experts are really good. They never push certain boats on anyone and they don't advertise either.

Huentetu

I agree. I have met several of the destination experts on TA who live here in South America. We share a passion for making our small corners of the world more welcoming and easier to understand and try to get together when one of us is in town. Although there are plenty of people who work in the travel industry who post on TA, none of the destination experts I know work in tourism. They spend their own time answering questions - and seldom get thanked. Qwovadis should stick to answering questions with whatever personal knowledge he has about a destination from a visit and not make slanderous accusations about things he knows nothing about.

mlgb

The destination expert for Peru owns a hotel and pushes people to stay there. He also refuses to disclose or acknowledge this on his profile page.

cordherenthere

No, I know who you are talking about. I read the recent discussion. I've never seen him pushing any hotel on anyone. Your posts kept getting deleted. You're a destination expert too. Can't you just let it go?

mlgb

If you want to see what he does, just search on his screen name and his hotel name. You'll find it.

mlgb

Have you also seen all of his posts that knock anyone who disagrees with his advice? Or is your main reason for joining Fodors to just do the same..I've seen your attacks on qwovadis, another travel who objects to this particular expert's tactics.