Ecuador Pure Life (tour operator) - very negative experience
 

Jan 2015: I just returned from an "Avenue of the Volcanoes" cycling tour with Ecuador Pure Life. It was not a good experience. Ecuador was beautiful, but our actual trip (professionalism of guide, sights we actually saw, the days' activities matching the itinerary, etc.) did not match what we were promised. The tour guide was not a cyclist, and was certainly not very excited to show us the country (in fact, on one day we ended at 2:30pm because he "wanted to see his girlfriend"). And he was on Facebook for hours each day. We didn't see about half of what the itinerary promised (e.g., didn't enter Chimborazo State Park). The bikes were in horrible shape (my derailler snapped on a downhill) - dangerous. The guide had no plan when one in our party got very bad altitude sickness. I could go on and on. We followed up with the owner (Henry) part way through, and at the end of the tour. He was horrified by our trip report, and promised to followup within 2 weeks. We are trying to resolve the issues now - I hope I am able to give a more positive review - but for now, very disappointed.

Feb 2015 Update: We had heard nothing from Henry, the owner, so we followed up again with very detailed written feedback (day by day account of what happened on the trip). Finally, he emailed to offer us a discount on a future group trip (only to Ecuador), a discount less than what the general public can receive online.

While I understand that no tour is perfect and mistakes happen, I do expect any company to try to make things right in the end. I found their lack of integrity on the follow up shocking. And I'm sad because I missed so much of what Ecuador has to offer.

LisainSF: your post above is a complaint, not a trip report. Your motives would be better served if you also told us a little more about Ecuador.

I appreciate Lisain warning the rest of us about this.

Thank you! I wish I would have read this before booking with them. I also had a terrible experience with EPL on a Dec. 2015 trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos. It is very disappointing that companies like this continue to operate with such good reviews on other travel sites. I tried to share my experience with EPL on other travel sites, and my reviews keep getting removed. This is very disappointing since these types of sites are becoming less trustworthy.