Poor treatment by Tour Operator Battlebus
 

My son and I are planning a trip to Normandy to see the D-Day beachs. I contacted Battlebus out of Bayeax. They are very well organized and appear to be well priced. Via email, I contacted the company about the logistics of getting from the ferry terminal in Caen to Bayeax which is about 30 miles. After exchanging 2 emails where I was asking questions about transportation, Myriam (who is the owner) became very angry and refused to take my booking. I was shocked at her rude behavior.

Battlebus may be a very popular company and they may do a great job. Just don't ask them any questions! Maybe they are so successful that they can refuse business and treat potential customers with disdain. I thought it was terrible behavior and would never consider using them again.

I am booked with Pegassus tours and they have been extremely helpful.

I have to wonder what questions you asked, and in what tone you asked them.

Well this is very surprising because Myriam has been very, very nice to me as I booked a tour with Battlebus for June.

I also find it very interesting that this is your first post on Fodors and it is a negative post!

We used Battlebus two years ago and were very impressed. Myriam was great with me as I had an issue with receiving her emails and she was very nice and polite about how to fix it. Based upon our experience, Battlebus was excellent in every way from booking to the actual tour.

You say she was rude - but you don't say what you did. Usually 2 sides (or more) to every story. Also, I assume you are just registering in all sorts of travel sites to slam them w/o giving ONE detail of what happened.

So give us more info - . . . Or just maybe we'll assume you are a shill for Pegasus . . . . .

I looked at the OP's name...possibly jim from pegasus tours? The intials work, but I could be wrong.

We took the Battlebus tour last year and have only raves about the entire experience.

It's probably you, jimpt, not Myriam.

And it's Bayeux, not Bayeax. Maybe she didn't know where you were going.

hey, I have no experience with the company so no preconceptions -- but come on, do you seriously expect everybody to say how horrible, what a terrible company when you don't give any information whatsoever as to what made her angry? No one, even a bad tour operator, gets angry for no reason whatsoever.

Maybe you asked too many questions about things the company didn't have time to answer, about your general trip and logitics, and they just stopped responding -- and you interpreted that as getting angry and refusing to book you. Maybe they just said they couldn't help you any more and more you'd be happier elsewhere or something. I'm just speculating, but I know without a doubt something happened here but you aren't saying what. Which sort of automatically makes you less credible in my book.

I could be wrong, but that's the way I see it now.

To the OP - you do realize that, by posting such a vague complaint, you've probably achieved the opposite of your intent. If anything, Battlebus tours looks even better due to the large number of people who rose to their defense.

If someone were to write a book about common sense on the internet, I think that person could devote an entire chapter to to the folly of registering on a forum/community site for the one and only purpose of bad-mouthing an otherwise respected company. I'm afraid these complaints have little if any credibility.

Remember, Battlebus is widely regarded as one of the top tour operators for Normandy Beach tours. If this really did happen, I see two possible causes; Battlebus was having a bad day, or it was your fault In either case, complaining here solves nothing.

Now if you honestly feel you've been wronged, and want some sympathy, provide some details. Remember, most people think Battlebus is great, you've done nothing to prove otherwise. So, either back up your accusations with specifics or hold your tongue.

It would be interesting to know what questions you were asking and how many there were. This is a highly regarded company and a complaint without details won't change people's opinions.

And, in my experience, when a company stops responding it's because they've figured out that they will never be able to make you happy.

(I was checking into a very nice hotel in Paris several years ago when there was an incident with a family of american tourists. They were VERY upset, started getting loud, and the father ended slamming his fist on the desk. The problem - they had booked a double room - but there were 4 people - the parents and 2 teenage sons. They were outraged that the room didn't have another queen size bed for the sons. They insisted that "everyone knows a queen room has 2 queen size beds". They heard we speaking English and tried to get me to support them - and were very irate when I said a double room was for only 2 people - and teenagers are not free in most of the world. The manager tried to work with them to find another room for the boys - but the father not only insisted the kids be free - he insisted on 2 queen beds in one rooms - which the hotel just didn;t have. The manager offered to help them find another hotel - and they were madder - that he was "canceling their reservation". They ended up leaving - to find a "real american" hotels that had "kids" free and 4 per room.

I'm sure they thought they were correct - and not that they were being completely unreasonable.

Coincidently, I just happened to receive an e-mail from Myriam Woodadge. She is the owner of Battlebus Tours. She has been so sweet and helpful in planning the perfect Normandy experience for my husband and me in June. My DH is a huge World War II buff. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Myriam.

I have just received an email from Myriam. I asked questions
and she was very prompt in responding to the questions and my husband and I booked 2 tours with the company....No problems....

mms: glad I wasn't your kid...I wouldn't have gotten by with anything :)

There's a thread on this going on another board as well. A responder noted that he had contacted Pegasus Tours when researching companies for his tour and spoken to a person there named "James." He strongly suspects that JimPT is James from Pegasus Tours, and therefore this is negative spam.

Make of it what you will.

I should mention that on the other board, this person posted as JamesPT. It definitely looks suspicious.

klondike--LOL, I will have to tell my kids that;)

artnletters--Which board?

I hope someone e-mails this thread to Myriam at Battlebus - too often we get these vague complaints and the person accused cannot respond.

This is not to say the OP may not have a valid complaint but i'd like to get Myriam's response as well.

Her alleged behavior would be appalling if what alleged happened happened as was.

"<i>This is not to say the OP may not have a valid complaint</i>"

I <u>seriously</u> doubt James Pegasus Tours/jimpt/JamesPT has a valid complaint.