matnikstym

next thing they'll be calling you telling you that their airline booking is superior!

Leely

Far superior? And they can measure this how?

Roccco

bugswife,

Put it back on AAC.

1. In which ways are your guides superior? If they are so confident in their guides, perhaps they will be able to send you a profile on a couple of their guides and then guarantee you that guide. Otherwise, don't believe for one second that their guides will be any better than Roys.

2. What kind of vehicles are used by AAC? What kind of vehicles are used by Roys?

It sounds to me like AAC is gasping for air

bugswife1

AAC has offered to put me in touch with satisfied clients. But that is how I got to them in the first place, a friend referred them after using them for Botswana. I have no doubt that they have great guides, but I haven't heard any complaints about ANY guides from ANY company so far, and I have logged enough hours on this board to claim it as a full time job!

cooncat

Hey y'all - don't you think it's time to put this to bed...Bugswife, it looks like you found yourself a very nice option.... AAT, I think, is a respectable company, whose prices happen to be higher than others. There are many companies with higher prices like this. Anyway, just a thought....please don't yell at me. You can tell me to butt out though, and I will!

thit_cho

I am 100% confident that every operator can provide a list of satisfied customers (but that's not too say they don't also have a list of unsatisfied customers, but they obviously don't share that list).

And I'm sure AAC offers an excellent product, but the point, which they seem to conveniently choose to ignore, is that they are charging $4,000 more than their competitor.

Move on -- be happy that you saved $4,000 -- and ignore AAC; all they are doing is trying to make you feel guilty. They are the guilty party.

thit_cho

Well, I'm about to order Chinese food. My usual restaurant will charge $18 for dinner, but I found another restaurant, which claims to have superior delivery boys, and they charge $4,018 for the same dinner, but they told me their delivery boy really is better. I'm in a quandary!

Hopefully AAC is reading these posts b/c now that I re-read their silly excuses, I'm really getting pissed off at them.

LadyOLeisure

ha ha ha ha michael! That's some superior delivery boy!

Bugswife1, when you are on safari, if you can pick the superior vehicles out from the less superior vehicles as five or six of them sit watching the same pride of lions...you will have to take pictures and post them for us to see! (No doubt you can spend some of that $4K you've saved on a really great digital with a super zoom lens!!!)

Enjoy your trip. Don't feel guilty.

wjsonl

I am so glad I stumbled onto this website a few weeks ago. So, I'm not even going to contact AAC in the first place. Since that'll save me over $4,000 upfront, maybe I really can afford to go to Tanzania after all!

alwaysafrica

Hi bugswife1,

I just wanted to point out that there may in fact be differences in the vehicles that are used by the two companies... in fact, I'm sure there are! For example, my husband and I went on a very reasonably priced safari with East African Safari and Touring Company in January 2005 - our Landrover was definitely older than many of the other vehicles we saw in some of the parks, at one point the alternator wouldn't work so we couldn't shut off the car etc. etc. However, as you may have seen from some of my posts, we paid a heck of lot less for our safari than we would have with those other companies! Our safari and entire trip was fantastic and we were very pleased to take a little "less" in certain areas, so that we were able to afford to take a wonderful 26-day trip.

As far as I'm concerned, safari companies are providing a good/service for you to purchase. And just like everything else in this world that is available to be purchased, you have a choice as to quality, etc. And very often, a huge difference in price between certain stores is nothing more than the reputation of that store for being expensive and providing good quality, whether or not the same is provided by the other store as well.

Hope any of this helps. Ultimately, you're going to have a wonderful time in Tanzania. What quality you expect, and how much you'd like to pay is all a matter of personal preference. I'd say that Serendipity/Roy's sounds like they will provide a fantastic trip - something that is attested to time and again on this board.

So good luck and most importantly, have a wonderful trip!

Kavey

Who did you ultimately book with, bugswife and did AAC come back with anything further? Do please let us know how you're getting on.