kathleen8795

This company is highly recommended, numerous times, in Frommer's 4th edition guide to India, among other guidebooks. I arranged a tour with John Thomas, who appears to run the company, for a trip to India I had scheduled for July 2011. He insisted that we wire the funds up front. He said it was almost entirely refundable, and we trusted the guidebook recommendation, so we sent the money.

Unfortunately, an emergency came up and we had to cancel our entire vacation several weeks before we were due to go. John Thomas promised to return the roughly $800 we were due. We followed up with him repeatedly -- more than 35 emails in all over the course of the next five months -- and he repeatedly said he was about to have the bank wire back the funds. It never happened. When we finally told him we were going to pursue complaints within the tourism ministry and anywhere else we could, he simply stopped writing us back altogether.

Google around, as we did too late, and you'll find out he's done this to other people as well. We were stupid to have trusted the guidebooks and him; I wanted to post here in hopes of countering the positive reviews given to Kerala Adventures in the guidebooks. Do NOT wire him the funds in advance -- and trust me, just stay away from this company.

jacketwatch

I did google them and though few reviews were available the ones I saw had similar complaints. It is a good rule to NEVER wire funds unless you are 100% certain of the people you are dealing with. About 2yrs. ago I got ripped on two plane tickets from a bum named Raj at Maharajah Tours out of NY. He wanted me to wire the money but did accept a CC which was my savior as the fares were refunded d/t his fraud. He kept the money and cancelled the tickets. He also told the carrier, Jet Airways that he had refunded the money. I did fortunately find out B4 it was too late to launch a fraud protest with Visa and when I called Raj, guess what, disconnected! Well liars and cheats gets theirs in spades.

I am curious as to why you waited this long to post this. Usually 1st time posters who open with a vent about something have an axe to grind but your complaints do seem legit. I do think you got ripped off.

Always use a CC whenever possible for your own protection as well as the perks like cash back, ff miles, etc. and if they don't take a cc and insist on a wire transfer walk away.

Jaya

In this day and age of credit cards being accepted virtually worldwide, wiring money seems so sketchy. Also, verbal promises carry no weight if you actually have to pursue a claim.

jacketwatch

Quite true Jaya!!

Kathie

While it is always better to use a credit card, there are still places that require a wire transfer. Requiring a wire transfer doesn't mean the place is bad news, it just means you have to check it out even more carefully than usual.

thursdaysd

I agree with Kathie. I wired money to a couple of places in India - they were small, one person B&Bs which didn't take credit cards. Both had web sites, one had tripadvisor reviews and the other was recommended by an aquaintance. In both cases it would not have been a disaster to lose the money, although if the accommodation had fallen through I'd have had some difficulty.

kuluk

One of the many, many reasons why I take all reviews and recommendations on travel sites with a HUGE grain of salt. The writers for some (not all of course) of them just rely on information they get from other sources, or their friends, or take other shortcuts. Also, companies change owners or management, other circumstances change, and in some cases positive reviews are posted by shills.

I did have to wire funds for a private boat in Halong Bay last year, (Eco Friendly) and was a bit apprehensive. Luckily everything went off without a hitch.

Sorry for your bad luck... I hope you will be able to get something back in future. And hopefully you wrote to Frommers directly about this.

qwovadis

"Unfortunately, an emergency came up and we had to cancel our entire vacation several weeks before we were due to go"

Did you not have trip cancellation insurance?

So John who has paid all his subs for your trip and now has to lose money because you cancelled? I am not sure at all this is the fault of your provider who has many good reviews on the boards also but at least partially your own for not getting tip cover.


Personally I NEVER wire money too risky have seen folks lose thousands. Lots of smaller operators have to pay others if you cancel on short notice. Just like you forfeit at least one hotel night if you cancel a booking.

The lesson might not be to defame a good agent on a public travel forum but perhaps get trip cover and/or pay with credit
car next time. I always do both.

jacketwatch

Quo: Do you have a link to all the "good reviews"? I found few and those I did find were not so good.

jacketwatch

BTW Qwo the OP did say a refund was promised.

rhkkmk

i often send $$ in advance, but prefer not to.

thanks for the warning... i assume you have given frommers an earfull...

julies

Thank you for the warning. I too had seen Frommer's recommendation for this agency and thought about them for a bicycle trip in Kerala when that would have been a part of our itinerary.

Quo--I haven't gone back again and looked at their website since the OP's cautions, but it sounds to me as though this is one of those places that probably states X% will be refunded if the booking is cancelled within a certain number of days. And, that is what this person was promised. It is the lack of follow-through on the agency's part that is so maddening.

We just returned from India and had a bad experience with an agency in Haridwar--not so bad as in this case where the clients lost lots of money, but bad enough that it colored our perceptions of the rest of the trip--and we were absolutely fuming and seething when the agency's owner ignored us and wouldn't communicate with us. So, I can certainly understand how the OP is furious and wants to let the rest of the world know to stay away from this agency.

jacketwatch

Julies: Speaking of non-communication I c/p'd below my review of an incident we had at the Mansingh Palace hotel in Ajmer. This is on trip advisor. I sent three emails to the corporate office w/o a single relpy. It seems that once the money is in the pocket all else doesn't matter.

"We had a very suspicious incident regarding some expensive jewelery "disappearing" from my wifes purse in our room while we were gone for 1 hr. for lunch. It happened on the day we were to depart to Delhi. Several staff members including the manager searched our luggage inc. my carry-on bag. This bag was searched about 6 times by 6 different people inc. myself and my wife and the satin sachel with the jewelery was not found here or anywhere. We left for the train shattered by this and certain that we were robbed. Then just about 10 minutes into the ride my wife looked in my bag and mysteriously the sachel was there and in an obvious spot. The hotel manager said with several employees in our room that he would search everyone. I can only conclude that whoever took it from the purse managed to slip it back into my bag due to fear of being caught red handed. As my wife ws emotionally devestated and in tears this could have easily happened. What is most disappointing is that repeated emails to the Mansingh group have gone unanswered for about 2 weeks now."

runningbluecats

Wow, I have had the exact same experience with John Thomas of Kerala Adventures. By mistake I wired him $2,600. It was a payment that was suppose to go to another tour company. John Thomas assured me that he would return the money.After numerous emails, he stopped writing back to me. I followed up with a lawyer, the national tourist office, the police and Frommers. The lawyer sent someone out to the offices of Kerala Adventures and found them padlocked. The tourist office wrote to John Thomas and he didn't respond. Frommer's publisher, Wiley, was responsive to my request for assistance. They referred me to the editor of the India tour book, who, despite numerous requests, has not gotten back to me. At least they could take this crook out of the tour book so that other people do not have the same experience!

fi_q

Frommer’s Advises Travellers to Avoid Kerala Adventures:

For more than a decade Brothers Babu & John Thomas of Kerala Adventures ran a reputable tour company, enjoying accreditation from the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, Association of Tourism Trade Organisation-India (ATTOI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), and active membership in Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) and FICCI. Frommer’s authors have regularly inspected their services and witnessed years of excellent work, and therefore Kerala Adventures had been recommended in our India guidebook. However, we recently received negative feedback from our readers regarding fraudulent activity, so we investigated and learned that after the publication of our fourth edition Mr John Thomas and his brother Babu parted company under acrimonious conditions. We have observed that the company has gone downhill recently and rather rapidly, and Mr John Thomas has defrauded customers. This is a terrible state of affairs, and we have written to the IATO asking for punitive measures to be taken immediately.

We are currently developing the fifth edition of Frommer’s India, and due to the company’s degeneration, we will not recommend Kerala Adventures. In the meantime, I am using travel forums to communicate our position so that those planning a trip to India know to stay clear of Kerala Adventures.

--Fiona Quinn, Editor of Frommer’s India