Viator

I bought tickets for an Eiffel tour, and selected a date in the pop-up calendar, then chose the timeslot, checked everything, then purchased. The confirmation email gave us an address where to meet the guide to get our tickets: 225 Rue de l'Université, but they don't provide the tickets for the entrance (Shady right?) The company does not exist at that address, when you call their number, it goes straight to voicemail, no options of any kind. We were able to start up a text chat and they wrote: "meet at the lamppost" we replied: "which lamppost?" They sent us a photo of a nearby lamppost. No one was there. They then said you're booked on a different day. I am positive I chose the day I wanted, as I had punched it in a number of times and all the other tours were booked up and clearly stated that it was sold out. So I imagine no one gets the date they punch in. Also there was no one else waiting there for a tour, so they probably give out various locations too. Anyways, contacting Viator was just as useless as they stand by their shady operators. Clearly I'm now realizing it's not just me, it's happened to many.

We booked a tour in Miami thru Viator. We showed up to Miami Tours at the time and place specified by Viator. They not only didn't honor their tickets they said we missed the bus because there was a 30 minute check in prior to the arrival. However we waited out front for over an hour of the establishment and never saw a tour bus pull up or out. It never specified on our correspondence with Viator that we needed to arrive 30 minutes prior. When we addressed this with Miami Tours the lady got irate and threw us out of the establishment and said "no refund idiots". We could not believe that but only did they LIE but they treated us like trash. I contacted Viator and told them what happened and the most they could do was "submit a request for a refund". I'll never use this company again. They don't vet their tourist companies and as they're a 3rd party booking agency when you get to the actual place you can get treated like trash! I lost all faith in using their services as this company "Miami Tours" has a 3.2 rating and Viator continues to recommend this company where several clients have complained of being scammed!

I had a bad experience with Viator a few years ago when they messed up the date of my Vatican tour on my one and only day in Rome. Despite this, I decided to give them another shot for my upcoming trip to Australia. After reviewing the many options for tours and activities, I selected three tours and booked them through Viator. I received confirmations for all three tours.

Approximately six hours later (after 9 p.m.), I received three emails from the Viator "Trust & Safety Team" saying my tours had all been canceled due to "inconsistencies" in the bookings. I immediately contacted Viator and after putting me on a lengthy hold, the representative would only say she was not allowed to provide me any information and I would be receiving an explanatory email. This email said exactly what the other emails said. My tours were canceled. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I told the representative that these transactions were not fraudulent and were booked with a valid credit card. Viator refused to correct their error; as a result, I had to rebook all the activities through a different travel service.

It's one thing to be proactive with regard to fraudulent activity and another thing to provide no explanation as to why tours were canceled and then refuse to correct your mistake when you receive confirmation the transactions were legitimate.

It may be "three strikes and you're out" in baseball, but after two strikes with Viator, I will no longer trust them to book my once-in-a-lifetime vacation experiences.

Only buy if you're 200% sure you're going. I was sick the day of my event, with covid, and I was not given a refund. Thieves. Only go through this company if you have to

We booked an Eiffel Tower Skip The Line Summit with Host trip with Viator to visit the top of the Eiffel Tower. When we arrive to the tower with our tour guides, we were informed the Summit was closed but that a refund would be available.

The difference in price between the 2nd floor and the Summit tours with Viator was $84.50 (for 2 people), however they decided that we should only be refunded $30.14 total. I went back and forth with them trying to understand their refund amount when the prices are clearly posted on their website.

Long story short, they stuck with their 35% refund because they wanted to keep the extra for themselves. I will no longer book with Viator and urge you to avoid them.

In a separate case, our flight was cancelled and we could only provide Viator 23 hours notice that we wouldn't make a different tour. They informed us that we missed the 24 hour cancellation window. We literally learned our flight was cancelled 23 hours before the tour, but they didn't care and we lost out on that tour and any refund.

If everything goes perfectly with your plans (in or out of your control) Viator is an ok company to work with. The minute there is an issue they will try to screw you over.

A must do experience, i had a nice experience with this tour, Zachary was very nice and knowledgeable about Egypt culture. The places are great and the cruise is nice.

Wanned to reschedule a tour but canceled it by mistake. Contacted the tour provider and they fully supported the refunding for new reschedule but they asked me to contact Viator, cause this was the service that could revert the situation. Contacting viator they immediately respond saying they would contact the tour provider and wait for their response so i thought it was handled. Next morning received an email by viator saying "we regret to inform but the refund is not possible". Contacted the tour provided to see what happened and they explain that they were totally ok with refunding, as they don't make any money if the bookings are canceled. Apart from using patronizing words ( "we regret", "unfortunately", "we apologize", when they mean nothing in this context) viator in the email made it seam it was denied from the tour provider when it wasn't. Investigating a little further I could find out that they charge in average 27% more on trips. I guess resuming the episode here … lack of flexibility for mistakes and lack of clarity on where is the money going (cause I don't think it makes any sense to leave all money to viator when the tours get cancelled …the tour provider is the one investing time planning so they should keep it if refunding is not possible). Advise to customers: try to book directly to the agency, you get better prices, more flexibility for mistakes and you know the money goes to the right place! Advice to Viator: More flexibility and transparency

I have booked a tour to Auschwitz through the Viator website for Saturday, September 9. I chose the tour starting at 8:10 am, with the option to be picked up at the hotel. Of course, everything was paid online (45 USD). The information that I received with the ticket, explained that I would be contacted during the afternoon of the day before the tour, to specify the details of the exact time I would be picked up at the hotel. They contacted me at 7 pm of the day before, to let me know that not only would they NOT pick me up at the hotel (I had to get to a place that is half an hour away from my hotel by car), but also that they were changing the departure time of the tour from 8:10 am to 12:15 pm, that is, 4 hours later than agreed. When I told them that I could not take the tour under those conditions, the only option they offered me was to take it the next day, which was impossible for me since I would no longer be in the city. When I asked them to reimburse me for what I had paid. They replied that I could send a refund request through the Viator portal. Nevertheless, when I went through portal I found the following message "for a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience", that is, 7 hours before they contacte me to inform to me about the change in the program. This looks like a scam.

I canceled the deal but they never returned the money. I tried to reach out to their customer service and even sent an email but their customer service never responded.

Purchase tours for both London and Paris is was the worst decision of my life. Viator buys tickets from a 3rd party company which in turns buys them directly with the company or place you are visiting. By the time you get your tickets Viator and the vendor will all their fees and charges. Example 3 people skip the line Eiffel Tower tickets were $70 with Viator they were $130 and then no one shows up to give them to you so I ended spending another $70 to enter the summit with my Family. Tours that are all walking and not on a bus as you expect (Rain or Shine) for hours and hours only to show you a section that could of been covered with a cab driver in 1/4 the time. Drivers were smelly, late for hours at a time, misleading tour information, Lied about what we were getting vs what actually took place, tickets that are never issued or people don't show up to give you the entrance tickets. I could of done 100 times better purchasing them there with out the 40 to 50% mark up that they pocket. You can book these tours while there from your Hotel or hire Local drivers and you will have a private experience vs being part of a cattle run that they mistreat.

TRUST ME DONT USE THEM read all the complaints about them not showing up with tickets or people not getting what they paid for. Talk to your Hotel, Local drivers and buy tickets at the location trust me you will save lots of $$$ and precious vacation time.

I booked a sailing activity back in Dec of 2022 and received an email with the day and time of the activity Feb 16,2023, at 5 pm. We arrived at 4:20 pm only to have Wild Cabo Tours tell us that the sailing activity departed at 4 pm and confirmed that Trip Advisor / Viator provide the incorrect information in their email since they were the 3rd party providing the service. We immediately canceled our reservation and tried to call customer service and sent an email which I have records of. The activity was non-refundable so we had to book the same trip 3 days later directly through Wild Cabo Tours. We later provided proof of credit card transactions for both the initial booking and the second booking and the email provided by Viator showing the discrepancy. They still denied my claim which resulted in us losing 300 plus dollars. Other people experienced the same issue with poor coordination better between trip advisor and Cabo wabo (event host). You can look up this review by going to "Luxury Sailing Yacht and Chef Dinner" under the Cabo San Lucas Tours sections of the Tripadvisor website. I feel like we got stolen from.

This company took $110. Did nothing for me. Will not give a refund. Will not return calls. Will not answer emails. Be warned! Do NOT give them your money. SCAM!
The review shouldn't even be 1 star

In May 2023 I booked a tour via Viator in Bilbao. THEY cancelled at the last minute "because they didn't have enough people sign up." It was a hassle getting a refund. Then I had to cancel a tour in Bordeaux because I got food poisoning (diarrhea) and couldn't travel all day on a bus. I left voicemails, emails and text messages for BOTH Viator and the local tour company on the numbers provided on the DAY PRIOR to the tour explaining why I needed to cancel. I also spoke on the morning of event to the tour guide and explained. Viator charged my credit card and has refused to refund $171.90 for a tour that I was unable to take. When I provided them with copies of my documentation of TIME STAMPED text & email messages that I made every attempt to give them adequate notice on the DAY PRIOR as required, I received a terse boilerplate policy letter that I had not notified them. They are a terrible company -- suggest you avoid VIATOR like the plague.

We spent $100 on tickets to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. We never received the tickets and Viator refused to refund our money. We travel a lot and will never use Viator again. It's a scam.

I would not recommend this company at all! Terrible company to book tours with!
They work with really dodgy service providers in the other countries (our tours were in Italy). Booked 3 activities through them - the first one didn't have signage, identifiers and met almost 750m away from the attraction which you had to walk to - making it difficult to go through a sea of people and try to stay with your group. In the end they ended up taking our money and not providing any services. Even viator would not actually do anything to assist us. The second tour booked was rescheduled on the day of last minute impacted our other planned activities for the day (original was to be at 1030 apparently the tour guide didn't show up that day) and they bumped the tour to 2pm. Then it was supposed to be a private tour (paid just under 300 CAD for that option) and was then yelled at by the operator that private tour was a group of 20 or less. Proceeding to be herded around like cows and then when asked to turn up the volume because the majority of the tour couldn't hear what was being said the tour rep said it's not my problem. 3rd tour booked (all 3 within 3 days) went well but to actually find where to meet was a bit of a nightmare. Altogether this company received more than $800.00 from us and barely provided 100.00 worth of services (if you even get any). I would never book with them again.

We booked the "Big Whales & Puffins RIB boat tour" for our trip in Iceland operated by Husavik Adventures. This tour was booked through Viator, who received our money. The ticket from Viator explicitly states this is a ticket for "Akureyri," which is where our ship was docked. Viator sent a small square map which shows a port with street names. When we called Husavik the morning of the tour to tell them we couldn't find their office, they said the tour was in Husavik, Iceland, which is 1 1/2 hours away from Akureyri! Viator never said it was in another town, nor did they provide an option for transportation to that location. Not being from Iceland, we didn't know Husavik was a different location. (All we knew was that Viator told us we had a ticket for Akureyri.) Husavik told us we would miss the trip, and that we needed to call Viator as they were the ones who received the money. We called Viator and explained the situation where they sent us the wrong location. There has been no cooperation on Viator's side to remediate this issue and they kept our $300+. Buyer beware! You will be on the hook for the trip, regardless of any information or misinformation that Viator gives you for a tour.