Lady Egypt Payment Question
 

After thoroughly reviewing this forum, we decided to use Lady Egypt to coordinate a private tour through Egypt. Everything was moving along very smoothly until we got to the payment process. They provided a nice professional looking link to make a secure online credit card payment. However, it doesn't work. The short story is their Verified by Visa process does not work. So, they are now offering me two options - a bank transfer or cash payment upon arrival. I don't feel very good about those options since they provide me with basically no support if things go wrong with this company. I know many people have posted about this company, but I am not totally comfortable with just sending a bunch of money to a foreign company before I have even started my traip. But, my trip is 2.5 weeks away and I need to figure something out.

So, if you have booked a tour through Lady Egypt can you comment on their payment process? How did you pay? Did you have any issues or concerns? Do you have any advice for someone in my position? Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

You are quite wise to be concerned.

LadyEgypt.com is reputable 99% good reviews on the baords.

Bank wires are complex and can have substantial fees.

Of your 2 options I would just pay cash on arrival.

As you have figured out though once you pay there is little

recourse for a bad trip because you cannot dispute/reverse it.

Pretty Amazing they cannot do Visa or other CC or Paypal .

Might verify that with a supervisor.

Good luck!

The payment problem for Lady Egypt has been documented before on this forum. Check out this thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...pt-payment.cfm

If you have a Schwab account, a wire transfer is very easy and inexpensive.

We used the Egypt Highlights company in 2008, and my sister and I were very worried about paying up front. Poster Sandi assured me that they were OK and that this was all normal.

I also had problems so I sent them my c.c# in multiple separate emails and they processed my credit card payment from their end. No problem. My agent was Mohamed Kamel.

You're leaving in 2.5/wks... so either you wire the payment now or travel with lots of cash to pay on arrival.

Wiring funds is NOT complicated and not expensive. Sqovadis seems to have a stick on this and it's simply not the case. I wire regularly as do many others and can't recall reading any issues by doing so.

Just go into your bank with the details provided from Lady Egypt: Lady Egypt address and details, their Bank Name, Address, Account #, Swift Code and that's about it. Fee is about $35-50, depending on your financial institution. Funds should arrive at Lady Egypt's bank within 24-48/hrs for which they should confirm to you on receipt.

Simple!

But do be sure you have purchased Trip Insurance to cover: cancellation/interruption, flight/baggage delay, baggage loss, medical/dental and evacuation, to cover your costs, see www.insuremytrip.com for options available.

Go and enjoy!

second the statement that wire is very straightforward and We used Lady Egypt for private tour and they were great, even when we made a change in egypt. Very professional.

Bonnie

If I remember,we did the three email thing for credit card details when we used them two years ago-no problem.

We used the secure link without any trouble. Seems the issue is not uniform - not sure why? We are going in January.

Glad you came over to this forum and posted your question. I told you there would be loads of responses. If you still have a problem, remember you have options to use tour companies that don't charge until the tour/service has been given. :)

I had problems with my payment to Lady Egypt. I paid a $5000 deposit before I left on holidays and Lady Egypt told me not to bother paying the remainder until I got there as there were issues with the transfer. When I arrived and were checked in at the Mena House our guide suggested we try a visa payment using his mobile eftpos machine. Unfortunately it didn't work again - this time it was their machine - he was not pushy about it. He did not demand cash. He just said not to worry we'd try tomorrow when he returned to check on us. For about 3 days the payment did not go through and each time we were advised there was no need to panic. Eventually the remaining 50% payment went through and everything was ok.

I worried in the beginning about using an overseas company but after using them I have no hesitation in using them or recommending them. If they were money hungry or dishonest they would of demanded my money before I arrived in Egypt.

We paid both the deposit and final payment with credit card and had no problems. You are given a receipt and a file number with a detailed description of your tour. I also loaded my email correspondences, itinerary, flight info, etc. onto a USB stick in case I lost any paperwork while travelling. I would be concerned if there was nothing in writing.