I must have been in a state of altered reality when I went to China with OAT because none of the above complaints were what I experienced. I was never handed a travel voucher at a shopping stop. I compared the costs of purchases that I made with the same items elsewhere and always found that I got a good price. We always had plenty of time at the places that we visited. We had one of our best-ever tour directors in China and we have been touring with many companies for years. The local guides that OAT used were also very knowledgeable.

On a typical one day Great Wall/Ming Tomb tour in Beijing.
Other than stating above, some idiot guides & tour directors would make one more hour of "Pearl Store" stop on the way back from Ming Tomb to the city.

If you want to save yourself a lot of aggravation DO NOT TRAVEL with this company. They treat their valued customers without any respect. They blamed a bad trip on me! They said the tour director could not handle me! This was on their Egypt and the Eternal Nile trip when the tour leader screamed at me in a hotel lobby berating me for ruining HER trip. I paid for the trip and she was unprofessional, blamed everything on the HQ in Boston and guess what? HQ sided with her!

I have made 6 trips with them and all have been delightful. I have been to all 7 continents and over 70 countries and have NEVER been treated so poorly and disrespectfully. Even the pre-trip in Jordan was great. After spending over $100,000 with them over the last 4 years this is ho they treated me. No apology, no compensation.

Be warned - they don't care about their guests!! See http://gentle-hugs.livejournal.com/ for the full story.