monfab

I am just back from a 12day tour of North India and Kathmandu,Nepal. Both countries are absolutely spectacular!!
After much research, I decided to book my tour before leaving Canada and decided to choose COMPASS TOURS because of the many good reviews given by fellow FODORites.
We experienced a few minor hiccups with Compass along the way but the incredible sights of India made us forget about most of them...UNTIL...this one major incident with COMPASS that has prompted me to write this thread. I was curious as to why we were never given tickets for our Varanasi - Kathmandu portion as well as our PNR Locator or airline file number. We were told by COMPASS that Indian Airlines ws a govt airline and had since cancelled their flight on Monday. COMPASS offered us a few unacceptable alternatives which involved either driving to next airport( 6+ hours) or staying an extra day which was not a possiblility for us. We started our own investigation into the problem and discovered that Indian Airways never operated on Mondays and that we never had a reservation in the first place ! We were so upset at COMPASS, namely, Shweta, as she lied to us. After sending many emails and discussing the issue with several of Compass' reps in various stops of our journey, we finally managed to get an acceptable resolution.We are thankful for AVINASH( Rep in Varanasi) and VIKRAM ( Rep in Delhi) as they helped us with arranging our connectiong flight through DEL. Overall, this ordeal took time to resolve and we ended up losing half a day of touring as well as the extra leg for air travel and the frustration of being told that our resoultion was costing the company extra money???!!
We are extremely disappointed with COMPASS because they lied to us with regards to our booking and were NOT willing to pay for the extra costs to assist us (the fastest/easiest way possible)until we found out about their cover-up.
I would think twice about using COMPASS and make sure that you have your flight details and tickets for ALL portions of your tour with whichever company you choose to use. Insist on a PNR/file number if you are promised the tickets at another stop in your tour!!
Most of COMPASS's Reps/Guides and Drivers were fine...although some were way better than others. Our favortite driver was ISHWAR or ISHY as we liked to call him. He was so sweet and drove us around for 3 days. You can hire him seperately from AJAY TOURS AND [email protected]
You can mention our names too as I am sure that he will remember the 2 girls from Canada who were always searching for CAFE COFFEE DAY chain...yummy!

Happy travels-
MONDO
[email protected]

lcuy

Dear monfab;

Sorry this had to happen. Must have been very frustrating.

I hope you'll come back and give a report of all the good things that happened as well..How did you get areound, where did you visit , and what hotels would you recommend (or Not?)

Thanks!

Craig

It is sad that the only thread you have chosen to write is a negative report on your tour company. We would also like to hear about all those positive experiences you have referred to and what you saw and did. I will admit that we used Compass almost 3 years ago and that we also had some minor glitches which hopefully you read about. We did not book flights but I am sorry things did not go smoothly for you. The devil is always in the details and it pays to research things like flight times in advance. For example, Compass booked train tickets for us but I knew exactly what one we wanted to take. The same goes for flights. My approach is: assume nothing. Travel agent personnel are only human and they do make mistakes and (occasionally) try to cover up their errors.

jjkbrook

Sorry about your glitch, and I do hope you give us a complete report.

On my recent India trip I booked all our hotels and air and train reservations directly - except one - and followed up and confirmed by phone or email with each right before arrival. They all worked out, except that the one hotel I asked our local agent (car rental company) to book did not honor or reservation. I had not called to confirm since I had left it to them - I think I was justified, by our success, in keeping these arrangements in my own compulsive hands since it is so important to HAVE the ticket, to confirm hotels verbally before arrival etc. It means you will need to have a local cell phone but thats definitely worth it anyway.

stephenmat

Im glad you posted this message about Compass. i have booked a trip with them in 20 days. I have booked all the air myself. i am glad you gave me the heads up so i can review everything so the glitches remain small.i will look at this post to see if you add anything to it.

monfab

I will definitely post details of this great trip once I am settled in as it's only been 2 days since we have been back!
I travel quite a bit and plan my trips months in advance and so I am usually careful to dot my I's and cross my T's!! I did ask for flight details several times and I suppose I just trusted that all would go well after having read the reviews.

I wrote this thread ONLY to let fellow planners know about my experience with Compass as it was TRULY frustrating and being LIED to is not good business and neither is making the client feel like they are to blame for the extra costs to resolve the problem!!
I read many threads before making my choice on which company to use and perhaps this will give people a heads up.

MONDO

agtoau

I had two good experiences overall with Compass and based on them I have recommended Compass to several folks. I am now disturbed upon reading monfab's ordeal. I wonder if it is the same syndrome that afflicts Indian businesses, where they start off very well but with success decline rapidly.

jjkbrook

I suspect its more likely to be the Indian unwillingness to say no or deliver a negative message. What we would consider lying seems to be a more common practice of trying not to displease the consumer. Its really a buyer beware environment, where checking is worthwhile,not because people are out and out dishonest but because they are not fully honest.

It really is Compass's fault though, for not getting your trip properly arranged in the first place, since there was no flight.

ps - this is something you could have checked - fares are all published and available online. Just for myself I would always have checked myself - both to assure that I am getting good prices from the TA and that the flights/hotels are there.

CFW

Monfab,

I'm also using Compass and am eager to hear more about your trip. What places did you visit, etc. You mention a driver you liked. Where did you use him?

monfab

Hi CFW,

I am excited for you...you will love it! I spent lots of time with Compass trying to finalize an itinerary with exactly what we wanted. Problem is that there is so much to choose from that it's hard to narrow it down but once you do...ahhh..what a relief!!
For our first trip..we had 12nights (10 in North India and 2 in Kathmandu).
Points that we covered and DO NOT REGRET one of them were-
Delhi,Agra,Jaipur, Puskar(for camel festival which is finished now), Udaipur, Orccha enroute to Khajuraho and Varanasi.
It was a whirlwind and involved lots of driving,4 flights and 1 train. Our favorite driver-Ishwar-was with us for the beginning of our journey as points were all covered by car. we finished off with KTM..which is also awesome. If you stay less that 3 nights, you can get a free VISA at airport and it is really worth it if you have time. This is where we ran into the flight problems. Compass told us that Indian airlines cancelled their flights on Mondays and since it is a government owned airline, my calling them to argue was a waste of time. This is when I discovered that they never had flights on Mondays so we were never confirmed in the first place.

Hopefully all will go smoothly for you with a few minor but expected hiccups which will be forgotten becuase INDIA is really INCREDIBLE!

Monfab

CFW

Wow, you covered a LOT of territory.
I will be visiting Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Varanasi, in about the same amount of time -- and I feel like I'm really rushing it. I've booked most flights and hotels, except for just a couple, so I hope all will be well. Yes, planning and deciding among all the enticing choices has been difficult, and I have been e-mailing back & forth with Compass, tweaking this & that. Fodors and fodorites have as usual been very helpful.
What hotels did you stay in at each place? Any great shopping or restaurant tips?

armity

We got back from a 12 day trip organized by Compass about a month ago..My last trip to India was a few years back and arranged by US Embassy travel agent. I felt that Compass and the staff did a great job for us.
There were five of us, all well travelled. I specified our requests, and expectations and they were all met and exceeded
I am sorry about your experience...
I feel I could highly recommend this Travel Agency. Our small group was escorted well, and we had the same itenariry as A&K for a fraction of the price. I specified hotels, events and let them pick out all of our evening experience. If anyone has any questions please email [email protected].
I hate it when one bad rap could ruin a very good thing for a lot of people.
FYI.. We started in Bangalore, to Kerala, to Mumbai, to Varanasi, to Dehli,to Agra, to Ranthambore, to Jaipur and back to Mumbai.
Stayed at Lela Palace, Oberois, Aman in Ranthambore, Taj in Varanasi, Imperial in Dehli

Evenings were full, days were full and we flew every where...by the way great airlines with great service.

I hope other people know that you have to do a lot of leg work when you go to places like India and then have the Travel agent help you.
The people who are going to India.. give Compass a chance... they are excellent. I personally met Durjay the owner/operator--great young man with very good intentions. Surjay was our liason and everything was triple checked everyday... too much for our group. We loved India and we will all go back with Compass.
Call or email me..480-688-8200
Armity

JC98

Why bother with a tour company. You can always book everything in India yourself, mostly via the internet. It's cheaper and you're in full control.

Before going to India, I was also scared into getting an Indian agent, and I had also contacted Shweta at Compass Tours, but didn't like the itinerary and prices they'd come up. And we nded up doing everything ourselves, and the trip turned out very well.

Craig

JC - I don't necessarily think its cheaper to book India hotels via the internet versus an Indian-based travel agent unless you know of some site(s) that you have not previously shared with us. Also, if you didn't like the itinerary that Compass came up with, why didn't you propose your own like almost everyone else on this forum has who has dealt with this agency?

On another subject, I know you posted a link to photos but did you ever post a trip report?

JC98

Craig, we were working with Compass Tours on a complete itinerary for India. But then we decided that we could do the Hyderabad portion ourselves since we had acquaitances there, and asked them to work out an itinerary for the Golden Triangle alone. For some reason, they said we had to stick w/ the original itininerary, and didn't want to accommodate our changes. That's when we decided to ditch them.

Another negative experience w/ a travel agent was booking tickets on Kingfisher Air from Hyderabad to Jaipur. I searched on their website before and knew exactly the flight and price. But we didn't know which date we wanted to leave. While touring Hyderabad we called a recommended agent and they kept on quoting us a price that's $50 higher than the web price. They said it had gone up day by day, and we actually believed them until it went up like by $150. That's when we decided to call King Fisher ourselves, and got the original price I saw on their web.

I'm glad you had good experiences w/ a tour company, but I just want to let others know that it's possible to arrange their travels in India on their own.

Sorry, didn't get around to writing a trip report. Seems like a pretty daunting task. But I'll be willing to answer any questions. Thanks.

jjkbrook

I dont want to pile on, but I was initially interested in using Compass for my recent trip and sent several messages to them, first through their website link and then directly to Schweta in connection with my recent India trip - with no response whatsoever. I did have some ideas about my trip, hotels I was interested in (usually not in the Oberoi class), some slightly offbeat destinations - I think agencies try to figure whether they will be able to make sufficient $ from serving you - and will not be interested if you do not fit the desired profile or will require to much work/not generate sufficient referral fees. Sometimes they are honest - I negotiated with one agency out of delhi which did not fit our plans because our tour did not begin in Delhi, and they told me it would not work very well - but often TAs just did not respond to my enquiry emails. I never got a single response to enquiries generated on one of those website fill- in forms, with 4 different recommended companies. So, there are a lot of ways to be disappointed with Indian TAs - it behooves you to do legwork, check prices and be assertive about what you want to get the most out of these dealings. Having said that, we had a wonderful experience after we were able to pull together our basic itinerary with our car-and-driver company. But it took lots of false starts, and a realization that I was not going to be able to rely on a TA to put together the trip I wanted - before this was possible.