Recently returned from Madrid where I signed up for a tour of Segovia with Julia Tours. The web site and tickets state that the tours from Madrid orginate at #68 Gran Via. We arrived at 8:40 for our 9:15 tour. There were about 10 people already there standing in front of the building with the #68 address. There was no sign or office for Julia tours which seemed unusual. But, the consenses was that the buses would stop at the street. Well, thats not the case. At about 9:05, a julia bus stopped about 50 yards down the street. I approached the driver to see if he was picking up people for the tours. He pointed out the Julia office which wasn't at #68 Gran Via, but was around the corner on a side street. The group hurried into the office. Everyone was told that they were to be at the office promptly at 9:00 and even though everyone was at the advertised address in plenty of time, they couldn't take the tours and they offered no refunds. A simple sign on the building pointing to the office around the corner would have solved the problem. Unfortunately, 10 people paying over 100 euros each, lost their deposits and ruined a day of their Holiday. :jump:

DAMN! So sorry to hear that, carnut! Might be time to organize the group-of-10 to write individual letters to Julia Tours with the hope that SOMETHING could be done. Did they/you pay by credit card? I imagine so. Maybe your credit card company could do something? Regardless, that day of travel was ruined. That's really sad.

Saludos, MadridMan

I do not know much about it and I sure MadridMan (now he lives in Spain) and others can give more detail information.

My last visit to Madrid, I was talking to the Chairman of the Wellington Society over drinks (that is the best time to talk to him ) he mention a complaint book.

I wanted to use the complaint book in Barcelona at the Picasso Museum but I was not sure even if they had one.

Do tour guides have a complaint book or is it for certain business like restaurants?

Bill

I agree with MadridMan, if the people paid by Credit Card, call your credit card company and tell them you followed all the instructions but they did not give you your tour. They will not require you to pay this charge during their investigation. If you have already paid, I think they will deduct that almount from your next bill, but not positive of this.

All businesses are supposed to have the book you are speaking of; it's called "reclamaciones" or quejas. I did discover, however, that foreign airlines do not offer an "hoja de reclamaciones" and I was directed to their customer service. I have used a couple of reclamaciones in my time and they require that you to be present for a hearing. Is that still the case? Anyway, if you traveled from abroad, sounds like the credit card might be the more productive route.

I emailed Julia. I wonder if the people who had problems just assumed the pick up point. You need to phone ina dvance to verify where you will be picked up. Still they don't seem to have handled this very well